As the Technical Project Coordinator, Enya is focused on supporting the development team to keep projects moving efficiently and ensuring technical solutions are delivered on time. She works closely with our cross-departmental product team to organize project development, manage timelines, problem-solve, and handle task management to meet both internal and external objectives. With a diverse background in real estate, marketing, and a BA in Business Administration from Creighton University, Enya is learning Agile Methodology frameworks to optimize project flow and support the team’s success. When she’s not at work, Enya is helping launch her family’s hydroponic container farm in Nebraska, playing tennis, and values spending quality time with friends and family.
In 12 years, the number of food pantries on college campuses has grown from 1 to 700. However, due to the cultural stigma of facing hunger, the existence of a food pantry, by itself, does not solve the issue of student food insecurity. In early 2019, the Hope Center reported that up to 45% of today’s higher education students face food insecurity. Many colleges and universities are responding to this alarming number by creating on campus food pantries to meet students’ dietary needs. In 2007, the College and University Food Bank Alliance knew of only one food pantry operating on a college campus. As of October 2019, the Government Accountability Office estimated that this number had grown to more than 700! While this growth is remarkable, the existence of a food pantry does not guarantee that food-insecure students are receiving the assistance that they need. The cultural stigma associated with facing hunger in the United States, of being seen by their peers receiving free food, can discourage students from utilizing on-campus pantries. The fear of stigma leaves administrators tasked with pantry operation with some difficult logistical choices: While conducting research into the many challenges of addressing food insecurity in higher […]
Campus recreation facilities have evolved into hubs for student academic, social, and physical engagement. Institutions as diverse as the University of Alabama, Macalester College, the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, and DePauw University have taken very intentional approaches to designing their recreation facilities in ways that contribute to an improved quality of life for their campus communities. This week, we interviewed George Brown, the executive director of recreation at the University of Alabama. In the podcast below, Brown discusses how his campus has utilized the trends of modern recreation facility design in an on-campus facility that will meet both current and future student needs — and how this effort will help his institution continue to take positive strides in enrolling and retaining students. Podcast: An Interview with George Brown, University of Alabama Key Questions to Ask Your Design Team To ensure a recreation facility that meets student needs, George Brown recommends asking the following questions during the design process: See Upcoming Facilities Events
A college community has perhaps the most generationally diverse members of any organization. From Baby Boomers and Generation X to Millennials and Gen Z, today’s students and employees alike co-navigate university systems with vastly different expectations of how they like to be treated as customers. These varying preferences have great impact on the campus culture as a whole, as well as on the diverse knowledge and skills service providers need in order to deliver great experiences for all. This virtual training will provide you with a greater awareness of the varying preferences for customer service that exist for employees and students in college and university communities, as well as a look at how service providers can modify styles to meet expectations and enhance the university experience across generations.
Many academics are searching for new strategies to showcase evidence of student learning. At the same time, students increasingly desire coursework that reaches beyond the boundaries of their campus to showcase academic and personal growth. The use of blogging in ePortfolios is a perfect solution to meet assessment and student engagement needs. Join us for a webcast as we examine seven key strategies for incorporating personalized learning into ePortfolios with the use of student blogging. Our expert instructor will walk you through the process of integrating blogging into the ePortfolios of both courses and programs. Further, we will examine the major challenges you stand to face, including: Determining the appropriate hosting platform Prompting quality student reflection Providing efficient instructor feedback Leveraging blogging to influence learning assessment
“Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.”– Jane Austen, Persuasion A decade ago, when I was getting started in the legal department at Missouri State University, one of our campuses became embroiled in a turf dispute with another educational institution. Stakeholders from both institutions met to explore collaborative options. The stakeholder meeting was wholly unsuccessful. In a last attempt to avoid an inevitable clash, our general counsel asked me to draft a message from our president to the other institution’s president (along with staff at the state department of higher education) advising them to stand down. Before drafting the letter, I met with the president and the other stakeholders who had attended the meeting. From their perspective, the offers made at the meeting were comically unreasonable. We felt disrespected and grossly undervalued. Based on those conversations, I decided the letter should be professional, but aggressive and decisive. I also decided the letter should be short and concise to convey our strength and confidence. I drafted a scathing letter, designed to evoke a negative reaction. The letter: No apologies. No sugarcoating. No counteroffer. No offers to meet again. I nervously delivered the letter to my president. He read […]
Use Our Learning Plans to Combat Burnout and Gain New Skills Become a member to gain access to all learning plan resources. Start our member favorite learning paths for a deeper dive into current challenges around workplace culture and communication. Become a member to get full access to these plans. We will also work to match you with the resources that align with your development goals and create custom learning plans for you and your team. Workplace Culture and Morale Approx. 8.5 hours Learn how to maintain a positive workplace culture and morale within your team by building resilience, integrating inclusivity, engaging in empathy, reducing bullying, understanding microaggressions, and more. Download the Learning Plan Effective Communication Approx. 6.5 hours Learn how to manage conflict, confront toxicity, and cultivate an engaging persona on your video calls. Download the Learning Plan Professional Communication Approx. 8.5 hours Learn the most crucial communication skills you need as a leader navigating through remote work and high-anxiety times. Download the Learning Plan Our current members are using custom learning plans to: Create a development plan to achieve a particular strategic goal Help team members stay engaged and motivated over the summer Provide a focused plan to […]
This article continues a series focused on Creating an Innovative Institutional Mindset. More articles will follow. The previous article in this series is: Creative thinking skills are more important than ever if we are to deal with the vast and complex array of challenges facing many colleges and universities. In my last article I discussed the difficulty of creating and nurturing innovation within an academic organization. In my experience, the forces for preserving the status quo are especially powerful within academic organizations and are institutionalized in ways that make change very difficult. Moreover, those who are well positioned and authorized by role and formal authority to lead change are often weighed down with workloads and responsibilities that can kill the creative impulse. Perhaps it is no wonder that, according to a national study, the average tenure of a chief academic officer or provost is only 4.7 years, compared to the significantly longer 8.5 average tenure of all college presidents. According to this same study, the top frustrations for chief academic officers include lack of resources, difficulty cultivating leadership in others, curmudgeonly faculty, campus infighting, and unresponsive campus governance structures. Only 31% of respondents view ‘leading change and fostering innovation’ as job priorities; […]
With more generations in the workplace than ever before, there is no shortage of jokes, social media flurry, and casual speculation about the Millennials in your team meeting or the Boomer down the hall. Interestingly, while we love to discuss these topics, very few people actually know what their differences are beyond vague stereotypes like “work ethic” and “quiet quitting.” Many of these conversations also lack the nuance that includes a judgement-free understanding of why the generations are different. This session will demystify the strengths and weaknesses of each generation, confirm that your favorite 15-year-old TikTok influencer is not a millennial, and provide you with information that you can use to navigate the varying work styles, expectations, and communication patterns that you encounter across generations in your everyday context.
The University of the Virgin Islands (an HBCU with campuses on St. Thomas and St. Croix US Virgin Islands) saw their alumni giving rate increase from 13% to 42% in the past year during the institution’s “50 for 50 Campaign” celebrating UVI’s 50th anniversary. What is especially noteworthy about this jump in giving rate is how UVI did it: rather than relying heavily on reunion, other on-campus events, or even alumni events in other locations to boost giving rate, UVI reached out to alumni at 30 local community events and festivals throughout the year. Rather than just bring alumni back to UVI, their annual giving and alumni affairs staff and volunteers went out into the community to find their alumni — where their alumni were already gathering. Intrigued by UVI’s ambitious (and effective) alumni outreach, we interviewed Linda Smith, UVI’s director of annual giving and alumni affairs, and Nanyamka Farrelly, UVI’s public relations officer, to learn more about UVI’s approach in the past year. Here is what they shared with us. Academic Impressions (AI): Linda, Nanyamka, thank you for joining me for this conversation. I am fascinated by your approach. What did your participation at these community events look like? […]
