Infographic: Reaching 4 Generations of Alumni

by Luanne M. Lawrence, Senior Consultant, LML Marketing & Communications It is a complex task to reach alumni today: they fall into four generational categories, each with its own expectations around communication. Alumni staff are working hard – but often using the techniques that resonate most with Traditionals: print magazines; reunions; e-newsletters; direct mail. The […]

Donor Relations: What You “Should” Do and What You “Must” Do

In donor relations, it’s easy to split ourselves too many ways, pursuing too many initiatives at once. Often, we begin our work brainstorming about what we must do in order to build your program? To prioritize your efforts wisely, refer to the Four Pillars of Donor Relations (covered in full in my book): In this updated […]

“George”: How RIT is Encouraging Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Institutions seeking to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching are pursuing an array of approaches: hiring faculty into multiple departments based on shared interdisciplinary interests, launching research initiatives that provide additional funding to get interdisciplinary projects off the ground, and providing shared research spaces. One of the challenges that often remains is that faculty often […]

Advising: 3 Ways to Take the Conversation Beyond Registration

This article is an excerpt from Sue Ohrablo’s acclaimed book High-Impact Advising: A Guide for Academic Advisors, which you can find here. After an academic year begins, advisors can start to breathe a little easier once most of the fires have been put out, questions have been answered, schedule adjustments have been made, and students are […]

From Student Affairs Professional to Student Affairs Scholar: Taking Charge of the Change You Want to See

FOR THE STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONAL:THE CHANGE YOU NEED TO SEE AT YOUR INSTITUTIONS We’re excited to share this article with you because at Academic Impressions, we believe that the change you need to see at your institution is often within your own control, and that your professional development is key to building the skills and […]

10 Tips to Improve Your Meetings

Most meetings simply don’t work and are a waste of precious time. Unfortunately, many higher education leaders spend much of their professional lives in these unproductive meetings. Higher education runs on thousands of daily meetings including committees, task forces, departmental meetings, and so on. When was the last time you participated in an engaging, productive meeting […]

Financing and Planning Student Life Facilities

READ THE FULL SERIES This summer, we released an executive summary of the findings from a survey of institutions looking to add new student life facilities in the next year. You can read our executive summary here. Now, we are following up with lead architects and consultants who work with student life facilities in higher […]

Best Practices in Student Housing Design

READ THE FULL SERIES 1. Executive Summary: The Changing Shape of Student Life Facilities 2. Financing and Planning Student Life Facilities 3. Best Practices in Student Housing Design (this article) by Patrick Cain and Daniel Fusch (Academic Impressions) This summer, we released an executive summary of the findings from a survey of institutions looking to add new […]

This is How We Need to Rethink the Work of Student Affairs

by Daniel Fusch and Caleb Tegtmeier (Academic Impressions) The challenges facing our students and our institutions are more complex than in the past, and no single, siloed office can address these challenges adequately. That’s why some institutions have been forming student affairs innovation hubs to bring together a more diverse crew of creative minds from […]

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 […]