Higher Ed Social founder and co-host emerita Jackie Vetrano joins Lougan and Jenna to celebrate 200 episodes. We talk about returning to work on campus, returning to pre-pandemic activities, and the media empire Jackie’s building through her podcast and Twitch streams...

Bill Zimmerman, an instructor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State and host of the Happy Valley Hustle podcast, returns to the show to discuss his experience with a year of remote learning and how he hopes education will look different...

Anyone who works in communications knows that it’s easy for productive conversions to turn dark and hurtful, particularly when it comes to issues like race and identity. Dr. Mordecai Ian Brownlee leans into the difficult parts of these conversations in his work as a leader, teacher, mentor, speaker, and more. He joins us this week to discuss the need for spaces where we can freely share our own experiences and learn from the experiences of others. We also talk about how to set a positive example on social media and use it to lift people up, rather than get dragged into the latest conflict of the day.
Mordecai currently serves as the Vice President for Student Success at St. Philip’s College. Effective July 15, 2021, he will serve as the sixth President of the Community College of Aurora within the Colorado Community College System. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Morgan State University School of Education & Urban Studies and the University of Charleston School of Business and Leadership, as well as a higher education columnist for EdSurge.
His mission as an educator is to work collectively with all stakeholders to create a safe and equitable learning environment that promotes student inclusion, student engagement, and student success. That mission comes through loud and clear in this conversation.

The Registrar’s office is one that even those of us who have been in higher ed for a long time sometimes struggle to understand. The profession has come a long way from the days of long lines of students waiting to register for classes and taken even more importance during the pandemic. Doug McKenna, the University Registrar at George Mason University, joins us this week for a dose of Registrar 101 in the most fun way possible.

If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more from Doug — including the theme song we talk about — check out his podcast For the Record, which he hosts for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Many of the episodes on this show focus on traditional, four-year universities, but community colleges have the same responsibilities when it comes to social media, enrollment management, and many other aspects of higher ed.

This week, we welcome Van Nguyen and Olivia Perry of Schoolcraft College just outside Detroit, to talk about the challenges and the opportunities of working at a community college. We also talk about how the pandemic impacted community college staff and students and chat about plans for commencement and how to pull off ceremonies that honor students and their achievements in a safe way.

Van Nguyen is the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Schoolcraft College; Olivia Perry is the school’s Marketing and Events Coordinator.