2022 Connection Conference

Speaker:
Angel Perez, CEO, NACAC

Session Description:
As the CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Dr. Angel Perez represents nearly 26,000 admission and counseling professionals worldwide who are committed to postsecondary access and success. In this opening session, Dr. Perez is joining the Connection Conference for a discussion focused on how professionals, institutions, and NACAC are confronting the challenges of today—demographics, diminished public perception of higher education, test-optional policies, access/equity and policy considerations.

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Speakers:
Marcus Hanscom, Director of Graduate Admissions, Roger Williams University
Jeremiah Nelson, Assistant Professor of Management and Program Director, BBA, Catawba College
Ryan Taughrin, Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management, University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education
Naronda Wright, Director Of Graduate Admissions Operations, Augusta College

Session Description:
Join members of the NAGAP Board for a panel discussion focused on some of the opportunities, challenges, and insights surrounding the graduate enrollment management landscape. From general admission trends and prospective student behaviors to DEI initiatives and post-COVID team dynamics, this session will include live Q&A and audience participation.

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Speakers:
Mike Keane, VP, Client Strategy, Maguire Associates
Scott Ochander, Partner, Chief Leadership Strategist, Carnegie

Session Description:
In this new-normal world, enrollment management offices are rapidly adjusting to a shifting reality: the prospective student has the power. In a buyer’s market scenario, institutions need to be increasingly responsive to individual needs. As a result, fundamental strategies are emerging for addressing individual needs differently throughout the enrollment cycle. In this session, we will outline the key drivers of the buyer’s market conditions and look at specific conversion, yield, and aid optimization strategies to address prospective student expectations of communications, attraction, and financial aid.

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Speaker:
Jim Fong, Chief Research Officer and Director of the Center for Research and Strategy, UPCEA

Session Description:
Higher education is at a crisis point regarding its role with an evolving economy centered around automation. With the U.S. facing unfavorable demographics for higher education, there are few areas of expected growth, one of which is the adult learner and the other being the non-degree credential market. However, both are not mutually exclusive. The University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), a nonprofit serving over 400 member institutions, has been preparing its membership for these scenarios. Using UPCEA commissioned research, this session will highlight areas of growth and decline, as well as alignment to employment as it pertains to higher education, and the complexity of adult and multigenerational learner. Institutional readiness around programs and processes will be critical for institutions to make up for lost enrollments through traditional channels.

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Speakers:
Allan Forte, SVP, Chief People & Culture Officer, CCO & Legal Counsel, Jacksonville University
Jamie Hunt, Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Miami University Ohio
Cezar Mesquita, Director of Admissions, Western Washington University
Renea Morris, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications, University of Denver

Session Description:
Nearly all colleges and universities across the country are trying to increase diversity on campus in one way or another. What does that mean? And what does it take to achieve? As marketers, how do we best represent our institutions? How do we create content and collateral that is authentic and representative while also leaning into the vision of who we hope to become in the future? Join us for this interactive panel discussion facilitated by Carnegie’s EVP for Enrollment & Marketing Strategy Eric Page.

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Speaker:
Claudia Howard, Head of Industry-Education, Google

Session Description:
Students are paying close attention to the value of education – whether it’s to get a credential, land a job or simply understand how the world works. Before we provide tools for students to achieve their goals, we must understand what they care about, what drives their journey, and what success looks like. Join Claudia Howard (Head of Industry, Education at Google) as she shares insights from Google's latest education research partnership with Ipsos to understand the preferences, expectations, and motivations of students today.

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Speaker:
Jaime Oleksik, AVP Strategic Marketing, Carnegie

Session Description:
As a higher education-focused agency and Google Premier Partner, Carnegie has unmatched access to higher ed digital media data that allow us to see trends, form insights, then adapt our best practices or optimize our client campaigns accordingly. Coming off the heels of a pandemic that greatly affected prospective student behavior and now facing user privacy headwinds that are guaranteed to only become more difficult to navigate, utilizing these data and trends is more important than ever. In this session, we'll review the trends we're seeing across a variety of channels and platforms, and share considerations for your response to these trends.

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Speakers:
Stephen Saribalis, Manager, Education Vertical, Snapchat
Michelle Sung, Account Strategist, Education, Snapchat

Session Description:
Coming Soon!

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Speaker:
Rochelle Sanchirico, Global Director, Spotify

Session Description:
Coming Soon!

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Speakers:
Tim McCarthy, Senior Account Executive, LinkedIn
Richie Monsaert, Senior Client Solutions Manager, LinkedIn


Session Description:
Creativity is the single most important factor when it comes to effective advertising, no less so for Higher Education. In a time of increased competition and flux, communicating value and differentiation in a clear and compelling way is key. But creative excellence goes beyond image and copy. Are we setting the right expectations? Are we engaging in the equitable exchange of information that drives conversion? Does your audience know you’re talking to them? Join us as we share practical advice for designing more compelling creative and aligning it with the right actions to drive prospects from interest to enrollment.

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Speakers:
Maureen Grasso, Professor of Textile Sciences and Former Graduate Dean at North Carolina State University and Former Graduate Dean at University of Georgia
Ayo Strange, Director, Educational Testing Services, ETS

Session Description:
Are COVID impacts, funding and competition on your mind? Are you concerned that you don’t have enough qualified and diverse prospective graduate students? In this session, we’ll share the state of graduate enrollment, trends in international student flows, lessons learned during the pandemic, and strategies for finding and connecting with prospective candidates. The findings of ETS’ most recent survey project will be reviewed as they inform the key takeaways of this discussion.

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Speaker:
Voltaire Santos Miran, EVP, Web Strategy, Carnegie

Session Description:
Storytelling plays a significant role in helping institutions of higher education to build and burnish their brand. As we recruit students or faculty, nurture relationships with alumni and donors, and raise awareness and esteem in the community and among our peers, we tell our stories in order to educate, inspire, engage, and move people to action. In this session, we’ll focus on the essential elements of on-brand digital storytelling and how you can build a compelling narratives. Additionally, we’ll provide tools and techniques for maximizing your storytelling efforts across admissions, alumni relations and advancement. You’ll learn how the best stories we tell are the ones we tell together.

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Speaker:
Sean Rossall, CEO + Managing Director, RW Jones

Session Description:
Getting students to campus is only the first step of the journey. After all the recruitment activities and admissions marketing have helped attract a student and they've matriculated, there is all too often a disconnect between what students felt like the campus experience would be and what they're actually living. This disconnect is often the result of campuses not truly understanding the climate and factors impacting their community on a daily basis. This presentation will look at how campuses can build ethos-minded strategic communications--communications that reflect the essence of your campus--through the use of experiential campus climate data and thoughtful engagement and tailored communications strategies. The conversation will explore how to support strong campus climates by moving from data to action, while in so doing creating a greater affinity to the community bolstered by a stronger student/graduate engagement life-cycle that goes from admissions to beyond graduation.

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Speaker:
Ken Higgins, General Manager of Student Success, Slate

Session Description:
Coming Soon!

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Speakers:
Allison LaTorre, Recruitment Strategy Manager & Senior Slate Strategist, Carnegie
Ryan Simpson, Slate Implementation Strategist, Carnegie

Session Description:
We're coming straight from Slate Summit with our list of the hottest new Slate features, their benefits and best uses in your instance.

Stay tuned for more details.

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Speaker:
Mark Freeman, VP, Data Analytics and Research, Common App

Session Description:
Coming Soon!

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Speaker:
Mark Cunningham, Chief Partnership Officer, Carnegie

Session Description:
With access to millions of prospective students, CollegeXpress is regularly surveying these audiences to get their opinions, preferences, and behaviors surrounding their college search and selection process to help inform enrollment strategy. Over the past several months, CollegeXpress has run surveys focused on their thoughts about college and university websites, how students approach their initial searches, and what information, communications, or engagement they’re looking for throughout their journey. In this session, we’ll highlight some of their answers to questions drawn from these recent surveys, as well as seek your input on what questions you’d like to see answered next.

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See you next year!