We are very excited to have Dr. Josie Ahlquist back on the show to discuss her new book, Digital Leadership in Higher Education. We talk about the book and what leadership looks like during global pandemic and ongoing struggles for racial justice.

No matter what’s going in the world, Josie stresses that higher education leaders need to show up authentically to their interactions with students. With so much misinformation out there, students need to know that they can trust their institution and its leaders before they will believe what they’re reading in an email or seeing in a video.

Josie also reminds us about the importance of taking time to recognize the difficulty of the work we’re doing right now and the fact that we can’t vent to colleagues or celebrate achievements in the normal ways right now. That’s where the digital hug comes in. Josie talks about how she uses them and the power of building mastermind cohorts that are on part strategy session and one part therapy session.

Many of our organizations have spent the past year working on ways to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campuses. However, that work sometimes stalls out before it even gets going because it’s such a big task that it’s hard to know where to start or how to keep the momentum going. That’s where Dar Mayweather shines.

Dar is the founder of Good Mayweather Consulting, where he helps his clients confidently engage in critical conversations around diversity and inclusion.He has more than 15 years of professional leadership experience in higher education, business, and diversity & inclusion training. His professional journey began in the corporate world, then he moved to mental health, and now calls higher ed home. He believes in fast tracking his client’s learning by utilizing research and lived experiences to develop actionable solutions.

Lougan and Jenna talk with Dar about what these high-level concepts look like at a granular level — everything from time blocking and task prioritization to starting difficult conversations and resisting the pressure for quick, superficial change rather than something more meaningful. The tips Dar shares are important not just for DEI work, but for managing workloads and dealing with burnout in general.

Dar is a first-generation college student. He earned a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice, a Master of Science in Education and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership while teaching Leadership to undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

We’re a year into the pandemic, and many of us are getting ready for commencement and everything that the end of the school year brings. Anyone feeling a little (or maybe a lot) of burnout? Ken Schneck has been there and joins us this week to share his journey from student affairs professional to an administrator in his mid-20s to a tenured faculty member and published author.

Ken found himself burned out at age 35 and spoke up about what he was experiencing. The message resonated more than he ever thought it would and became the catalyst for launching his speaking and writing career. In this episode, Ken talks with us about that journey and the advice he now gives to his students in the Leadership in Higher Education program at Baldwin Wallace University.

Ken also talks with Lougan and Jenna about how escaping the grind of administrative work allowed him to pursue a writing career and tell the stories of Ohio’s LGBTQ communities.

Dr. Liz Gross returns to the show to talk with Jenna about what’s happening at Campus Sonar, the company she founded to help organizations throughout higher ed harness the power of social listening. We talk about how social listening has changed during the pandemic, how going to conferences outside higher ed helped Liz see what our industry was lacking, how to run a growing organization that’s entirely remote, and much more.

Liz is a recognized expert, data-driven marketer, and higher education researcher. She specializes in creating entrepreneurial social media strategies in higher education and has a passion for teaching, which she brings to colleges and universities as the founder and CEO of Campus Sonai. She’s also an award-winning speaker; you might have seen her at SXSW, SXSW EDU, the American Marketing Association Symposium, the Carnegie Conference, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, or one of many other conferences inside and outside of higher ed. 

She received a Ph.D. in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service in Higher Education at Cardinal Stritch University, a master’s degree in educational policy and leadership from Marquette University, and a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

We’re back! And we have some great episodes in store for you. Thank you to everyone who responded to our requests to be on the show! 

For our first episode of 2021, Lougan and Jenna are joined by David Mee, vice president for enrollment management at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. David reflects on how the pandemic has upended how we think about enrollment management and higher education more broadly — and why that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Before joining Campbell University, David spent 10 years at Belmont University, where he worked with Lougan. Like many of us, he never thought that higher education would become his career, but he’s glad that it has.

We hope you’ll find this conversation as inspiring as we did!