Enya Svoboda

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.

Social Strategy: How ATSU Bridged Departmental Divides to Build a Unified Social Media Presence

ATSU’s approach to unifying its social strategy across departmental divides has yielded an 879% increase in organic reach on Facebook. by Anne Ackroyd, Public Relations Specialist, A.T. Still University Over the past year, while most public pages have seen a significant decrease in organic reach on Facebook, A.T. Still University (ATSU) has seen an 879% increase (comparing June 2017 to June 2016). One of the major factors in ATSU’s success has been an innovative, university-wide social media committee, developed to overcome departmental divides and build a more unified social media presence. In early 2017, ATSU’s marketing team determined that the quantity of university-affiliated social media pages was undermining the institution’s reach and engagement. This problem is not unique to ATSU, a small graduate health sciences school of about 3,000 students. A quick search on Facebook for your alma mater will likely reveal dozens of pages that bear some variation of the institution’s logo. The problem stems from the silo mentality that plagues higher education. Faculty, staff and students often identify strongly with their area of study, rather than with the institution as a whole. In addressing this issue, ATSU developed a replicable model for a social media committee tailored to the […]

Have It Your Way (or Not): Customer Service Across Generations

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.

7 Strategies for Integrating Student Blogging into ePortfolios

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

World War Z? The Impact of Multiple Generations on Campus

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.

4 Common Misperceptions about EIT Compliance

Many institutions are not fully aware of the compliance expectations for their electronic and information technology (EIT) and often fail to meet accessibility requirements which can result in costly lawsuits and pesky OCR audits. EIT compliance is complex, yet manageable, and institutions have a duty to comply with the most recent OCR guidelines laid out in March 2014. To help your institution enhance compliance efforts within a reasonable timeframe, we interviewed an expert on disability compliance — L. Scott Lissner, ADA coordinator at The Ohio State University and past president of AHEAD, the Association on Higher Education and Disability. Why EIT Compliance Must Be a Priority This Year Lisa LaPoint: What are the common misperceptions about EIT compliance? Scott Lissner: There are four that are especially common. First, it is NOT just about classes.Discussions of EIT typically focus on web-based course delivery, etexts and virtual labs, but guidance and case law point to much more. A lot of other processes and documents must meet accessibility standards: As well as virtual tools of the workplace, such as: Developing standards will ensure access for students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and the general public who participate in your programs and activities. It is NOT […]

Frontline Fundraising Essentials: Outreach, Qualification, Visits, and the Ask

As a fundraising professional, you may feel unsure of how to move a prospect forward. In the early stages, how can you get the prospect’s attention and ask questions that fuel your next moves? Later in the cycle, how can you assess motivations and strategize visits that will support your asks? Join us online for a 4-part online training series that will help you create rigor in each phase of your process and offer new approaches to raise more dollars. If the following statements from each phase of the donor cultivation cycle resonate, then this series is for you: Outreach – “Getting in touch with prospects and donors is so much harder than I thought it would be, especially without a mature portfolio. I need to increase my successful contact rates and secure more visits.” Prospect Qualification – “Qualification is tough. I don’t know how to do the right research or ask the best questions in order to get the best yield from a prospect. I want to know as quickly as possible if I should include this person in my portfolio or move on.” Visits – “I have plenty of wonderful meetings with donors and prospects, but they don’t […]

Leadership Training for Department Chairs

Department chairs are the “front line” of academic management (whether or not, in fact, their positions are classified as management or as faculty) — yet most department chairs receive little or no training for their positions. There are reasons for this: Yet many problems that rise to higher levels of administration could be avoided or mitigated if they are handled by well-trained chairs in the first place. And institutions that neglect chairs do so at their own peril. Leadership training is especially critical now, given the pressures that tightened budgets, changing modes of delivery for instruction, increased demands for accountability, the growing diversity of the academy, and increased attention to employment law within academic institutions, all place on the expectations for department chairs. Why “Leadership” Training? Leadership training goes beyond other kinds of training. Indeed, the term “leadership training” might well be parsed out as a combination of training and leadership development: Developing a leadership training curriculum must take these features into account. The best training programs will both produce immediate outcomes and develop leadership skills over a sustained period of time. First, Identify Learning Outcomes What do your department chairs need to know, and when do they need to know it?Answering […]

Adopting a Peer Supervision Model to Enhance Student Support

Christie Maier, M.Ed., Associate Director, Transformative LearningUniversity of Kentucky Doing more with less It’s a message many in higher education have received before: “do more, with less.” Whether it’s a need to expand services with no additional funding or an impending budget cut, student support units often must be creative with their program models to meet student demand with limited resources. This was the case for the learning center at the University of Kentucky back in the late 2000s when the drop-in Peer Tutoring Program expanded to support all 100 level math courses, as well as many 100 & 200 level science and business courses. The resulting demand required professional staff to develop a student leadership position to provide supervision and administrative support for the Peer Tutoring Program. Student Program Coordinators (SPC) are undergraduate students who have worked for the learning center in some capacity, often as a peer tutor or front desk staff, for at least a year. These emerging leaders have demonstrated their ability to successfully balance their time, communicate effectively, as well as work on a team and are ready to take on additional responsibilities. SPCs work 20 hours per week and have three primary responsibilities: on-duty […]

Getting Performance Appraisals Right in College Admissions

In an era in which half the post-secondary institutions in the U.S. are facing enrollment declines, performance assessment and continuous improvement in admissions has never been more critical. Even those institutions with strong enrollments, experienced staff, and strong market position need to take the performance assessment process seriously. Why You Need to Do it Right Many of those who have worked with me over the course of the past 20 years will tell you I take performance assessment seriously. I believe one of the most important roles of a leader is to honestly, constructively and actively assesses performance of those who form the team. However, like most leaders, I had to learn how to assess performance, think carefully and adapt. Everyone has a different approach to performance assessment, and some will reject the notion that such assessments even have value. Those who cannot find value in this process,—or choose a superficial method like simply judging by the numbers, or having an annual conversation to ask “how’s it going”—are missing out on what can be a rewarding and integral part of effective talent development. It’s a leader’s job to mentor and develop talent. My master’s thesis focused on the performance assessment […]