Blog
For higher-ed leaders.
High-impact practices, explained for student affairs
High-impact practices are AAC&U's named set of twelve, not a label for well-liked programming. Here is what they share and how co-curricular work fits.
Measuring outcomesReporting co-curricular outcomes to a provost or accreditor
A provost tests whether you know the weaknesses in your own number. An accreditor tests whether your assessment loop closes. Two audiences, two documents.
Student retentionRetention for commuter and online college students
Commuter and online students leave for structural reasons, not motivational ones. Four design changes reach them, and none is a virtual residential program.
Student retentionMeasuring the retention ROI of a co-curricular program
A retention ROI case that survives a CFO review needs a defined denominator, a comparison group that is not the institutional average, and staff time.
Campus leadership programsStaffing a campus leadership program with no new headcount
Campus leadership programs rarely die of student apathy. They die because one staff member was quietly running everything. The fix puts students in the roles.
Student-led campus organizations without staff workload
Student-led is not staff-free, and the difference is where most campus organizations fail. Five features separate a group that runs itself from a staff project.
Campus leadership programsStudent organization to credential-bearing campus program
A club becomes a program when finishing it means something specific. Three changes: a defined sequence, a participation definition, and documented recognition.
Campus leadership programsThe true cost of building your own campus leadership program
A homegrown campus leadership program looks free because its largest costs are staff hours nobody counts. Here are the five recurring lines to account for.
Career readinessWhat career readiness means in higher education
Institutions, employers and students judge career readiness against different evidence, which is why the same class can be 83.8% ready and 37% ready at once.
Career readinessTeaching students to articulate the skills they already have
Students build durable skills and then fail to name them. Articulation is coachable inside structures you already run: advising, co-curriculars, peer groups.
Career readinessRaising college internship participation: the real levers
Most students who want an internship never get one, and awareness campaigns do not fix it. Participation targets, employer pipelines, and placement do.