Posted in January 2012 …

Jan 31 2012
11 Comments
First-Generation, Retention

First Generation College Student Support

Good day EMchat friends! This is my first official blog post with EMchat and I couldn’t be more excited to share one of my many passions with you. First generation college students! So where does all of this passion come from for this group of students? Experience! Yup, you guessed it…I am a first generation college graduate. Before I get into the “nitty-gritty” of how I’m trying to find ways to support these students, let me explain what definition I’m working with. At my institution, we define first generation college students the same as the U.S. Department of Education.  A student where neither the mother nor father obtained a bachelor’s degree = firstgen. It was 2 years ago that this wonder about my own college journey pushed me to think about how current firstgen students feel at my own university. As the Director of Housing, I had a chance to hear residents talk in the residence halls about feeling alone and not having anyone back home that understood their struggles in college. It was then that I realized, something has to be done. I sat with two of these students and we talked. A connection was made. Not between just me and the students but them with each other.

We decided to meet again next week and they brought friends. Soon we realized we were embarking upon something here. A support network for firstgen. They were beginning to find a sense of belonging and knew others on campus were understanding their challenges. Suddenly, other firstgen staff heard about it and came to our meetings. Well fast forward a year later and we now have a First Generation College Student group on campus that faculty, staff, and students participate. It’s such an amazing thing to see. It started with just a few people seeing a need and we responded. No money or fancy programming budget. Just conversations looking to inspire students to succeed and ultimately graduate. I hope that challenges and encourages you to do the same on your campus.

So there you have it! Follow me on twitter (@firstgencollege) or my Tumblr blog and join the conversation on continued support. Until we meet again…

Yolanda

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Jan 22 2012
2 Comments
Community, EM

Multicultural Recruitment and Retention: Staying current in a changing world

Hey everyone! I’m excited to be writing my first post in what will be a three-part series over the next couple months on multicultural recruitment and retention. I often get asked how a middle class White girl from Southern Minnesota got involved in this field, so I wanted to give you a little background before I delve in!

My passion for all things diversity-related started during my college years, when I found myself intrigued by the offerings of the Gustavus Diversity Center. Learning about different backgrounds and cultures quickly became a passion of mine. When I started my first job and was assigned the St. Paul Public Schools as part of my recruitment territory, I immediately sought out as much information as possible about the students I would be working with. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area has approximately 60,000 Hmong Americans, making it the largest metropolitan Hmong community in the country. I knew I would need to learn a lot about this population, so I read every book I could get my hands on, talked to current Hmong students at the college I worked for and found a “gatekeeper” in the Hmong community to help me make connections.

I knew that almost every college and university wanted to increase their population of non-White students and spent significant amounts of money recruiting from diverse communities. What I soon found out was that very few colleges were thinking about what it would take to retain these students, which is where my second passion was developed. You will notice I will always say I work in “multicultural recruitment and retention” because it is my firm belief that you cannot have one without the other. I consider myself incredibly lucky to now work at an institution that allows and encourages me to both, which has made it possible for me to develop strong relationships with the students I recruit during their time on campus.

Over the course of this series, I will look at best practices in multicultural recruitment and retention in higher education and share some ideas that I have been able to implement at my own institution. I look forward to learning from you as well and encourage feedback, questions and comments along the way! Feel free to connect with me via Twitter (@jhiscock) to continue the conversation and networking!

Peace,

Jillian

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Jan 18 2012
1 Comment
CRM

CRM: Focusing on Internal Relationships First

I’ve read this post by Tim Copeland a few times because I think the points raised are really interesting, and super pertinent for institutions to consider before implementing (or even deciding to implement) a CRM system.

What stands most to me is Copeland’s second point that “Technology is only ¼ of the CRM success equation.”

There are so many factors at play in the realm of higher education that (like the government) it’s sometimes difficult to get things done—much less to get them done in a way that everyone agrees with.  You HAVE to get buy in from all parties involved. How will different departments be involved?  You HAVE to come up with a sound strategy on how to best implement the system.  Is your goal to boost enrollment standards?  Is your goal to attract a more diverse student population?  Does everyone involved have the same goal?

While these are relevant points to the success of the launch of your school’s CRM, you also need to think about how you will utilize the data once it begins to flow in.  How will you manage the data?  WHO will manage your data?  What will be done with it?  Institutions have to have a strategy before you even consider implementing, let alone purchasing. This aids in the development of goals and lends toward fewer issues once you move from point A to B.

But, I think the main question to consider is: Do you have the right people for the job?  CRM technology is only as good as those who operate and utilize it.  Is your staff dedicated to making CRM a success?  Do they understand how to use the data once it’s literally in their hands?  Most importantly, are they motivated to use this data to enhance the enrollment management strategy of the institution?

If not, you’re stuck with a computer, a fancy (fairly expensive) program, and a waste of time and effort.  People are the ¾ you need to make your CRM system a success.  So while CRM is there to help manage your external relationships, make sure you invest a significant amount of time internally first.

We’ll be running an EM EdTech series in the summer, so I’d love to hear about your success stories, frustrations, and questions as we begin building it!

-Alex

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Jan 05 2012
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Community

Collaboration Breeds Inspiration

Back in June of 2011, I wrote my first post on my personal blog.  The title is, “Declaration: After 10 years, I’m still a highered novice“.   I have my Master’s in Enrollment Management.  I read countless articles about higher education.  I go to as many conferences as I can.  Even after all of that, I’m still a rookie.  There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t learn something new from someone in the industry.

Ever since Alex and Idecided to launch #EMchat on October 5, 2011, I have been inspired by every single participant.  You not only inspire me because of the passion and dedication you all put into providing young people the opportunity to attain a college education, but your willingness to collaborate and share your successes/failures to help others in our profession is humbling.

Back when I was coaching college volleyball, I learned very quickly that the easy part of the job was to find great athletes.  The hard part?  Getting a team of superstars to play as a team.  All those years I spent coaching, my favorite memories aren’t of the big wins; my favorite memories are of the group of players who accomplished the impossible due to sheer determination and teamwork.

This community is filled with individuals who achieve the impossible on their campuses… then on their spare time, come together via #EMchat and make the impossible seem so attainable through encouragement, support and collaboration.

You are the reason Alex and I plan to expand.  We want you to have a place to go to network, ask questions, find resources, and collaborate with your peers.

THANK YOU!

¡Ciao!

Jennielle

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Jan 03 2012
4 Comments
EM

Resolution: Expand

2011 was great.  2011 was awesome. 2011 was phenomenal.  We broke out 10 chats and generated thousands of tweets within our first three months of #EMchat. 

Jennielle and I put a lot of planning into those first few months, but we never really sat down and talked about what our mission was.  What was #EMchat defined by?  Looking back on 2011 I now realize that wasn’t necessary.  While it’s definitely built on pillars of collaboration, community, and expertise in the EM industry, our growth has been organic, and not having a defined mission has given us the flexibility to adapt to change, to implement great advice, and to try out some new ideas.  As we move into 2012, we’d like to make one resolution.

 Expand.  One word.  Straight.  Simple.  To the point.  Expand.

 Expand on Twitter

Twitter has provided us with an amazing medium for #EMchat.  We’ve worked through the time zone issues and found one of the last great time slots to chat.  We’re holding strong with Thursdays from 9-10 PM EST.

But, we know that you can’t make every chat (although we really wish you could).  It’s also not the best approach to announce a topic the Monday or Tuesday before a chat.  And so?  Expand.  Within the next few days you can look forward to a monthly calendar of future topics that will not only help us to better organize our thoughts and resources, but also allow you to hone in on specific topics you love.  While this is a small expansion, we think it will add leagues to deepening our conversations. 

But, we can’t expand without you.  There has been a ton of great feedback for future topics and we’re moving some of those thoughts into future series (similar to our #firstgen 1, 2, and 3).  Make sure you get in touch with us to let us know what topics you want to talk about.

Expand the Blog

We started the blog a little over a month ago and have been working to get it where we want it.  But, we also realize that where “we”, as in Jennielle and I, see our blog going may not be the same direction that others do.  We started #EMchat on the premise that it would be a collaborative community, and that’s what we hope this blog will be as well.

Each one of us has an area of expertise or special interest in enrollment management.  Twitter is great for thoughts under 140 characters, but we would love to have each of you contribute a post or two (or three or four) on your passion.  This is already an amazing community.  We know that this level of contribution and engagement will only continue to improve it.  Or, if you’re running your own blog (which many of you are), let’s link up and share.

Expand Your Network

We ended 2011 with an amazing networking chat.  We had over 40 participants and hit lots of high notes on personal levels with one another. 

Expand.  When I first started using twitter a few years ago I had a stagnant account because I didn’t know what my niche was.  After finding the #highered focus and getting involved with chats I felt more comfortable and like I was actually using it for a purpose.  So if your colleagues or friends in the industry aren’t on twitter, #EMchat is a great way to get started.

Jennielle and I try to make a point of continuing the conversations beyond twitter and it has been great to connect with many of you through other mediums.  We’d like to continue expanding that.

Most importantly though, there are tons of conferences coming up.  Let’s network for real. 

Here’s wishing all of you a very happy 2012!

What’s your resolution?

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