Jul 23rd 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Reinventing Your Adult Student Programs

I had the great fortune this week to talk at length with a professional who has spent nearly 30 years in higher education. This, in itself, is not that unusual; I actually meet a pretty significant number of people with this background. What I sit in awe of is that this gentleman, newly retired, was his institution’s reinvention expert, the person they looked to for decades to start something new... read more

Jul 8th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

The Fear of Looking Within

It is a frightening thing really, being able to open up your institution and allow someone in to take a look at your process (for recruitment, or marketing, or any one of a handful of things we do in the world of higher education), in many ways it is like inviting a stranger into your house and encouraging them to open your closet doors. A bit unsettling, to say the least! Yet I can’t help but think... read more

Jun 24th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

What I Learned From the For-Profits

As many of you read in my last blog, I attended the Career College Association Conference last week and promised to share with you what I learned, picked up on, and think might be helpful to all of you. First let me say the CCA Conference is a huge event. Hundreds of people (I never heard the official count) and former President Bill Clinton as a keynote. You can imagine, it was quite a thing to participate... read more

Jun 11th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

For-Profit Institutions Serving Adult Students

This week I will have the pleasure of attending the Career College Association (CCA) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. I attend this conference each year to keep an eye on what is happening in for-profit education and how it will impact the public and private institutions that I spend the majority of my time with. This is a large group. According to their website CCA has 1,400 member institutions, and... read more

May 27th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Hiding Behind Institutional Mission

When I set out to write Up to Speed: Marketing to Today’s Adult Student I wanted one of the chapters in the book to specifically addresses WHY institutions need to diversify their student populations, particularly in these challenging times. When I wrote that chapter I was somewhat amused by the idea of it. Really, when you think about it, how many of us, personally, don’t diversify to reduce risk?... read more

May 14th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Planning vs. Reacting – What are you doing?

It is that magic time of year, that time when the May 1st deposits are counted for the traditional residential student population and the panic (or celebration) ensues. This year is no different, and in many ways is more unnerving as I hear time and again from traditional student admissions counselors that many typical benchmarks have not held true. So what is your institution doing with its May 1... read more

Apr 29th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Implementing New Ideas? Take the Time.

My three straight weeks of conferences have come to a close and it really has been a great opportunity for learning. These events always remind me of the truly innovative things that many institutions are trying in an effort to “do better” in the world of marketing and recruitment. And while some ideas I see people writing down at conferences are really creative and different, other things that... read more

Apr 16th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

The Extreme Sport of Adult Student Recruitment

Today I had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Tina Seelig, the executive director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program speak on entrepreneurship and the role that higher education plays in teaching our students to be creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial as they move into the workplace. It was, quite simply, a great presentation. Dr. Seelig’s message seemed fairly straightforward—thinking... read more

Apr 1st 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Conference Time – Exploring Innovation in Recruitment

April, for me, marks the beginning of a three-week stretch of great conferences that will offer opportunities for speaking, learning, and connecting with many of you. The month starts with the UCEA conference in California, moves to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators, and returns to California for the NAGAP conference toward the end of the month. I am always... read more

Mar 23rd 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Get “Up to Speed” for Institutional Planning

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with several folks who had attended our Adult Student Marketing conference in San Antonio. We discussed how they were using the information they gathered at that event. The common theme among them was the notion of “perfect timing” for both the conference and Stamats’ release of the book Up to Speed: Marketing to Today’s Adult Student. Many of our participants... read more