Mar 4th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

Top Takeaways from the Conference!

Just back from Stamats’ Adult Student Marketing Conference and WOW—what a great group we had this year! The presentations were excellent, the participants were engaged, and the conversations were rich. I think it is fair to say everyone in attendance went home with a new idea or two to put into practice right away to benefit their program. I like to end events like this by asking participants to... read more

Feb 19th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

See You in San Antonio

As I prepare to leave for the 2010 Stamats’ Adult Student Marketing Conference I am so excited for the opportunity to come together with professionals whose day to day responsibilities involve working with adult students. In one of the early pieces I wrote for Stamats a few years ago I referred to adult students as afterthoughts at many institutions. While I believe many colleges and universities... read more

Feb 4th 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

2010 Stamats’ Adult Student Marketing Conference

It’s February, and we are closing in on two significant events in the area of serving adult students. First, Stamats’ Adult Student Marketing Conference in San Antonio, TX February 23–25. For those of you who attended last year, I hope to see you back again! If you have not joined us for this event please consider making the trip to San Antonio for a great conference filled with opportunities... read more

Jan 22nd 10 Posted by Brenda Harms

The Data Is In – 2009 Stamats Adult StudentsTALK™

It is always exciting to see much anticipated project results. I am very pleased to see the data from our 2009 Stamats Adult StudentsTALK ™ research. Several months ago Stamats committed to repeating the adult student research that was done in 2008. And it is in no small part due to what had happened in the economy and the questions that were asked about how that might impact adults returning to... read more

Dec 7th 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

The Pressure to Do Better

While presenting the last few weeks at CAEL and Stamats Graduate Student Marketing Conference, I found an overwhelming concern about the tremendous pressure to do better. It really goes without saying that marketing and recruitment professionals are being pressured now more than ever before to do a better job and have the proof be in the numbers—the enrollment numbers . While I understand the stress... read more

Nov 20th 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference – WOW!

What a week! Graduate school professionals from across the country gathered last week in Boston to join Stamats and other higher education experts for a great conference. I feel fortunate to have participated in a great couple of days of conversation. While we were all impressed with some excellent presentations, great data, and goals to aspire to, the best part of the conference for me was the extraordinarily... read more

Nov 2nd 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

Stamats Focuses on Graduate Students

In just a short few weeks I will be heading off to Boston for the Stamats Integrated Marketing: Graduate Student Marketing Conference that focuses solely on the graduate student population. While I am excited about the program which includes speakers from private (Fordham University) and public (Ohio University), online (Penn State World Campus), and branch campuses (Northeastern State University–Broken... read more

Oct 9th 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

Are Things Changing In Your Graduate Student Population?

Graduate students have long been a part of many institutions overall enrollment, but how much attention have they really gotten? In the area of recruitment, I think the graduate population has been thought of as being “different” than the traditional population. There is an expectation that these adult will move themselves through the enrollment funnel and that the most serious (or most sought... read more

Sep 28th 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

Time for Change – Have You Asked the Right Questions?

If indeed you are considering taking on my challenge of raising the issue with your administration about making some changes to your adult student programs I will caution you to start at the beginning – find out what your students want. So often in higher education we have a tendency to roll out the program that a department is “willing” to allow us to have. Or we design course delivery modes... read more

Sep 11th 09 Posted by Brenda Harms

Your Adult Student Program – What Has Changed?

Ask yourself this question seriously. I’m guessing your answer will be something similar to what I hear all across the country – not a whole lot!  Many institutions haven’t changed their programs’ offerings, delivery format, or marketing strategy in over 10 years. Sound familiar? This is shocking, especially considering the bold history that many institutions blazed with very progressive adult... read more