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How the University of Maryland Engages Previously Unengaged Alumni with Online Book Clubs

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How the University of Maryland Engages Previously Unengaged Alumni with Online Book Clubs

If you could meaningfully engage hundreds of alumni who had never interacted with your institution before with a program that didn’t require staff time to run, you would, right?

We probably all would. But that might not stop us from being skeptical if we were told that the program that could do that is a virtual book club.

But the proof of the book club is in the reading. Jeff Williams, Associate Executive Director of Engagement and Outreach at the University of Maryland Alumni Association, and his team launched four book clubs in July and reached nearly 2,000 alumni in 46 states almost right away. Over a quarter of those had never engaged with the alumni association before. And they did it all with minimal staff time by partnering with an outside company to handle the program.

Learning by Listening: Reflections on ListenUp EDU

Learning by Listening: Reflections on ListenUp EDU

Last month, over 75 leaders from institutions around the country gathered in Chicago for ListenUp EDU, our first conference focused on improving how we listen to students and alumni and improve service and success, co-hosted with our friends at Campus Sonar (who are pioneering the the insights gleaned from social listening to inform institutions’ strategy). The gathering exceeded our expectations. We hope to live up to the assessment of Matt Duncan, Academic Digital Engagement Strategist at the University of Colorado Boulder, who called it “The future of higher ed conferences.” We’re hosting the next ListenUp in Portland, OR April 17-18 with Campus Sonar.

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Career services needs to upskill. Here’s how.

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Career services needs to upskill. Here’s how.

With so much change ahead, career centers need to rethink outdated career training models. Career centers’ primary focus should not be to prepare students for linear careers anymore. Instead, they should prepare students for a lifetime of career changes. Navigating these ambiguous career paths requires students and alumni to embrace upskilling and lifelong learning. This same advice applies to careers services staff too.

You Can't Be Everything to Everyone: How One Team at the IU Alumni Association Succeeded by Focusing on Older Alumni

You Can't Be Everything to Everyone: How One Team at the IU Alumni Association Succeeded by Focusing on Older Alumni

It's a challenge that we who serve alumni tend to take for granted: We have to serve them all.

But that mandate, when you think about it, is a bit absurd. How can we, however large our team, possibly serve every one of our thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of alumni? What can we possibly offer that will appeal to everyone?

After experimenting with a variety of programs and trying to serve all their alumni, Erin Erwin, Senior Associate Director of Career & Professional Development at the IUAA, and Emili Sperling Bennett, Associate Director of Career & Professional Development, decided instead to focus on a smaller piece of the pie: older alumni who need mid-to-late career advice. 

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What is Design Thinking, Anyway? And Why Should We in Higher Ed Care?

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What is Design Thinking, Anyway? And Why Should We in Higher Ed Care?

If you’ve attended a conference or read articles or, well, done anything, really, in the past few years you’ve likely heard of something called “design thinking.” And if you’re anything like me, you’ve turned your nose up at what seems to be the latest fad out of Silicon Valley.

But design thinking is not business-school jargon. It isn’t pretentious, or fake, or overhyped. It’s actually useful—yes, even to higher ed, with all its quirks.

Here's why.

"It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are." —Wendell Berry