It’s a tough time for our profession and the work of Admissions, Advancement, and Marketing in higher education.
Knowing this, I was particularly curious how the planning team for the CASE Summit would approach the conference. The answer: head-on.
The opening session addressed the challenges, and the tough conversations just kept coming. While it made for a heavy few days, I think everyone left the conference with a deeper understanding of our profession — and in many cases, pockets of hope about what comes next.
One of my favorite parts of this conference are the high-level insights presented each year. This is the place to get a pulse on the profession and begin thinking about how to align both personally and professionally to advance the industry.
Knowing this, the takeaways in the conference may not always be as actionable, but they serve as great mantras throughout the year.
Below are the five takeaways from this year.
Five Summit Takeaways
1. Some form of higher education has been around for a millennium. It will remain in some capacity. If we want to control how, we must be more aggressive in showcasing the good it does.
Terry Flannery shared this perspective during our annual coffee conversation. She is always gracious to take a few minutes and give her guidance. We met this year before the conference officially began and the reminder stayed with me those few days.
2. There is equal potential all over the world. However, there isn’t always opportunity.
Anil Soni, from the World Health Organization, made this comment when talking about the work that we do through education. He noted that education is the best way to level the playing field across the globe. While not a new insight, it was a great reminder to think about. As the child of a first-generation student, it is evident to me that my childhood was different from my father’s. I think the biggest change was that he had the opportunity to attend college.
3. Research matters, but we don’t show that well to the public.
I sat in on a panel conversation with several Advancement leaders. As they talked about public confidence in research, a common theme kept coming up. Our researchers are doing phenomenal work but could benefit from good marketing and public relations support to help showcase the impact. They are great researchers but need to be better at relationships and marketing. Those two pieces are strengths of Advancement shops, which means there should be strong potential for partnership.
4. It’s going to rain when you’re a leader. Put on your boots and get your umbrella. It is rarely personal.
Wow. What a strong reminder from Shanna Hocking about how tough it can be to be a leader. I think, as leaders, we can internalize the situation or the feedback. This was another reminder to focus on the work, recognizing that feedback and challenges are part of the territory. While that’s the hard part, there are also many moments to do a lot of good.
5. Collaboration is critical for success
Julia Jasken, Janelle Holmboe, and I talked about building connections for institutional and cultural success. McDaniel College has done this formally, and it happens a bit more informally at UA Little Rock. Regardless of the approach, I left the session with a renewed sense of purpose for the role of change agent that MarComm teams can play. We are most likely the people to see the challenges, and it is our job to kindly provide the feedback that helps us all improve.
Your Thoughts?
If you attended CASE Summit, what topics stood out to you as important? Are there topics that you’re grappling with or some AHA moments that are helping frame your work this year?
If so, be sure to leave add your response to the conversation.
And Carrie On 