Insights

My last Insight discussed the role of language diversity on college and university campuses. That’s one piece of a much larger diversity, inclusion and accessibility-whole comprising multiple moving parts whose edges can be sharp and textured and which don’t always fit together easily. This time, we’re going to talk about doing something difficult: giving your…Read more

This article previously appeared in Inside Higher Ed and it is posted here with permission of the author.   “Our university has been around for 150-plus years, but that doesn’t mean we’re immune to these threats.”   This comment, reflecting a tenor of the times, came from a discussion with a vice president for marketing…Read more

When helping an institution answer critical questions about marketing structure and staffing as part of an organizational assessment, I often think back to my time as a unit-level chief development officer early in my career. Please join me for a brief trip down memory lane to explain. I recall that formative experience well, because it was…Read more

A broader view of alumni engagement requires openness to new organizational models that will best support and mobilize alumni to advance an institution’s goals.

I often refer to that classic story of the man who spent his life in search of riches only to discover that his own home sat over a diamond mine. The lesson from the story popularized in the late 19th century by Russell Conwell, founder of Temple University, suggests that what we seek, particularly in…Read more

Teams of recruiters and development officers tell us that high levels of personalization are impossible given all of the demands on their time. We’ve been told that personal notes just cannot be expected when inquiry pools and alumni lists are as large as they are. Taking time for a personal note following a visit or phone conversation or for a hand-written event may, in fact, be the best possible investment you can make…Read more