(No, the other one.)

What happens when two avowed GenXers record a podcast episode? From the host you get a bad reference to C+C Music Factory; from the guest you get helpful lessons on "how to vice president." Michael Keaton, VP for Enrollment Management at Ursinus College, sets the record straight on who was Michael Keaton first, how to leave things better than you found them, and why all colleges are not in the same boat in the midst of the FAFSA rollout debacle. 

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: The Boss by James Brown (Michael actually uses walkout music at open house events ... get yourself to Ursinus for one of these!)
• Best recent read: The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
• Eager to read next: From Punk to Monk by Ray Rahunath Cappo
• Favorite podcast:  Broad Street Breakdown by Jedi Mind Tricks
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen: Vegan chopped cheese.
• Taking and keeping notes: Kindle Scribe
• Memorable bit of advice: "Don't start none; won't be none."
• Bucket list: CVisit the last 11 United States he hasn't yet visited. Friends from IA, ID, HI, KS, MI, MS, MT, ND, NE, SD, and WY? Help him out. 

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

Carin Smith, domestic recruitment manager and Chicago regional representative for Beloit College (and a former member of Ken's team at Lawrence who helped him learn how to be an admissions director through a creative partnership she arranged), talks about how to lead without title, and the four reasons why this has been a deliberate choice she has made over her four decades in college admissions. She'll also share three essential perspectives on what makes a good leader.

This episode is dedicated to Molly Arnold (1962-2010), without whom neither host nor guest would be the people or professionals they are today.

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Centerfield by John Fogerty
• Best recent read: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
• Eager to read next: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
• Favorite podcast:  None, "I'm an audiobook fan."
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen: Cinnamon scones.
• Taking and keeping notes: Lined paper by Rifle and a sharp pencil with eraser.
• Memorable bit of advice: Used delayed send [on emails].
• Bucket list: Chicago Cubs spring training [to which the host replies, "Go Brewers."]

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

From the time he was a little boy, Jeff Blahnik always wanted to be "an attorney," but a moment of crisis halfway through law school changed his path. He's now the Vice President of Enrollment Management at the University of Oklahoma, and shares the secret of winning the job interview at OU, how "inspired hospitality" makes a flagship feel intimate, and how to establish yourself as a new leader at a new institution. He also answers the question: "Who has the hottest seat on an athletic powerhouse's campus: president, enrollment VP, or football coach?"

Special shout-out to Marquette University's Roby Blust, from whose coaching tree both guest and host have sprouted, and Dan Hamrin, yet another branch on that tree.

The Miami of Minnesota ... it's a real thing.

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Don't Let the Old Man In by Toby Keith
• Best recent read: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
• Eager to read next: Belonging by Owen Eastwood
• Favorite podcast:  Missing in Alaska
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen: "I grind the beans and make an incredible pot of coffee."
• Taking and keeping notes: Moleskine notebook and Zebra ballpoint pen.
• Memorable bit of advice: (1) Make gratitude an everyday part of your routine … it prepares you for moments of desolation. Bring light and love into your life."; (2) Competition isn’t hoping that someone else does worse than you. Focus on being your best and ensure your team is the best."
• Bucket list: Travel to Europe for his 25th wedding anniversary.

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

Angela Frazier, Vice President of Student Services at Waukesha County Technical College (the ALP's first guest two-year college enrollment leader and the first African-American leader in WCTC's 100-year history) shines a light on what people get wrong about two-year colleges; how WCTC has punched above its weight with recruitment and retention; and why she needs help with a walkout song.

Special shout-out to Angela's right-hand man, John McGreal, Dean of Enrollment Services. 

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: "I don't have a walkout song. I don't like music." (But she's taking recommendations.)
• Best recent read: Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi
• Eager to read next: The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois, by Honoree Fanone Jeffers
• Favorite podcast:  For Your Institution, by Mongoose
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen: "Not your momma's banana pudding."
• Taking and keeping notes: Notes app on iPhone.
• Memorable bit of advice: "If you don't think you look good, no one will think you look good, and if no one thinks I look good, you better think that I look good."
• Bucket list: Travel to Australia.

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

Justin Draeger, President and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, joins the ALP to share what colleagues in admissions, enrollment, student success, presidents' offices, etc. can do to support their financial aid colleagues, who are about to do 6 to 9 months of work in about 4 to 6 weeks. A deep thinker, reader, writer and speaker, Justin also shares a bunch of excellent leadership lessons, including how, as Bertrand Russell wrote, "Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people full of doubts."

Special shout-out to the Lawrence University financial aid team, "the finest team in all the land."

References

• Why I Choose the Harder Commute, July 2020
• Finding Motivation in Tough Times, August 2020
• Off the Cuff, NASFAA's podcast

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Walk This Way, Run DMC and Aerosmith
• Best recent read: Uncultured: A Memoir, Daniella Mestyanek Young and Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt
• Eager to read next: Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl (the cost of reading a new book is not rereading one of the best books you've already read) 
• Favorite podcast: The Gray Area
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen: simple recipes with a chef's kiss, like fried eggs and bacon with a latte.
• Taking and keeping notes: a complex system of handwritten notes, Evernote and Roam Research.
• Memorable bit of advice: "Anyone who says he has finished a canvas is terribly arrogant. 'Finished' means 'complete, perfect.'" (Claude Monet)
• Bucket list: walk the Camino de Santiago.

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

Richard Harrison Bailey—the RHB behind RHB—joins the ALP to discuss the principle of Coherence; the virtuous cycle of relevance, relationships and revenue for colleges; the difference between market position and brand; and how the values of truth, beauty, love and justice animate the core values and, to this day, guide the work of the firm he and his business partner (and spouse), Tammy Bailey, formed in 1991. 

Rapid Descent

1. Walkout song: Carmina Burana: I. O Fortuna
2. Best recent read: Yale Needs Women by Anne Gardiner Perkins
3. Eager to read next: Who Killed Truth? A History of Evidence by Jill Lepore
4. Podcast: IngenioUs with Melissa Morriss-Olson
5. Favorite thing to make in the kitchen:  A completely improvised birthday meal for his kids. If you’ve let go of passion in the kitchen, you’ve lost the meal.
6. For notes: I’m a pencil person, currently using a Zebra #2 pencil with retractable lead.and Blackwing pencil.
7. Memorable bit of advice: From David C. Baker: “Narrow does not equal small.” The more narrow you become in your position, the deeper you will be able to go in your expertise. And the deeper you are in your expertise, the more you will know, and the more you will bypass or surpass the competition.
8. Bucket list: Open a little bar on the coast of Spain and serve Rioja. I'll have about 3 customers who are always there.

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

Laura Kaub, director of the Duolingo partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees program, talks about keeping refugees and African students out of the "hole" in holistic admission so they can get into the economic, educational and political systems that can bring about change. She provides examples of U.S colleges that "get it right," including Macalester and Northwestern, as well as models around the globe, like Rwanda and Uganda.

Contact Laura directly if you're interested in talking with her about the students she serves.

References

• President's Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration
• MasterCard Foundation
• World University Services of Canada
• Duolingo English Test

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Ghostwriter RJD2
• Best recent read: The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
• Eager to read next: Old World, Young Africa, a New York Times series 
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen:  Sparkling conversation
• Taking and keeping notes: 2/3 paper and pen (no ball points, please!); 1/3 open email to herself
• Memorable bit of advice: A whole lot of what's going on [in the college search] is not as big a deal as it seems.
• Bucket list: Ever since watching Ugly Delicious, I've wanted to do a food tour of Japan and South Korea with David Chang.

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

How does someone go from being a lawyer and a photographer to found and lead the company that has reshaped the college fair experience for millions of students and more than 15,000 admission professionals representing more than 2500 institutions around the world?  Dan Saavedra, founder and president of StriveScan, tells us how he built StriveScan (spoiler, with trust and the friendliest client contract ... ever).  Live through what their first college fair was like, as well as those moments when StriveScan created something out of nothing to foster connections for students and colleges in the early days of the pandemic.

References

• Special shout-out to the Illinois ACAC and Carin Smith.

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Good Life by One Republic
• Best recent read: The Verge and Ars Technica, as well as NYT and WSJ
• Eager to read next: Wirecutter's coverage of the best coffee makers ... also bed sheets
• Favorite podcast: Elevating Admission Voices with Angie Cooksy and The Admissions Directors Lunchcast with Nathan Ament and Teege Mettille
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen:  Bread ... especially baguettes.
• Taking and keeping notes: It has to work in Slack
• Memorable bit of advice: Find your sounding board.
• Bucket list: Go to Botswana

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

What is it like to leave the familiarity of higher ed to join a tech company with a vision to change how the world thinks about language testing? Jen Dewar, Senior Director of Strategic Engagement for the Duolingo English Test, shares how to break through, climb steep learning curves, learn from setbacks ... and why you don't win or lose—you only win or learn.

References

• Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo  on How I Built This with Guy Raz and The Tim Ferriss Show.
• Shout out to future ALP guest, Laura Kaub,  UNHCR University Access Advisor
• Learn more about Duolingo's work with refugees through the UNHCR

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Groove Is in the Heart by Deee-Lite
• Best recent read: All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
• Eager to read next: Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, narrated by Anderson Cooper.
• Favorite podcast: The Daily, Washington Post and WSJ The Journal ... also, if you're into art fraud and art theft, Last Seen
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen:  Anything, because she can only focus on what she is making.
• Taking and keeping notes: A Duolingo pen and conference giveaway notepads.
• Memorable bit of advice: "Two tears in a bucket, mother***it" ... and that's the closest we've gotten to an Explicit rating so far.
• Bucket list: "I don’t have a bucket list, which speaks to how lucky I’ve been. I’ve gotten to do so many great things; more than I ever could have imagined or anybody who raised me could have imagined for me.”

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

Get ready for an episode rife with random references when David Burge, VP for Enrollment Management at George Mason University and winner of the Margaret E. Addis Service to NACAC Award, joins the ALP to discuss ADVANCE, a model transfer partnership between GMU and Northern Virginia Community College. Warning: this episode contains eye-rolling dad jokes. Listener discretion is advised.

Rapid Descent

• Walkout song: Champion by Fall Out Boy
• Best recent read: "My email."
• Eager to read next: See above
• Favorite thing to make in the kitchen:  Mail order spice packets have inspired his cuisine, which includes hundreds of NYT recipes, five of which he has made.
• Taking and keeping notes: email
• Memorable bit of advice: "Marketing drives applications; relationships build enrollment."
• Bucket list: "I would like to live in Europe."

Check out RHB Academy at Claremont McKenna. Nov. 17.

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