Back in June I had the opportunity to serve as the keynote speaker for the SPARC (Student Persistence and Retention Collaborative) Conference attended by student success professionals from Philadelphia area colleges and universities. For someone who worked at two Philadelphia institutions, who also engages in consulting work in the region, and is passionate about student success, the opportunity was both humbling, flattering, as well as exhilarating. I loved hearing and lea

As part of our work with the Strada Educational Foundation these past couple of years, we developed principles advocating price transparency tied to college costs and financial aid. The goal, from my perspective, involved attempting to provide greater access and completion opportunities in higher education. Because to me, as I have been quoted as saying, “access without completion is a waste of time.” As part of our Strada work, we advocated for colleges and universities t

This past year, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with and hear from a number of college presidents and coaches about what they see as the future of intercollegiate athletics. In this month’s post, I’m going to share some thoughts based on these conversations and lessons I’ve learned. First, relative to athletic conference alignment, I think at some point, we will move back to a more regional model, where institutions are aligned by geography. From my perspective, what we’re

Last month I had the opportunity to participate in the NACAC Day of Advocacy on Capitol Hill. What a learning experience! My many thanks to Sean Robins and the NACAC team for supporting this event with an advanced day of “training”. Also, a shout out to my partner, Rose Llanos, from Lynn University, for trudging around the Hill with me. We got our steps in for sure. In advance of spending our day on the Hill, as part of our advocacy training, we discussed opportunities to