Search Results for: meeting

Social Media Triage: How to Create a Social Media Incident Command

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

The number of current and emerging social media tools seems never-ending. By the time you master some of them, others quickly arise. As such, managing conversations on social media sites also becomes a never-ending challenge. Some would say it’s impossible. After all, in any given crisis, there usually are multiple responding agencies assisting the university with its crisis response.  Each agency uses multiple social media tools to reach multiple audiences with multiple messages.  And, as we all know too well, in a crisis situation, countless questions invariably arise, as do rumors and the proliferation of misleading or downright incorrect information. These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that: And, let’s admit it, in a crisis, most of our staff are probably focusing the majority of their efforts on responding to countless traditional media requests, as well as crafting  messages to faculty, staff and students, and posting critical information to university websites.  It’s the nature of the crisis beast. Tackling the Problem Upon arrival at DePaul nearly two years ago, I learned there were 178 individuals on campus who regularly managed more than 183 different university-related social media sites.  I asked myself: How can I best leverage not only the tools […]

Measuring Brand ROI: An Interview with Bob Sevier

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

As the higher ed marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, it has become more critical than ever to be able to measure the impact of your marketing efforts on brand perception — critical, but not always easy. In a recent interview with Academic Impressions, Bob Sevier, senior vice president of strategy for Stamats Inc., shared with us his guiding philosophy for measuring the return on investment for branding efforts. Here is the interview, with links to additional resources — we hope you will find it useful for opening discussion within your office. Knowing What Works and What Doesn’t Academic Impressions (AI): Bob, why is it especially important to care about measuring brand perception now? Bob Sevier: From the vantage point of the marketing professional, there are two reasons. First, it helps to find out whether your brand campaign is actually working. A lot of marketers are slowly transitioning from measuring output (Are we busy?) to measuring outcomes (Is it working?). Second, measuring the ROI on your brand campaign tells your supervisor that you’re serious. Professionals show results, and when you can show results, you earn the opportunity for an increased budget. That’s why this is more important now than even four years […]

Spotlight on Innovation: LaGuardia Community College Pilots Project COMPLETA to Support First-Gen, Low-Income Students

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 24 colleges and universities that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. by Lisa Cook and Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions LaGuardia Community College’s students in Queens, NY face a bevy of obstacles to their academic success. The college serves a mix of first-generation, low-income, and minority students, more than 70 percent of them from families who earn less than $25,000 annually. LaGuardia also offers GED programs; many students who complete the GED then successfully apply and are admitted to LaGuardia, but unfortunately many of these students fall away in “summer melt.” LaGuardia hopes to get those students back on track and help other low-income and underrepresented students succeed through Project COMPLETA, Comprehensive Support for Student Success, which will be funded by a $2.9 million First in the World grant. We reached out to Bret Eynon, associate dean for teaching […]

Presidents’ Advice for Campus Leaders in a Crisis

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

While writing a chapter for Managing the Unthinkable: Crisis Preparation and Response for Campus Leaders (ACE, 2014), I had the opportunity to interview two retired presidents/chancellors with whom I had worked – former University of North Carolina Wilmington Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo and former Texas A&M President Ray Bowen.  DePaolo faced two different student incidents in which a student was stalked and then murdered, after which the perpetrator committed suicide. Both incidents occurred within a two-month period early in her tenure at UNCW.  Bowen was president during the Texas A&M bonfire collapse that killed 12 students and injured another 27. I asked them, “Given what you have learned from successfully managing a number of significant campus crises, what’s the most important advice you would give to other presidents, chancellors and campus leaders in times of crisis?” Advice from Rosemary DePaolo DePaolo shared the following: Campus safety is paramount, and that includes having the best possible crisis response protocols in place.  Consider asking an outside expert to evaluate your crisis response plan. Too often university leaders either deny that anything could happen at their institutions, or they become defensive, rebutting individuals who question existing practices. Don’t let a crisis divert your attention […]

5 Mistakes Too Many Institutions Make in the RFP Process

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

A NEW SERIES ON RFPs, CAPITAL PLANNING, AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS This is the first in a series of articles by Neil Calfee. Currently the principal of NPC Group, specializing in the creation and negotiation of public/private Partnerships, Neil Calfee previously served as Arizona State University’s director of real estate development. He has over 15 years of experience in development and management of complex development projects involving partnerships between government entities and the private sector. This article reviews 5 mistakes institutions commonly make in writing an RFP document. Calfee’s next article will review 5 frequent mistakes made in the solicitation and evaluation of responses once the RFP has been issued. You may also be interested in his recorded training, “Creating Financial Expectations in the Housing RFP Process.” So you want to issue an RFP for a campus capital project, how hard can that be? Quite easy, actually. But simply getting an offering on the street and administering a successful RFP process that brings you a quality development are two different things entirely. Here are 5 things that many institutions miss in their RFP processes: 5 mistakes that can cause annoyance at best or can completely derail the effort at worst. Mistake 1: […]

How One Institution is Monetizing its Physical Assets

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

The Ohio State University recently monetized their parking operation — which OSU identified as a campus asset that was non-mission critical — and secured $400 million, most of which OSU invested in its endowment. As other institutions seek to counterbalance increasingly depleted revenue streams, OSU provides a key example of how to identify assets that are ideal for monetization. To learn more about the thinking behind OSU’s recent transition, we interviewed Michael Papadakis, Ohio State University’s treasurer, and Sarah Blouch, president of CampusParc LLP, an entity formed to manage university parking concessions—including the transaction recently closed at The Ohio State University. AI: What do institutions need to keep in mind when looking to monetize physical assets? “Typically in the past,” Papadakis notes, “when a service is needed, we have tended to think that we can provide that service better than anyone else. Our instinct is to want everything customized to our particular needs and culture. So the trend in the past was to bring everything in-house. That’s very counter-intuitive; it’s very different from how the corporate world looks at this.” “There are some things that it may not make sense for us to do in-house, and where it may be […]

Four Tips for Training Annual Fund Phonathon Callers

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Despite how critical the phonathon can be to the annual fund, student callers are often given minimum training — or training that doesn’t set them up well to succeed in soliciting donor support for the institution. To learn some tips from past and present managers of highly effective phonathon programs, we turned this week to Jessica Cloud, who administers a comprehensive annual giving program for the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, and Albert Melfo, director of annual giving at Kent State University. Cloud and Melfo suggest these four tips for training callers: Cultivate the Larger Perspective “Focus on the process, focus on the technique,” Melfo advises. “Don’t get hung up on the details; talk about the big picture. Devote training time to discussing what philanthropy is, its role within the organization, what it means to be nonprofit — why we need to raise money. Give the students the big picture case for giving. Help them understand why we do this and why they should feel okay talking with others about why we need their support.” “Help your callers understand the real case for support, the reason we ask. The more we can help our student ambassadors internalize that and speak […]

Make Your Veterans Resources Center Effective

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

The New York Times this week ran a thoughtful feature following one military veteran’s transition from the battlefield to campus life. This and other recent articles on veteran students reveal that: Don Pfeffer, director of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, Higher Education Veterans Programs, and Jayne Lokken, a professor and counselor at St. Cloud State University, offer tactics for setting up your veterans center so as to maximize its effectiveness in helping veterans achieve success. Provide the Right Space “There needs to be a space on campus that veterans can call their own, where there are people who can talk their language and share similar experiences, and particularly where it is safe for veterans to vent their frustrations.”Don Pfeffer, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Pfeffer suggests that if veteran students who are new to campus have a ready opportunity to vent around other veterans who may have already worked through the situation they are facing, this can resolve many issues that could potentially become more explosive. “This is a group-focused, self-regulated process. This is the best kind of therapy, conversations among peers.” Lokken adds, “This should be a relaxing place, where they don’t have to argue about war and […]

Student Success and Retention in the Time of Coronavirus

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

We know many of our faculty have had a big transition to make, as institutions have moved courses online rapidly in response to COVID-19—but it’s a huge transition for many of our students, too, especially those who have never taken an online course or who have limited access to the Internet now that campus is closed. What are some ways we can help students succeed and persist when plunged into this new world? On March 25, over 900 higher-ed professionals from institutions all over North America attended one of our free COVID-19 Critical Response webcasts. It was an opportunity to hear from a leading expert on student retention—and to share ideas among their peers, hearing what other institutions are doing and what you could be doing. You can sign up to get the webcast recording (and chat transcript) here, or explore our rapidly growing COVID-19 Critical Response series—some of which are free for everyone, while others are free for our members. COVID-19 has forced institutions to pivot and adapt in unprecedented ways. If you’re like most, you are laser-focused on your own campus responses and have been craving a space to connect with others, ask questions, and share ideas with […]

6 Things Presidents and Chancellors MUST Do to Prepare for a Crisis

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENTS AND CHANCELLORS This article was adapted from interviews conducted during the course of preparation for chapter 3, authored by Cindy Lawson, in Managing the Unthinkable, Crisis Preparation and Response for Campus Leaders, edited by Gretchen M. Bataille and Diana I. Cordova, Stylus Publishing, LLC. 2014. Throughout my long career in public relations both at a Fortune 500 company and at five different higher education institutions, I have had the privilege of working with some great presidents and chancellors.  Together, we faced a number of crises, including a tuberculosis scare, a chemical lab mishap, a natural gas explosion, fires, electrocutions, kidnapping, active shooters, bomb scares, rapes, plane crashes, multiple deaths resulting from car crashes, tropical storms and hurricanes, drownings, suicides, murders…and many more. With each crisis came lessons learned – for individual responders, for the president/chancellor and for the institution as a whole. I interviewed several of those (now ex-) presidents and chancellors about the various crises each experienced.  I asked them what advice they would give other presidents and chancellors in terms of preparing for any type of crisis. Following are their, and my, top six suggestions: For more ideas and suggestions for senior leaders during and after […]

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