Brain Waves Blog

I’m going to be vulnerable in this post. This is intentional; you haven’t stumbled across a mistakenly published diary entry. Our educational institutions serve humans with a myriad of feelings, challenges, and experiences. This is mine, and I hope it helps you understand others’.

Last academic year ended tumultuously for many campuses with protests and graduation converging at the end of the semester. We’ve spent some time thinking about how campuses can reimagine, reframe, and rebuild their place in communities and society—and the public’s trust—amidst the current state of unrest in the Middle East and on many campuses. A key concern is understanding how to center our audiences and their needs when we know they’re far from homogenous.

Alumni are a valuable asset and nurturing relationships with them contributes to the future success of your campus. Proud alumni share their experience with others to potentially sway an undecided student or make a gift to help current and future students shine even brighter on campus. Their authentic campus outcomes stories strengthen audience connections and generate positive affinity for your brand. 

This spring, we hosted virtual roundtables that brought more than 300 higher ed professionals together to discuss the value of a college degree, innovative strategic planning, and growing graduate enrollment. 

We don’t need another study proclaiming that public trust in colleges and universities is at an all-time low in our country. The conclusions are predictable, and so is the response; a defense of higher education as it always has been, often putting the blame on the public who just doesn’t get why it’s so important. Defending, rather than listening to understand, is doing more harm than good.

With the demographic shift and many other changes happening on higher ed campuses, leveraging graduate enrollment as a campus growth opportunity is top of mind for many. Before you begin development, it’s critical to think through how to build competitive graduate programs and understand how to effectively recruit and retain graduate students.