Dr. Susan Schulz

Hi Todd, Great to hear that you have people from professional organizations to staff your advisory boards. That is an excellent source for people and other schools should take note since it is always a challenge to have enough advisory board members to do all that is needed. The restaurant can be a way to draw members of the community to be on your boards as well. They can give good input as well as people from your industry. Best wishes, Susan

Hi Jennifer, Sounds like you are implementing surveys very well. Just wondering who compiles the data, summarizes results, and then distributes for feedback. Great having a graduation ceremony. I find they are great public relations tools and also bring people to the school who might enroll. Your "grad at work" bulletin board is also wonderful. Do the admissions reps know to bring prospective students by to see it? Ever think of creating a brochure with all your successful grads? Can be a mailer or posted on your web site. Best wishes, Susan

Hi Jennifer It is a challenge to keep a bank of advisory board members. That's why it is a good idea to ask everyone - current and future employers. Also staffing agencies. All employers can be a source for new enrollments too. Former grads can also help with placement of your students. Sounds like you have a great career services department. Best wishes Susan

Hi You have identified an interesting challenge - getting survey response back. Sounds like you have also discovered the solution - keep after them. Meet with people. Eventually grads and employers will see the benefit of getting the information. Maybe an alumni org will help too. Best wishes Susan

Hi Todd I like the idea that students are required to connect with your placement services. Many times students don't realize it's for them. They think they know how to get a job or that the job will come to them. Great that you identified areas for improvement. The more students and grads you can service the more admissions, retention, and placement will improve. Best wishes, Susan

Suzanne Great that so much information is tracked. Are you sharing the information with the admissions department. They can use the hard facts when talking to prospective students. After all that's why students want to enroll - to get a job. Susan

Jennifer I do like the idea of requiring students to attend some kind of career development class or workshop. Otherwise the won't know what they are missing. Great idea to build a library of resources. Susan

Jennifer You brought up great points about an effective advisory board. There needs to be an agenda, a structure to the board including types of areas each member represents, and also buyin by all stakeholders. Susan

Wendy Sounds like you have a great sense of what can make a placement dept effective. Students need to see the placement department and then understand that it is for them. I've found many students don't realize placement offerings are for them since it is not a requirement of going to school and that it is part of what they are paying for when going to school. Susan

Suzanne Your advisory board sounds great and your staff makes great use of them. Agree that a school can always use more board members. They come and go and you need good representation. Susan