Apr 14th 11 Posted by Eric Sickler

Launch Major Marketing Projects With Verve

When building a strong case to support doing something new or different, humans working in an organization usually default to building a laundry list of associated benefits. For example, “We should do a capital campaign so we can build a new Student Center.” Or, “We should revamp our core curriculum so our students will graduate with a skills set that will make them more immediately employable.”  In... read more

Apr 14th 11 Posted by Bob Sevier

The Flying Squad

I have this fantasy. I am a member of a flying squad, a group of highly trained people who travel to emergencies and quickly resolve the situation. If you are a fan of English murder mysteries (which I am), you know that most flying squads involve highly trained police: The best forensics people, the best interviewers, the crime scene investigators. Each person is highly trained, highly motivated,... read more

Mar 18th 11 Posted by Brenda Harms

SUCCESS! 2011 Stamats Adult Student Marketing Conference

At this year’s third annual Stamats Adult Student Marketing Conference we had two attendees who have actually attended this conference since its inception in 2009.  Following the conference, one of these two distinguished guests said, “The best one yet.” From my vantage point, I could not agree more.  Without a doubt, the conference started off strong as attendees had the opportunity to hear... read more

Mar 18th 11 Posted by Bob Sevier

It’s Time to Build a Better Mousetrap

The recent Moody report reminded everyone (as if they needed reminding) that much of higher education is in a financial free-fall. The report (see link http://www.nhhefa.com/documents/moodys2011OutlookforU.S.HigherEducation.pdf), which came out in January 2011, cited three primary reasons for the financial difficulty:  Weakened prospect for net tuition revenue growth causing market shifts favoring... read more

Feb 17th 11 Posted by Joshua Dodson

Always Know Some Valuable Number

At a recent KPI dashboard workshop I conducted with Julie Staggs, I heard a very interesting area of concern from one of the attendees. The attendee said, “I want to always know some valuable number.” This intrigued me for several reasons: 1.    To get something ”valuable,” one must swim through the sea of irrelevance hoping to find something useful. 2.    An underlying concern within... read more

Feb 11th 11 Posted by Julie Staggs

Guest Blog with Sean-Michael Green, Dean of Graduate and Adult Enrollment, Marist College

Why did you choose to be in graduate admissions? I have a passion for higher education.  My prior life includes significant work as an entrepreneur, starting and managing companies with limited resources to achieve measureable goals.  When I decided to pursue my dream of working in higher ed, a logical place for me was in admissions. The skills used to accomplish the successful launch of a new organization,... read more

Feb 8th 11 Posted by Bob Sevier

Qualities in a New President

Last week I was called by a headhunter who was helping a client find a new president. I get these calls a lot and they usually begin like this, “What are the four or five most important qualities we should look for?”  I invariably tell them to look for someone who is: A visionary A leader A team builder A fundraiser I’ve addressed most of these qualities in past, so let me be brief.  First,... read more

Feb 2nd 11 Posted by CJ Cunniff

Remove the Data That Doesn’t Matter

As promised from my last post I’m going to talk about something that sounds very “advanced” but is actually one of the easiest things to understand in the world of analytics.  Advanced segments are a tool that Google has created to allow us to view a subset of all of our data.  This is a very important topic for us to understand because data in aggregate tends to be one of the root causes... read more

Jan 27th 11 Posted by James Vineburgh

Managing Web Projects: Easier than Herding Cats?

Managing a web redesign project  can be compared to attempting to herd cats! For starters, there are a lot of cats involved: strategists, graphic designers, writers, developers, and managers. At a bare minimum, cats in these roles will be involved in redesigning your web site.  And, that group is only comprised of the agency side. On your end, you have administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and... read more

Jan 25th 11 Posted by CJ Cunniff

Sometimes Data Can Lie?

I am an absolutely huge fan of utilizing analytics data to make sound business decisions.  I honestly can’t imagine trying to make very many decisions based on pure gut instinct (maybe I have trust issues with myself?).  With that said, it is important to realize that what most people refer to as sound data for business decisions is potentially a lie (or, at the very least, a stretching of... read more