The Education Beyond Degrees Podcast

In this season finale episode, we speak with Dr. Asim Ali of Auburn University, to talk about the constantly-changing higher education and continuing ed environment and the impact generative AI will have to students, faculty, and administrators. Dr. Ali leads an amazing team as the Executive Director of the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. His degrees in software engineering, information systems management, and adult education have made him a great person to lead the charge in discussing generative AI in education and its future uses.

This episode will bring Education Beyond Degree Podcast season 2 to an end! But don’t worry, we will be back later this year with new episodes and we will pop in to add some new research, findings, and updates before then. So come and join us for this dive into generative AI in education with Dr. Asim Ali.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Peter Bahr of the University of Michigan, discuss the cross-section of higher education and serving our communities through various programs, including Continuing Education. As an Associate Professor of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. His research focuses on the role of colleges and universities in creating and advancing educational and economic opportunities for individuals who are facing the greatest obstacles.

An Education Beyond Degree Podcast first, we discuss faculty’s role in the “non-traditional” space and how we serve our communities. Come and join us for this dive into academia with Dr. Peter Bahr!

Dive into the latest episode as we sit down with the incredible Dr. Carey Monroe, our go-to expert in the world of career services for Higher Ed and Continuing and Professional Education. With a wealth of experience as a former Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing, Dr. Monroe unravels the intricacies of the entire student journey, emphasizing the significance of every step beyond just the marketing stage.

Join us as Dr. Monroe shares her invaluable insights on the podcast, shedding light on the pivotal role of assisting students early in their educational journey to navigate their future. Discover the cutting-edge technologies that can revolutionize our approach, making our work not just easier but more impactful. Tune in now and let Dr. Monroe guide you through the essential nuances of shaping the educational path! 

In this episode, Clare Van Ness, Dean of Professional and Continuing Education at California State University, Chico and Meni go LIVE at the UPCEA Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Student Success conference to discuss how to successfully turn a small marketing team into a future powerhouse using process workflows and CRM automations.

In this episode, we spoke to Dr. Amanda Holdsworth, a 22+ year superstar in marketing and recruitment for all levels of education about what it takes for educational institutions to be successful in their marketing. Dr. Holdsworth's researched-backed strategies have proven to be immensely successful around the world and she continues to innovate in all areas of marketing.

Dr. Holdsworth is a former assistant professor of PR and marketing in Canada and the U.S., and her post-doc research in organizational culture, burnout and employee engagement has been featured in multiple global publications.

In this episode, we spoke to California State University, Dominguez Hill's Dean of the College of Continuing and Professional Education. Kim pioneered the adoption of alternative credentials and digital badges for learners, enabling them easily share skills and competencies with employers and add them to their lifelong digital backpacks as a Comprehensive Lifelong Learner Record (CLLR).

Kim is a 1st generation college graduate. This drives his passion to expand access to underserved populations, including adult, returning and non-traditional learners.

Over a 30-year career, he has worked for public and private universities, all in the professional, online and continuing education domain.

Today we spoke to University of Virginia's Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Dr. Melissa Lubin. At UVA, she oversees a continuum of learning that serves the workforce development needs of adult learners, including the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Bachelor of Professional and Healthcare Management degree completion programs; Master of Public Safety degree; Online and off-Grounds graduate, undergraduate and non-credit certificate programs and customized training and educational programming for Business, Government and Education. Melissa serves as a university champion for linking the needs of business, government, community and education through expanding collaboration and public-private partnerships. She is a “practitioner-scholar” who infuses an entrepreneurial spirit to her work in the academy.

On Episode 1 of Season 2 of the Education Beyond Degrees Podcast 🚀, you'll in Continuing and Professional Education:

✅ We can work with anyone on campus.
✅ We can build programs with any on-campus partner.
✅ We are the place to go when the institution doesn’t know how or where to innovate.

Today we spoke to Navalent’s Jarrod Shappell. As a Partner at the organizational and leadership development consulting firm, he has done dozens of organizational development projects — and between the two of us, we didn’t hold back on talking details.

On Episode 09 of The Education Beyond Degrees Podcast 🚀, you'll learn all about:

• Why there’s a giant elephant in the room with any organizational design — people fearing they’ll be losing their jobs — and why that’s misplaced
  
• How to avoid designing around individual people by mapping to the categories of work you’re accountable for
  
• Specific case studies in organizational development from Jarrod and Meni
  
• How to ensure the ongoing, long-term success of a newly reorganized team
  

On today's episode, I had the pleasure of being joined by Melissa Peraino is Director of Educational Outreach within the Center for Adult and Continuing Studies at Grand Valley State University.

On this episode, you’ll learn:

• How a more thoughtful approach to programming —  not quickly rushing into where the demand is — has worked out really well for Grand Valley State.
  
• Why your continuing education portfolio should be in near “constant flux” (unlike the rest of the institution, which was designed to be slow and incremental).
  
• Why so many learners have struggled during COVID without support and how CE can fill in the gaps.
  
• How to meet the needs of the community while balancing the comfort level at the institution for change.
  

Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

This week I welcomed Dr. Terri Given’s, author of the brilliant book, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. It gives individuals like you and me the tools to make institutions and systems more fair, transparent and, yes, empathetic.

As a political scientist, vice provost, provost and CEO and founder of Brighter Higher Ed, a platform for professional development for faculty. Terri shares how she’s been round and round and home again within the many places and spaces in academia — from Stanford to UCLA to University of Washington to UT Austin to Menlo College — and now in a faculty role at McGill University in Quebec.

Instead of doing a regular episode this week I wanted to talk a bit about why taking a break is so important — which also allowed me to get a bit of a break myself after I was on vacation this week.

This week’s episode is short — under 9 minutes —  and it covers three mistakes I see CE leaders making since COVID began.

- Thinking the 40-Hour Workweek is Still a Thing
- Losing Sight of the Life Outside Your Office
- Not Managing The Energy and Mental Health of Their Teams

Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes. 

On Episode 05 of the Education Beyond Degrees podcast, Jenni shares all the details about being part of the California State University (CSU) system, and how she and her team have made Sacramento State top-of-mind for any continuing and professional education needs the Sacramento region may have.

On this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Sacramento State gets its competitive advantage by being “embedded” in the day-to-day work of its top clients
  
• How to launch a long-haul marketing and recruitment strategy to boost the health of your university or college for decades
  
• Why she segments her program portfolio by ‘College to Learner’ and ‘College to Organization’ — and the different strategies to deliver on both
  
• The best advice Jenni ever got about managing up to presidents and provosts
  

On this episode, we heard from Therese Grohman, Senior Director of Marketing and Enrollment Management at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies.

During this chat, you’ll learn:

• The questions Therese’s team asks when they’re determining the up-front viability of a new program
  
• Why ideas in isolation can be great on paper but ultimately fail once they’re turned loose in the market
  
• How “stackable” bite-size credentials and certificates from major universities will be the go-to playbook for a generation of learners
  
• Why the phrase “online” means so much more than just getting on Zoom and teaching a class
  
  

Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

Join The Spur Group founder Meni Sarris as he kicks off The Education Beyond Degrees podcast.

In this overview episode, you'll hear:

• Why should you listen to a podcast about CE?
  
• The value of sharing ideas among fellow CE professionals
  
• Why CE program ideas are meant to be shared, not guarded in secrecy
  
• Why CE is uniquely prepared to meet the demand's of next-generation students
  
• A snapshot of what's changed since COVID, one year later
  
• What to expect from The Education Beyond Degrees podcast

Follow Meni on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menisarris/ or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our biweekly newsletter.