The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) serves more than high school and college counselors who help students and families navigate the admissions process.

Shanda Ivory, NACAC’s director of communications, joins us this week to discuss how the pandemic might permanently change college recruiting. Will the days of college fairs in convention centers with thousands of students ever come back? Is it such a bad thing if they don’t?

We explore those questions and talk about how admissions professionals can strike a balance between not getting stuck and the status quo and not going after every new trend that comes along.

Links to cool stuff

• Shanda Ivory on LinkedIn
• College Admission Decoded podcast
• 2021 NACAC National Conference

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 — with a few diversions to things like hot tub Twitch and dads on TikTok.

We are also excited to share that Jenna will be part of a panel on podcasting at organizations at the 2021 Podcast Movement conference in Nashville during the first week of August. Reach out to her if you’ll be attending the conference and want to meet up!

Links to cool stuff

• Jackie on Twitter
• JackiePlaysStuff on Twitch
• Jackie Watches Stuff podcast

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!

Links to cool stuff

• David Mee on LinkedIn
• Campbell University

 

Like a lot of us, Corynn Myers is basically working two jobs right now. She’s serving as the lead on all of the University of Michigan’s COVID-related communications and managing a team that’s part of Michigan’s in-house creative agency. It’s a lot, but she handles it all with poise and made time to talk with us about how thinking like an agency has helped her team thrive and bring big results in enrollment marketing.

We also talk about how Corynn and her family are copying during quarantine and why running is not for everyone, no matter how much we might want it to be right now. Corynn also talk about how working from home has impacted her productivity for better and her diet for worse — something else many of us can relate to right now!

Links to cool stuff

• Corynn on Twitter
• Corynn on LinkedIn

 

 

By day, Jessica DePaul is the Associate Director for Recruitment Marketing at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She previously worked at Rutgers as the Assistant Director of Marketing. She is a passionate marketer that is an expert in the latest education technology and trends, including virtual reality for campus tours and open houses. 

By night, she’s a makeup artist who has done everything from zombie makeup to more traditional styles. In this conversation, we talk about both sides of her personality and how COVID-19 has impacted her work in recruitment and in makeup. 

Jessica will be presenting at the eduWeb Digital Summit on Monday, August 3 at 4:00 p.m. ET. Learn more about her session at: https://www.accelevents.com/e/eduweb2020

Links to cool stuff: 

• Jessica on Twitter

• Jesscia on LinkedIn

 

 

This week, Lougan and new Higher Ed Social host Jenna Spinelle catch up with Jackie about what she’s been up to in her new role at UNC and how the grad school world differs from undergraduate when it comes to enrollment and recruitment. We also talk about how COVID-19 has impacted everyone’s work and non-work lives, including 100% more Animal Crossing and Tiger King than has ever been discussed on the show before.

Links to cool stuff:

• Jackie on Twitter
• Jackie on LinkedIn
• Jenna on Twitter
• Jenna on LinkedIn

 

This week, Lougan sat down with Beth Wolfe, the executive vice president for enrollment management at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. Beth’s 22-year career in education has ranged from teaching secondary English and chemistry to serving in a variety of higher education administrative roles. Lougan and Beth chat about how she got into higher education, her new role at University of Charleston and the magic of admissions visit days.

Links to cool stuff: 

• Beth on Twitter
• Beth on Linkedin

If you can believe it, it’s the FIVE YEAR anniversary of Higher Ed Social! To celebrate, host emerita Jackie Vetrano is back on the show this week. It’s been a semester of change for her as she recently graduated with a Master of Professional Studies in Integrated Marketing Communications from Georgetown University. AND she started her new position as assistant director of marketing & prospect management at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Jackie and Lougan talk about the ins and outs of generating and nurturing leads and reminisce about the last five years of the podcast. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• Jackie on Twitter
• Jackie on LinkedIn
• Jackie’s Website

Eric Stoller is the vice president of digital strategy at GeckoEngage. You may know him from his articles on Inside Higher Ed, his speaking engagements and his consulting work around digital engagement. He’s always loved doing marketing and public relations, but never wanted to work for an agency. Eric’s experiences in student development services at University of Illinois Chicago and enrollment management at Oregon State University really cemented interest in the intersection of technology and student success. He’s had an incredible and unique journey through the world of higher education. 

Links to cool stuff

• Eric on Twitter
• Eric on LinkedIn
• GeckoEngage

This week, we welcome back the amazing Chris D’Orso. Since he was on the show back in 2015, Chris has move to SUNY College at Brockport where he is now the associate director of undergraduate admissions. The move for him was a positive change, as it’s allowed him to reconnect with his passion of working in undergraduate admission. You’ll also find out about something really big that’s been happening in Lougan’s life and why the podcast has been a little inconsistent lately. A HUGE thanks to Chris and Jon for being so supportive.

Links to cool stuff:

• Chris on Twitter
• Chris on LinkedIn
• Chris’s previous episode
• Sturgill Simpson’s SOUND & FURY
• Your Name. Trailer
• Lougan’s family videos: Tubing + Waterfalls