ALP: The Admissions Leadership Podcast

Carlos Cano still goes to college fairs. For the director of undergraduate admissions at Stevens Institute of Technology, staying connected to recruitment is part of staying connected to the people he leads. Carlos joins Ken to trace a journey from teaching taekwondo to building a career in admissions—and the mentors, opportunities, and relationships that helped him along the way. They explore servant leadership, showing people grace, building a team that looks out for one another, and knowing when growth means leaving a place you love. Carlos also opens up about imposter syndrome and learning to believe the people who believe in him. Along the way: Cuban hip-hop, Phillies fandom, and a longtime ALP listener finding himself on the other side of the microphone.

00:00 — Meet Carlos Cano
01:08 — From taekwondo instructor to admissions professional
04:29 — Discipline, loyalty, and taking a chance on a new direction
07:30 — Building a career through recruitment, communications, and technology
08:33 — A mentor’s invitation opens the next door
12:41 — Encouraging others, online and in person
14:48 — Servant leadership: walking alongside your team
16:13 — Why Carlos still recruits
18:42 — Learning from your team about work and boundaries
21:41 — Making room for life and showing people grace
23:40 — Building a team that steps up for one another
25:49 — Hiring for skills, chemistry, and the team’s perspective
27:41 — Seventeen recruitment cycles—and what keeps him coming back
28:53 — When moving up means moving on
31:25 — A higher-ed superpower: clear, realistic expectations
35:35 — Advice to a younger Carlos—and a candid turn toward imposter syndrome
38:43 — Believing your believers
41:23 — What newcomers should pack for a career in admissions
44:28 — The Rapid Descent: Cuban hip-hop, podcasts, coffee (?), and Japan
49:16 — Moving forward and focusing on what you can control
52:35 — “You’re next”: the story behind this conversation
55:08 — Outtake: Batman, Prince, and a familiar movie reference

Mentioned in This Episode

• Stevens Institute of Technology
• William Paterson University
• SUNY Maritime College
• New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling’s Basics program
• Climbing the Admissions Leadership Peak by Ken Anselment
• Mission Admissions with Jeremy Tiers
• Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg
• ENN (Evening Nightly News)
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi
• Batman (1989)

Carlos’s Walkout Music

“Represent” by Orishas — a nod to Carlos's Cuban heritage.

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

What do Broadway stage management, a PhD in statistics, and enrollment leadership have in common? For Amy Hutton, vice chancellor of enrollment management at the University of Colorado Boulder, the through line is people. Amy joins her Colorado neighbor, Ken, to trace an unconventional journey from professional theater to higher education—and the curiosity, mentors, and willingness to ask that helped her along the way. They explore why strategy happens at the intersection of data and storytelling, what stage managers understand about leading humans, and how getting off the grid helps a team learn to trust itself. Along the way: finding purpose after achieving an early dream, making room for voices beyond your own, and raising adventurous kids.

00:00 — Introduction and Dad jokes
01:52 — From aspiring music teacher to professional stage manager
04:52 — A professor sees a possibility Amy hasn’t considered
06:24 — Parenthood, music admissions, and an unexpected career turn
07:05 — “I want your job. What do I need to do?”
10:08 — Building a network and taking the shot before you feel ready
13:20 — From reading the handbook to helping write the next edition
15:46 — Strategy at the intersection of data and storytelling
17:13 — What stage management teaches us about leading people
18:35 — Executive coaching, therapy, and being a whole human
20:20 — Putting the strategic back into strategic enrollment management
22:37 — Building trust and telling the story behind the numbers
25:30 — Public trust and the value of higher education
28:02 — Achieving the dream—and discovering what’s missing
31:23 — Family, getting off the grid, and trusting your team
34:32 — Listening, asking better questions, and conducting the orchestra
38:16 — The Rapid Descent: movie scores, books, baking, and beautiful notebooks
44:38 — Seeing something in someone—and telling them
45:17 — The next adventure: the Tour du Mont Blanc

Mentioned in This Episode

• Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
• Generations by Jean M. Twenge
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• The Daily and The Journal podcasts
• “Ode” by Arthur O’Shaughnessy — the poem behind the Willy Wonka quotation
• AAC&U’s work on advancing public trust in higher education

Amy’s Walkout Music

The theme from the Remember the Titans film score—the music that accompanied her dissertation writing.

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

Season 13 opens with someone who has helped generations of admissions and enrollment professionals find their way: Mary Napier, founder advisor of NES Executive Search and recipient of NACAC’s 2026 Gayle C. Wilson Outstanding Service to the Profession Award. With the NACAC conference approaching, Mary joins Ken to reflect on the career turns, relationships, and moments of discernment that led her from recruiting students to recruiting leaders.

They explore what readiness for senior leadership looks like today, why the listening tour never ends, and how to navigate the disappointment of a job that goes to someone else.

00:00 — Welcome to Season 13
01:18 — A call from Angel and an unexpected honor
04:07 — Service to the profession, one colleague at a time
05:19 — From sitting in the chair to helping others find it
07:30 — Believing in the work and the people it serves
09:41 — Listening, connecting, and playing the long game
12:21 — Taking the leap toward executive search
15:05 — Discerning what an institution needs
16:37 — Finding the work that brings everything together
18:47 — What readiness for senior leadership means today
20:44 — Quick wins that build credibility and collaboration
22:52 — The listening tour never ends
23:52 — Curiosity, assessment, and relationships across campus
26:06 — The enrollment leader as translator and meaning maker
27:18 — Seeing the person beyond the résumé
29:43 — Delivering disappointment with honesty and care
33:04 — Building a career with purpose and patience
36:03 — Letting your boss know where you hope to go
37:07 — When the work fits who you are
38:48 — A George Bailey moment for Mary
41:24 — Rapid Descent
45:43 — Heading into NACAC with gratitude

Mentioned in This Episode

• NES Executive Search
• NACAC’s awards and Mary’s recognition
• Walkout song: “Here Comes the Sun” — The Beatles
• Best recent read: The Let Them Theory — Mel Robbins
• Next read: Finding Me — Viola Davis
• Favorite podcast: Good Hang with Amy Poehler

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

In this episode of Coming Back to Ourselves, Ken Anselment sits down with Angel Pérez CEO of NACAC to explore how silence, solitude, and intentional time away can help leaders reconnect with themselves—and lead more effectively.

Angel shares how a period of burnout early in his tenure led him to meditation, journaling, and solo time in nature. What began as a personal reset has become a core leadership practice.

Together, they explore:

• Why silence and solitude are essential in a noisy profession
• How slowing down can actually improve decision-making
• The idea of “working in seasons” instead of constant output
• How meditation sharpens awareness and presence
• Why time away should be considered part of your work strategy
• Finding awe—even in small, everyday moments

The conversation also touches on gratitude, journaling, and the power of noticing what’s already around us—but often unseen.

For folks navigating pressure, pace, and constant demand, this episode offers a different path forward—one grounded not in doing more, but in coming back to yourself.

(Recommended reading: Cal Newport's Slow Productivity: The Lost of Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout)

00:00 — Introduction to Angel Pérez and the idea of “coming back to ourselves”
02:00 — When you need to step away… where do you go?
03:00 — “I turn to silence”: solitude as a leadership practice
04:10 — Meditation as training (start small, build the muscle)
06:25 — Silence as problem-solving: letting answers emerge
09:00 — Solitude, rest, and showing up as your best self
12:45 — “You can go faster by going slower”
14:00 — Seeing the world differently after slowing down
16:15 — Burnout → awakening: the moment that changed everything
18:30 — Investing in yourself (and why it matters now)
20:10 — Shenandoah: perspective, gratitude, and being a “tiny speck”
22:35 — Holding onto silence after the moment ends
24:00 — Accessing awe anywhere—even in the middle of a city
25:30 — Gratitude journaling and capturing moments that matter
27:30 — Creating a daily “fortress of solitude”
29:00 — Time away as part of your work strategy (not separate from it)
31:30 — Working in seasons and protecting your energy
33:15 — Listening for the “whispers”
34:30 — Noticing what’s already there (the “trust the process” moment)
36:45 — Final reflections: making space, slowing down, and coming back to yourself
38:00 — Closing

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

In this episode of Coming Back to Ourselves, Ken is joined by his longtime friend and creative partner, Brian Pertl—a musician, ethnomusicologist, didgeridooist, and practitioner of deep listening.

Together, they explore the practice of deep listening, a concept developed by composer Pauline Oliveros, and what it means to truly pay attention to the world around us ... and within us.

Through stories, laughter, and reflection, Brian shares how deep listening can:

• awaken creativity and play
• build connection and belonging
• help us regulate, reset, and remember our five-year-old selves

This episode also includes a guided deep listening exercise with a full minute of intentional silence.

Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction to Brian Pertl (didgeridoo, deep listener, and longtime collaborator)

00:30 — Why this season calls us to “come back to ourselves”

03:27 — What is deep listening? The story behind the practice

05:35 — Listening beyond what we normally notice

07:46 — Deep listening as culture-building and leadership practice

11:22 — A simple deep listening exercise using words and sound

13:18 — From vulnerability to shared meaning: what emerges in groups

15:27 — “Feeling comfortable being uncomfortable”

18:08 — Sound, space, and play

22:20 — Why there are no wrong notes (and no wrong ways to participate)

23:43 — Practicing deep listening in nature

26:05 — What do you hear when you pause?

28:00 — Listening as presence—and as an embodied practice

31:05 — Guided deep listening exercise (find a quiet place)

32:50 — One minute of intentional silence

33:55 — Returning from the exercise: what did you notice?

35:19 — Final reflections and remembering your five-year-old self

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

Springtime in admissionsland has a way of pulling us out of ourselves and making us more human doings than human beings. 

In this opening episode of a special ALP miniseries—Coming Back to Ourselves—Ken is joined by mindfulness teacher (and former Lawrence statistics professor) Joy Jordan to explore a different way of moving through this season.

Together, they talk about:

•  the idea of “microdosing awe” 
•  why mindfulness doesn’t require more time—just more noticing 
•  how small pauses can restore perspective, agency, and clarity 
•  and what it really means to “come home” to yourself 

Highly recommend checking out Joy's website: bornjoy.com and signing up for her free Pocket Pause

00:00 – Opening + framing the series

02:00 – The phrase that launched this miniseries: “microdosing awe”

03:15 – Joy’s path: statistics → mindfulness

06:10 – The moment of truth

08:45 – What she actually teaches (and always has)

09:30 – What mindfulness really is

11:00 – The power of three breaths

12:00 – Practical micro-practices

15:00 – The hardest place to practice: with other people

16:30 – The deeper truth

18:45 – Practice outside the moment

20:30 – The trap: hustling your own well-being

25:00 – How Ken's panic moment can model vulnerability

27:00 – Reframing nerves as excitement

28:15 – For the skeptics: the science is clear

29:30 – Awe as a practice

31:00 – Ways to microdose awe

33:25 – Dacher Keltner's work Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

34:30 – You are enough 

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

For the Season 11 finale—the season's 11th episode—we go to 11, earning ourselves an "E" for some cussin'

In the ALP's most meta-episode, two podcasters hit record and promptly turn the show into a show about conversation, consulting, and being human. 

Emily Smith, VP of Partner Success at CollegeVine and host of the terrific podcast, The Vinedown with Emily Smith, joins Ken to talk podcast origin stories, why vendor content too often feels “imperious,” and how she builds a looser, more generous show that invites guests to actually "go there."

We compare notes on consulting craft (including Ken's early tendency to overdeliver), the outsider/insider lens she’s honed across work with hundreds of colleges, and a smart take on AI as a thought partner—not a cheat code. Emily also drops a keeper: pattern-break vision—spotting the stale thing we repeat for no good reason and reframing it so others can finally see it.

The episode, in true Emily fashion, is quick, witty, and wildly human. (Her take on Mary Oliver's poetry in the Rapid Descent is gold.)

• 00:00 — Cold-open chaos
• 05:38 — Emily’s show origin, friction of starting, and why “imperious” content misses the mark
• 07:32 — Trust from CollegeVine; leaning out from salesy moments
• 10:44 — Early episodes, dropping the brand preamble, finding the voice
• 13:37 — Doubt & impostor syndrome thread (and why it shows up)
• 15:46 — Outsider vs. insider: value of the outside lens; “600 colleges” perspective
• 19:18 — Consulting arc: outsider credibility, my over-delivering phase, and the line “everything you say must be true… but you need not say every true thing”
• 22:22 — “Noise-lumberjack”: cutting clutter vs. adding it
• 24:28 — Community building and how Emily chooses (and handles inbound) guests
• 29:02 — Jeff Selingo gets a public invite to join the show + the “VP Council” mini-series idea (a teaser for season 12).
• 34:06 — Using GPT well: training on transcripts; AI as creative accelerator
• 40:30 — Key takeaway, from pattern-match to pattern-break vision
• 43:33 — Rapid Descent (spoiler, there's talk of heliskiing in Alaska)
• 55:16 — Outtake: first meeting, Colorado life, and Emily's “Hello Humans” sign

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

Chris George—Associate Vice President for Enrollment at St. Olaf College—brings joy, grit, and a runner’s curiosity to this conversation that has less to do with enrollment leadership than it does with living life fully. We trace his path from student life to directing financial aid on day one; how the Lawlor Summer Seminar jump-started a lifelong habit of building a board of experts; and why he asks his team to buy two coffees a year with people outside their lane. We detour to Japan (the Shimanami Kaidō ride), a sunrise stair run inside Athens’ original Olympic stadium, and a family story that turns organ donation into triumph—culminating in a father–son-daughter triathlon three months post-transplant. (I'm not crying; you're crying.) We close with what Japan is doing about its own enrollment cliff and the best advice Chris ever got: understand why a process exists before you change it.

Inspired by Chris's story? Visit donatelife.net

00:00 — Cold open with the “most joyful person in admission.”

02:45 — From residence life to enrollment: the six-story Christmas Eve flood that changed everything.

05:05 — “Director on day one”: learning financial aid by building a network fast.

08:20 — Lawlor Summer Seminar → lifelong connectors; creating your board of experts.

11:55 — Internal networking: have two coffees a year outside your lane.

13:30 — Campus beat reporters example (disability services as cross-campus liaisons).

15:10 — Chris's approach to curating his social persona: runs, rides, and family.

16:15 — On how to truly arrive in a place. Chris's approach is to run in every city you sleep in (and what it reveals about place).

18:50 — Japan: solo ride on the Shimanami Kaidō; hospitality and arrival.

25:35 — Athens: alone inside the Panathenaic Stadium at sunrise—an all-timer.

27:55 — The arc of his son's post organ transplant journey: hospital hallway walks → stolen bases → a family triathlon.

32:05 — Call to action: become an organ donor (donatelife.net).

33:15 — Japan’s enrollment cliff: pathways to residency, international student strategy.

41:05 — Rapid Descent: walkout song, books, breakfast, and staying connected to Colorado sports.

45:25 — Best advice: understand the “why” before changing the “how.”

47:20 — Bucket list (Australia, Alaska, Ireland… and bring the family back to Greece).

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

Even though we've only known each other for less than two years, this episode feels like one between two old friends. The newly-minted Dr. Jen Gagne, Executive Director of Admissions at Colorado School of Mines, brings warmth and wit while digging into important stuff: pathways to thriving for queer-spectrum students, how she navigated being an internal candidate, why grad schools are structurally “separate and replicated,” and a spot-on pattern-match between kindergarteners and first-year college students.

We also hit college football haircuts (yes, really), her terrific bucket-list twist on the B&B.

Stick around for the epilogue where we swap stories about high-touch, memorable college welcome rituals that create community and belonging.

Highlights

00:00 — An unusual opening and origin stories
03:30 — Overseeing undergrad and grad admissions at Colorado School of Mines.
04:50 — Mountains, mines, and the glowing “M” that lights up Golden.
05:50 — College football haircuts and mustaches (look it up, friends).
06:30 — From interim to Executive Director.
08:10 — Doctoral work on queer-spectrum students and the college experience.
09:30 — Language matters: why Jen uses “queer spectrum and trans spectrum.”
11:00 — Invisible minorities, safe-space signals, and vanishing LGBTQ centers.
15:20 — Inside view: navigating the tricky path of being an internal candidate.
19:30 — A non-traditional path through advising, career, and student life to EM.
22:20 — Why graduate admissions feels “separate and replicated.”
26:30 — The complexity of overlapping grad cycles and constant motion.
29:50 — Finding community and confidence in Colorado’s admissions network.
31:20 — Leadership in flux: “If you say you know what to do, you’re lying or delusional.”
33:35 — Pattern matching: how kindergartners and first-year students share the same transition.
36:00 — Rapid Descent, (HOT TO GO!, Handsome, and The Speed of Trust)
45:15 — Epilogue: Helluva Welcome week, ten-pound rocks, whitewashing the “M,” and hard-hats. Also, class colors, dirt and the formula for chlorophyll.

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment

Brian Troyer, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Marquette University, joins the ALP for a conversation that explores the deep roots of Jesuit leadership and the lighthearted joys of life in Milwaukee, including:

• Marquette’s Gift of Time and why institutional rest matters.
• How the university discerned its move to test-optional admissions, grounded in archival research and mission alignment.
• The legacies of leaders like Ray Brown, Roby Blust, and the late President Mike Lovell — and how Brian carries that mantle forward.
• Reflections from the Ignatian Colleagues Program, including the reminder to “pause and let our soul catch up.”
• Brian’s dissertation on how high schoolers’ ecological environments shape their sense of what’s possible after graduation.
• Plus: Tolkien manuscripts, bourbon tours, and a meditation on raw vs. fried cheese curds.

It’s a conversation about integrity, mission, and belonging ... peppered with a fair amount of laughter, reflection, friendship and bourbon.

• 01:30 – A family road trip and Marquette’s Gift of Time.
• 04:20 – Remembering Mike Lovell and lessons in leadership.
• 07:10 – Why and how Marquette went test-optional, with help from the archives.
• 09:20 – Tolkien manuscripts, reading The Hobbit to his son, and dreaming of Stephen Colbert in the archives.
• 12:30 – Retention milestones: two of the best years in Marquette’s history.
• 15:00 – Honoring Ray Brown and Roby Blust (and how Roby's fishing skills resemble that of a well-known biblical fisherman).
• 18:55 – Leadership lessons: integrity, mission alignment, and Shaka Smart’s “relationships, growth, victory.”
• 25:45 – Ignatian Colleagues Program and contemplatives in action.
• 28:45 – A six-day silent retreat and the wisdom of pausing to let our soul catch up.
• 31:30 – Dissertation insights: how ecology shapes student horizons.
• 36:00 – A bourbon detour: Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, and Kentucky connections.
• 39:45 – Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce: Kopp’s burgers, Lakefront Brewery, and cheese curds.
• 43:15 – Raw vs. fried cheese curds: a meditation.
• 44:20 – Rapid Descent.

The ALP is supported by Human Capital Education. Music arranged by Ryan Anselment