How can assessment serve as a campus connector rather than just a compliance requirement? How do disaggregating student data and building cross-departmental relationships drive student success across higher education? We talk through these with Ania Peczalska, the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at University of Kentucky. Together, we explore actionable strategies for overcoming survey fatigue, tailoring outreach to diverse student populations, building trust across administrative divisions, and leveraging artificial intelligence as a thought partner to strengthen institutional assessment.

Episode Highlights include:

[01:40] Assessment as a Campus Connector - Ania Peczalska shares how data can break down institutional silos and connect academic and student affairs divisions.

[05:20] The Pitfall of One-Size-Fits-All - Discover why standardized success models fail to address individual student needs, goals, and obligations.

[08:08] The Power of Disaggregating Data - Learn how breaking down survey data by sub-populations exposes key differences in resource usage and student preferences.

[14:25] Strategies for Fighting Survey Fatigue - Ania discusses how clear messaging, partner collaboration, and small incentives yielded high response rates.

[21:40] Navigating AI in Institutional Assessment - Explore how artificial intelligence can be utilized as a research assistant and thought partner while addressing its impact on learning outcomes.

How can higher education institutions foster a deeper sense of belonging for first-generation students through connected programs, services, and physical spaces? What national trends and campus-level strategies best empower first gen success? We talk through these with Carrie West, Director of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction at UT Austin, and Jeff Doyle, former leader at UT Austin and current Vice President at Marymount University. Together, we explore how holistic approaches, cross-departmental collaboration, peer coaching networks, and strategic facility design can break down administrative silos and improve first generation student recruitment and retention. [Recorded live at the NASPA Student Success in Higher Education Conference in June 2026]

Episode Highlights include:

[03:15] National Belonging Data - Elliot Felix outlines national survey trends connecting student belonging to increased graduation rates.

[07:46] Peer Success Coaching - Jeff Doyle shares how peer coaching and parent webinars build critical social capital for first-gen students.

[11:58] Living-Learning Communities - UT Austin demonstrates how targeted residential communities and laptop checkout programs foster immediate connection.

[18:07] Co-Locating Support Services - Carrie West explains how embedding academic centers like Sanger directly within residential halls increases service utilization.

[22:13] Activating Outdoor Spaces - UT Austin leverages exterior campus corridors with seating and food trucks to spark organic community interactions.

Download presentation: https://www.elliotfelix.com/podcast-collection/ep123-carrie-west-jeff-doyle-and-elliot-felix-on-building-first-gen-belonging-connected-college

As we think about how students transition to college, how do we set expectations, how do we support students, and how is this all changing with social media – including for the better in some ways? We talk through these questions with Alexis Redding, developmental psychologist at Harvard's Graduate School of Education who co-leads their Transition to Adulthood Lab and edited the new book Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students. Discover how to dismantle perfectionist myths, support students through typical developmental hurdles, and build a stronger sense of campus belonging.

Episode Highlights include:

[04:33] Debunking the mythology of the best four years - Alexis Redding explains why normalizing the difficulty of transition is essential for student success.

[08:31] Rethinking program calendars with the W-curve - Why colleges need to extend student programming beyond orientation week into the mid-semester dip.

[12:45] Leveraging sense of belonging as a key outcome - How meaningful campus connections ensure struggling students are noticed and connected to resources.

[23:37] Decoupling developmental challenges from clinical mental health care - A five-question framework to help faculty distinguish expected struggles from crisis situations.

[30:53] Centering student voices in campus design - Why institutions must gather and act on student feedback from day one to preserve institutional resources.

The book Alexis edited: Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9798895570753/mental-health-in-college/

How can higher education institutions connect the entire student lifecycle from applicants through alumni using a unified technology platform? How can consolidating systems curb digital sprawl while enhancing user experience and improving data quality and lowering costs? We talk through these with Sarah Williams, Product Manager and Interim Associate Dean for Online Education at the University of Utah. Discover how leveraging role-based access, overcoming political data silos, and deploying personalized platforms and communications can transform student engagement, streamline operations, and support continuous institutional improvement across campus departments.

Episode Highlights include:

[05:51] Breaking down institutional data silos - Sarah Williams outlines how unifying data across departments creates a continuous student journey.

[09:15] Segmenting communication to eliminate noise - Moving away from blanket emails toward targeted notifications improves student engagement and safety alerts.

[14:22] Creating a unified platform for all audiences - The University of Utah consolidated multiple separate apps into a single personalized entry point.

[14:24] Selecting Pathify to drive role-based personalization - Replacing three expired software contracts with one unified platform enabled custom views for over 350 campus roles.

[25:56] Preventing portal overload through dynamic user design - Prioritizing user personas ensures heavy amounts of campus content remain organized and relevant.

What does it take to build, operate, and scale a successful degree apprenticeship program? How can higher education institutions and employers collaborate to drive student retention, mobility, and career growth? We talk through these with Stacia Edwards the Deputy Provost at City Colleges of Chicago and Daniel Serota the Vice President of Government Affairs at Aon. Together, they outline actionable strategies for managing curriculum, providing wraparound support, solving the early-career experience catch-22, and scaling regional employer networks to future-proof the workforce in the age of AI.

Episode Highlights include:

[4:16] Sector-Based Campus Alignment - City Colleges of Chicago organizes specialized programs across campuses so regional employers have a single clear entry point.

[7:01] Solving Corporate Early-Career Retention - Aon introduced degree apprenticeships to overcome high turnover in entry-level roles while building local talent pipelines.

[12:45] The Earn-and-Learn Funding Model - Employer partners fund full tuition, books, and salary, offering a direct path to full-time employment upon graduation.

[18:01] Centralizing Partnerships with an Apprenticeship Office - Creating an internal hub acts as an "easy button" to handle scheduling, curriculum updates, and student support.

[26:27] Scaling via the Four-Pillar Moonshot - City Colleges of Chicago targets 1,000 annual apprentices by expanding pre-apprenticeships, recruitment, and employer-of-record models.

References:

1. Daniel’s Op-ed “Apprenticeship is the future of work, even in an AI economy” https://www.chicagobusiness.com/elevate/ccb-apprenticeship-value-ai-economy-20260511/

2. Chicago Apprenticeship Network “Starter Guide” https://www.chicagoapprenticenetwork.org/assets/membersAndPartners/Apprenticeship%20Starter%20Guide.pdf

3. Elliot Op-Ed with Dana Stephenson from Riipen on “Internship bottleneck: How to break the work experience Catch-22” https://universitybusiness.com/internship-bottleneck-how-to-break-the-work-experience-catch-22/

How can institutions close the gap between modern consumer tech expectations and reality? How do we connect the digital and physical campus to drive student success? In what was originally an EDUCAUSE webinar, Elliot shares insights on student experience gaps from The Connected College. Then, we talk through these gaps and how to close them with Sarah Williams from University of Utah, Melanie Hardy from Valencia College, Tom Ellett from Quinnipiac University, and Chase Williams from Pathify. The panel shares actionable strategies for mapping journeys, streamlining communication fatigue, sunsetting outdated tools, building communities, and leading the organizational change to make it all happen.

Episode Highlights include:

[3:00] The Experience Poll - A live audience poll reveals that fragmentation and internal institutional "treasure hunts" are the biggest hurdles students face.

[4:45] The Cost of Complexity - Elliot shares data on how institutional spending and administrative growth have historically outpaced enrollment, leading to highly siloed environments.

[9:56] Consolidating Front Doors - Sarah Williams discusses decommissioning seven legacy apps to create a single personalized experience at the University of Utah.

[17:32] Journey Mapping Success - Tom Ellett outlines how mapping the student journey from enrollment to alumni helps eliminate institutional bureaucracy.

[25:32] Harnessing AI - Chase Williams discusses how Pathify is using AI not only to respond to student needs but to streamline integration and implementation for tech teams

[36:48] Retiring Legacy Systems - Melanie Hardy explains how Valencia College successfully retired 12 legacy custom web applications using a distributed content model.

How can career design transform student success when integrated directly with academic courses and advising, starting in the first year? How can higher education institutions shift student mindsets from passive box-checking to true agency and self-discovery where every experience is an experiment or prototype they can reflect on and learn from? How will AI change the “products” of career development like a LinkedIn profile or a project portfolio and what does that mean for students? We talk through these with Christa Acampora the Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Julia Lapan the Director of Career Design and Discovery at University of Virginia. 

Episode highlights include: 

[5:56] Redefining Success Beyond Graduation Statistics - True student success focuses on human formation and life authorship rather than just employment data.

[9:36] Scaling Career Design via First-Year Curricula - Integrating self-discovery directly into mandatory first-year courses provides equitable access for all entering students.

[14:57] Shifting Mindsets from Box-Checking to Agency - Helping high-achieving students move past rigid, linear plans by framing the future as a series of prototypes.

[21:22] Utilizing the Commonplace Book for Self-Reflection - Introducing practical tools that help students track their curiosities, values, and real-world experiments.

[25:54] Human Formation in the Generation of AI - Recruiting students into their own learning by focusing on human capabilities that machines cannot replicate.

How can higher education institutions expand the definition – and impact! – of entrepreneurship beyond the startup to maximize student success? What skills and relationships can students build and how can they apply them whether they start a company or a non-profit or work within a larger business as someone who know how to actually get things done, by creating, communicating, and solving problems? How can colleges and companies build mutually beneficial ecosystems make this happen? We talk through these with Antwon Foreman, the entrepreneurship professor and Founder of the social business support-u.org.

Episode Highlights include:

[3:04] The Social Business Model - Training students to solve real problems for major clients helps rapidly expand their resumes and campus ecosystems.

[8:35] Redefining Student Success - Setting a multi-pronged goal of a job offer, graduate school acceptance, and business ownership before senior year accelerates development.

[9:59] Broadening Entrepreneurial Frameworks - Shifting the entrepreneurial focus away from tech startups allows institutions to engage diverse academic majors.

[16:47] Levering the Gig Economy - Modern students use digital platforms to bypass traditional career paths and protect their financial security.

[23:01] Cultivating Corporate Intrapreneurs - Employers navigating an AI-driven economy require highly adaptive professionals who look at corporate roles through an ownership lens.

How can institutions bridge the gap between traditional academic programs and dynamic labor market needs? How can you move from one-off internships and class projects to build true partnerships? What role can data, technology, and systems play? What strategies can you use to combat organizational silos and institutional risk-aversion? In this special episode from a session at the Ellucian Live Conference, Elliot Felix presents the whitepaper he partnered with Ellucian on and then facilitates a panel discussion on these questions with Noah Brown from Ellucian, Rupa Saran from Coast Community College District, Antwon Foreman from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Norman Palmer from Complete College America. 

Episode Highlights include:

[6:10] Elliot Felix shares highlights from the Ellucian whitepaper “Understand, Align, and Partner so that Students Succeed and Employers Excel” 

[16:15] Noah Brown talks about how colleges can build the trust with companies to enable workforce development even when proprietary technology is involved, for instance with electric vehicles

[18:13] Antwon Foreman reveals the power of using co-curricular activities to build interest, momentum, and trust that sparks curriculum change and in the process reach 6,000+ students annual

[27:10 Rupa Saran discusses the development of a common cloud among California Community Colleges so that they can share data and avoid reinventing the wheel at each institution

[29:35] Norman Palmer shares the importance of lowering the stakes through pilot projects to make it safe to fail fast, learn, and improve – and doing this not alone but with peers and partners so you can learn together.

How can institutions define and measure belonging? What are inspirational examples of programs, spaces, and support services that foster it? How is student belonging changing, and how can folks adapt? In a LinkedIn Live Webinar, Elliot Felix talked through these questions with Suzanne Rivera the President at Macalester College, Jeff Doyle the Executive Director of Student Support at UT Austin, and James Vasquez the Associate Dean of Operations and Strategy at the USC Annenberg School. They share different perspectives along with the programs and places they’ve used to foster belonging and drive student success – from environments to athletics to communications and more.

Episode Highlights include:

[5:47] The Book's Big Ideas - Host Elliot Felix defines student belonging using research proving that connected first-year students are 41% more likely to be retained into year two.

[8:18] The Power of One Question - Jeff Doyle shares how asking students if they feel like they belong is five times more predictive of retention than 100 other variables.

[15:06] Spaces Built for Synergy - James Vasquez explains how USC Annenberg used cross-collaborative stakeholder workshops to design a highly utilized, multi-departmental campus facility.

[19:11] Mapping the Student Journey - President Suzanne Rivera details how Macalester College used student heat maps to transform their main administrative building into a student-facing hub.

[44:31] Human Connections Over Bots - The panel analyzes why automated AI chatbots are short-term fixes, advocating instead for peer-to-peer leadership and scaling high-touch human relationships.