Special Edition: The College or University President in Crisis Response and Recovery

How ready are you to communicate with key constituents and with the public during and after a crisis at your institution? Drawing on interviews conducted in 2010-2014 with crisis communications expert Cindy Lawson, Academic Impressions offers you this bundle of complimentary articles unpacking some of the thornier issues in crisis communications. We hope these resources […]

Your Institution’s Value Proposition: Affordability or Employability?

A few years ago, we interviewed W. Kent Barnds at Augustana College because we noticed his college had an especially proactive plan for talking with applicants, admits, and their families about both the value of attending that specific institution and about the return on their investment. While the national conversation about completion and outcomes has […]

The Trump Effect on International Students: Early Indications & Insights

Much has been written in the last few weeks about the possible negative consequences of the current administration’s policies towards immigration. The travel ban is the latest in a series of actions or statements that include policy changes affecting undocumented immigrants already in the United States and the plans to build a wall on the […]

Integrating Anti-Racist Initiatives into Current DEI Strategies: A Conversation for Chief Diversity Officers

FREE WEBCAST Integrating Anti-Racist Initiatives into Current DEI Strategies: A Conversation for Chief Diversity Officers   On-Demand Recording Learn and share current practices for integrating anti-racist initiatives into your overall campus diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Unveiling and undoing institutional practices, policies, and procedures that perpetuate racial inequity among students, staff, and faculty continues to […]

What is the Blockchain and How Can It Transform Higher Education?

What is blockchain? As academic leaders, you want to stay on top of what’s coming next. And the blockchain could transform how colleges and universities operate in 5 critical ways. What is the Blockchain? The blockchain has been described as the new internet, the next generation of data and information. As a digital ledger that […]

What the President Looks for in a Chief of Staff

Here is what a president looks for in a new chief of staff – the three qualities that matter most. In this series of articles, experienced chiefs of staff offer critical advice on managing the chief of staff role. We will share their answers to questions such as these: How do you make yourself available […]

6 Questions Deans Need to Ask when Calling on Prospects

The following article is based on “The Appointment with a Prospect or Donor: DOs and DON’Ts,” the second chapter in Jim Langley’s book Fundraising for Deans. A dean’s role in fundraising is to cultivate the relationships that are critical to sustained fundraising success. That kind of relationship begins when two parties make a “connection” based […]

We are Outside the Box – Now is the Time to Think Like It

What does the future of higher education hold? How will our sector emerge from this crisis? To answer these questions well, we need to think bigger and bolder, with all the creativity at our disposal. by W. Kent Barnds, Executive Vice President for External Relations, Augustana College I once had a boss I called “the […]

Graduate Enrollment Marketing: Digital Tactics That Work

Marketing graduate degree programs is both an art and a science, and we wanted to take a deep look at who is doing this well — and how they’re doing it. In this series of four articles (you’re reading the third), we ask an expert panel four questions to explore the changing landscape of graduate […]

Outsourcing Financial Aid Operations

Financial aid offices at colleges that are experiencing rising enrollment as well as increased percentages of the student population seeking financial aid find themselves facing: High inbound call volume (especially at peak times) Longer lines as students unable to get through by phone visit the office in person A bottleneck in staff time and resources […]