News

Taking Marketing Materials From Print to Online: A Few Tips

More colleges are trimming back print viewbooks and related materials and moving to more digital approaches; most recently, the University of Colorado at Boulder hopes to save more than $250,000 a year by scaling back its recruiting brochures. We turned to Elizabeth Scarborough, CEO of SimpsonScarborough, and Jason Simon, director of marketing and communication services for the University of California, for their tips on making the print-to-online transition most effectively. First, Don’t Rule Out Print Entirely Scarborough cites the case of one institution that has decided to eliminate the print run of its alumni magazine, transitioning the entire distribution to an online version. However, data collected on the preferences of the readers indicates that 30% of the institution’s alumni want to receive only a print magazine. By canceling all the print distribution, this university is risking losing up to one third of their readership. “That’s a real mistake,” Scarborough warns. “While I am 100% a supporter of a greater mix of print and electronic, I firmly believe that print is not yet dead. Some members of your target audience may still have a very strong preference for print, and that is to be respected.” “You don’t have to eliminate an […]

Succession Planning for IT

Amid a wave of CIO retirements, it is critical for information technology leaders in higher education to engage in proactive succession planning and talent development throughout their IT organizations. We asked Tim Chester, chief information officer at Pepperdine University, for his advice on developing leadership competencies within IT. Invest in Developing More Than Just Technical Skills Developing a successful IT organization and successful candidates for future leadership, Chester notes, involves prioritizing a set of competencies that are above and beyond technical skills. When hiring and promoting staff, most IT organizations can rely on a set of expectations around minimums having to do with years of experience and skill sets. However, it is also critical to set expectations around the mastery of competencies having to do with the delivery of service and engagement with users in improving your institution’s use of technology. For example, Pepperdine University’s IT organization has two tiers of core competencies. The first tier consists of those skills necessary to provide good and consistent service: A second set identifies those skills that enable staff to “go the extra mile” in providing excellent service and engaging users in meaningful ways: These skills, Chester suggests, are critical to the advancement […]

Improving the Academic Success of Latino Students

While many colleges are making investments in recruiting Latino students, Western Oregon University, a public institution primarily serving first-generation students, has made significant investments in supporting and retaining Latino students. Oregon Live reported that WOU raised its completion rate for Latino students 16% between 2002 and 2007 (the 2007 rate was 49%, actually several points higher than white students at WOU). We asked David McDonald, associate provost at WOU, for advice he would offer his peers on where to start in improving graduation rates for Latino students. Start with Your Data “Start collecting the data now. What are the characteristics of successful versus not successful students?”David McDonald, Western Oregon U Among your Latino students, look for which cohorts are achieving success and which are not. This tells you both where you can reinvest funding for current efforts in order to capitalize on current successes, and where your greatest needs are. Factor in: Conduct an Advising Audit “Start with advising. Is your college really doing what it needs to do?”David McDonald, Western Oregon U Because many Latino students are first-generation and lack the support network that may be available to traditional students, advising is especially critical. In auditing academic advising, look […]

Weathering a Year of Increased Student Price Sensitivity

Jon Boeckenstedt, associate vice president of enrollment management at DePaul University, and Joseph Russo, director of student financial strategies at the University of Notre Dame, offer advice on assessing price sensitivity as you look to weather the next year. What No One Should Be Doing Boeckenstedt advises against one common scenario in which a cabinet member asks enrollment management to begin with expenditure assumptions and then determine how much tuition must increase to meet the expenditures. Now more than ever, Boeckenstedt suggests, universities must assess what their market is willing to pay for the services they are offering. You may be charging too much (and straining your financial aid resources to take up the slack), or you may be charging too little. You need to know. You also need to distinguish between price sensitivity for different schools (for example, your business school versus your school of education) and for different classes (it may be advisable to consider distinct fee increases for freshmen versus returning students). “Identify what you can reasonably charge and then decide what you can do with that revenue. Don’t start with how much you need to spend.”Jon Boeckenstedt, DePaul U If you are approached by your president […]

Communicating Conflicts of Interest to the Public

According to the Chronicle, one-fourth of private institutions do business with their trustees’ companies. Potential conflicts of interest involving board members or high-ranking officials certainly are not limited to private colleges, however; North Carolina State University’s termination of Mary Easley and the uncovering of the University of Illinois’ previous board’s interference in the admissions process each represent highly publicized examples. We asked Cindy Lawson, media relations expert and vice president for public relations and communications at DePaul University, for practical tips on what and how to communicate to the public when a conflict of interest involves a member of the board, in order to manage the impact on the institution’s reputation. Be Forthright and Specific “From my experience, the chances of an institution’s reputation remaining intact are far better when that institution is forthright and admits the conflict, shares as much information as it possibly can, and most importantly, describes the measures it is taking to ensure it doesn’t happen again, as opposed to trying to hide it, hoping that no one finds out, or worse — trying to deny it or cover it up once it is exposed.”Cindy Lawson, DePaul University In a case involving an unintentional conflict of […]

When Conflicts of Interest Involve the Board

The Chronicle notes that one fourth of private institutions do business with their trustees’ companies. Further emphasizing the extent of possible conflicts of interest involving high-ranking officials at private institutions, another study (login required) notes that many presidents at US institutions with the largest endowments supplement their salaries with lucrative posts on corporate boards. We asked Lucie Lapovsky, president of Lapovsky Consulting and past president of Mercy College, for her advice on how institutional presidents can best manage institution/board relationships to either prevent a conflict of interest or minimize the negative impact if there are already existing conflicts. If Possible, Avoid the Conflict in the First Place “You’re far better off not having business relationships with your board members.”Lucie Lapovsky, Lapovsky Consulting Even if the relationship is entered into with the best of intentions, it is very difficult to terminate it if needed. Lapovsky cites the example of a construction contract with a board member’s company. It is rare in any case for a major capital project to stay on time and on budget. When the time comes for your institution to engage in difficult mid-project negotiations with the contractor, the decision of how hard to push the contractor will […]

Reaching out to the Town During Campus Expansion

There have been several stories in the news lately about colleges with growing enrollments that are planning for campus expansion (including Loyola and New York University), and these stories have highlighted both the importance and challenges of strong town-gown relations during the capital planning process. We asked Mark Beck, director of capital planning at the University System of Maryland for insights into how institutions can more effectively invite town participation in a campus expansion planning effort. Engage Your Community Early and Often “It’s not so much what you do to engage your community, but how you do it.”Mark Beck, U System of Maryland The most important investment you can make is to engage your community as often as possible. Beck suggests that you can’t simply go through the motion of holding meetings and communicating via the web and newsletters. You have to actually listen and engage your community in the planning process. He points to examples of public meetings that he convened early in his career that weren’t successful because the university approached the discussion as an announcement of their plans rather than as a listening opportunity. Beck suggests making the meetings more regular, less formal, and more focused on dialogue. Equally […]

Energy Efficiency: Partnering Successfully with an ESCO

A recent feature in The Chronicle detailed how as funds for facilities decrease, more colleges are signing performance contracts with energy services companies (ESCOs); often, an experienced ESCO can implement much needed infrastructure improvements and efficiency projects that are then paid for by energy savings. However, the Chronicle notes several cases in which poorly structured partnerships led to long negotiations late in the project or even litigation, and quotes one expert, the president of Synchronous Energy Solutions, as remarking, “If you’re going to try to fix everything at the end, it’s a lost cause for everyone — the ESCO and the owner.” We turned to Bruce Colburn, chief operating officer at EPS Capital Corp., who has both taken part on many college review committees selecting ESCOs and served at an ESCO, for advice on how colleges can set up a successful partnership from the beginning — including what to consider in the RFP, the selection process, and the contract. The Right RFP “Don’t write an RFP asking for a book or a three-ring binder full of information. Too much information is as bad as too little.”Bruce Colburn, EPS Capital Corp Nor will it be useful to review an overwhelming list […]

Resource Allocation for IT in a Time of Lean Budgets

Recent news has been rife with stories of information technology budgets slashed, and of chief information officers needing to make quick decisions around cuts and resource reallocation. Most recently, Campus Technology reported — in a dramatically titled article, “Campus IT Under the Knife” — that the University of Illinois, owed $431 million by the state government, has asked its chief information officer to cut $30 million from an IT budget that has already been frozen for the past 5 years. In a climate of such urgent cost containment, IT expenditures are frequently one place that institutional leaders look to for savings. We asked Shah Ardalan, vice chancellor of technology services and CIO for the Lone Star College System, who has built a reputation for savvy IT budget management, for his advice on how IT leaders can take a strategic look at costs and resource allocation during an ongoing budget crisis. Interview with Shah Ardalan AI: How can the CIO best revisit resource allocation and determine the right “blend” of cuts? Ardalan: These are the best times to recheck priorities against the organization’s values and strategies.  Based on the current economic challenges, many strategies changed which should result in project reprioritization.  Protecting true […]

Making a Compelling Case for Scholarship Endowments

In this week’s news, Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) is adopting a “need blind” admissions policy; Hamilton expects over the next four years to add about $2 million to its annual financial aid budget. Initially, that additional expense will be borne by six trustees, who have each pledged $500,000 to seed the need-blind effort, and then from an anticipated $40 million supplied by capital campaign. While most institutions are not considering something on the scale of need blind admissions, many colleges are working to establish endowed scholarships or other financial aid through donor support. We asked Jim Langley, founder and president of Langley Innovations, and past vice president of advancement at Georgetown University, for advice on how to make the most compelling case possible to donors. A Sense of Shared Enterprise “Make sure that your donors and prospective donors know that this has to be a shared enterprise. You can’t reach the goal without their support.”Jim Langley, Langley Innovations Langley recommends framing your message to donors in terms of a shared enterprise. This entails a shift from “bucket-oriented fundraising” to “project-oriented fundraising.” In bucket-oriented fundraising, you set a dollar goal for a particular “bucket” (perhaps student aid) and ask donors who are giving to […]