Thinking Creatively About Better Serving Adult Learners with Dr. Frank Dooley
Release Date: 08/05/2025
![[Bonus Episode] How to Empower Student Retention Efforts with AI show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/39744775?height=50&width=50)
[Bonus Episode] How to Empower Student Retention Efforts with AI
Next Practices
What if AI could help student success teams act earlier, work smarter, and focus more on human connection—without requiring perfect data or adding more burden to already stretched staff? In this special bonus episode of Next Practices, we’re sharing a recent conversation featuring Civitas Learning CEO Will Ballard on the Higher Ed Geek Podcast, hosted by Dustin Ramsdell. Will breaks down what institutions actually need to know about AI in higher education today—from predictive and assistive use cases to the cultural and operational shifts required to make new tools stick. Rather than...
info_outline
Improving Student Success with a Hub-and-Spoke Advising Model
Next Practices
What if your advising system could see students not just as a collective, but as individuals with unique needs, goals, and challenges? At the University of North Dakota, that vision is becoming reality. In this conversation, we explore how a campus-wide transformation in student advising is already producing measurable success through rising retention rates, stronger relationships, and the power of shared data. You’ll hear from Dr. Karyn Plumm, vice provost for undergraduate studies and student success, who helped spearhead the shift to a hybrid “hub-and-spoke” model of advising. She’s...
info_outline
Ensuring Your Team is Strategically Enabled to Use Technology with Stephanie Smith Euting
Next Practices
Introducing new technology into an institution is only the first step. Ensuring that teams are fully prepared to use it in ways that align with strategic goals is where the real work begins. Strategic enablement is more than training users on where to click. It’s equipping people to apply data and tools thoughtfully, effectively and consistently to support long term student success. In this episode I talk to Stephanie Smith Euting, Director of Strategic Enablement at Civitas Learning about turning software adoption into measurable impact. With nearly 20 years of experience in higher...
info_outline
Thinking Creatively About Better Serving Adult Learners with Dr. Frank Dooley
Next Practices
Across Purdue Global’s virtual halls 38 000 students, nearly all of them working adults, log in after shifts and school runs, yet they are moving toward Purdue degrees faster because the university treats their lived experience as real academic currency. Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor Emeritus of Purdue Global, explained how his team built policies that convert military medic training, corporate leadership courses, and on‑the‑job technical certificates into college credit. On Purdue’s residential campus the playbook looks different: first‑year students find peer tutoring and...
info_outline
How to Build a Strong Faculty and Staff Advising Partnership
Next Practices
Nothing beats seeing a student’s confidence bloom when the right support team steps in. At Austin Community College, Dr. Giao Phan, Dean of the Public and Social Services Division; Kathy James, a nineteen-year advising veteran who now coordinates support across every campus; and Dr. Rania Salman, Assistant Department Chair and dedicated mentor in early childhood education, have turned collaboration into an everyday habit instead of a distant goal. Dr. Phan describes how her division built trust by showing up for students and colleagues semester after semester. Kathy explains how a single...
info_outline
Applying the 2025 Student Success Impact Report: Insights from the Civitas Learning Customer Development Team
Next Practices
What if the programs designed to help students were actually making things worse or simply doing nothing at all? It’s a question more institutions are asking as they confront the hard truth: not every initiative leads to better outcomes. This episode takes a closer look at the data behind student success and how colleges and universities can learn which efforts are truly making a difference. You’ll hear from a powerhouse team at Civitas Learning who bring a combined 75 years of experience in higher education. Nova Davidson shares insights from her two decades in enrollment management and...
info_outline
How UVU’s Student Success Specialists Build Connection Through Proactive Outreach
Next Practices
When students need support, it often makes all the difference when help feels personal, not procedural. At Utah Valley University, Ryan Bailey, Director of the Student Success Center, and Jamie Muhlestein, Associate Director of Student Success and Support, have helped build an innovative program that brings recent graduates and upperclassmen into part-time professional roles, focused on reaching out to students exactly when they need it most. Through consistent, genuine conversations mostly by text, the specialists are helping students stay connected, navigate challenges, and feel seen...
info_outline
How an IR-Led Outreach Experiment Boosted Student Persistence at Greenville Technical College
Next Practices
When a simple check-in email leads to a 77 percent increase in student persistence, it’s clear something powerful is happening. At Greenville Technical College, data is more than numbers on a dashboard. It’s a way to connect, support, and transform student outcomes. What started as a pilot outreach project by a team of data analysts quickly became a catalyst for campus-wide change. In this episode, Kevin McMindes shares how his team used predictive analytics and personalized outreach to make a real difference. From identifying students most in need of support to tracking the impact of...
info_outline
From Pressure to Possibility: Navigating the New Realities of Higher Ed
Next Practices
Higher education stands at a crossroads. With growing public skepticism about the value of a college degree and mounting financial demands on both students and institutions, the need for bold, student-centered leadership has never been greater. Today, you'll hear from someone who has not only confronted these problems, but also turned them into possibilities for positive change. My guest, Dr. Nicholas S. Zeppos, Chancellor Emeritus of Vanderbilt University, shares the story of Opportunity Vanderbilt, one of higher education's most ambitious financial assistance efforts, and what it took to...
info_outline
Creating a Data-Driven and Proactive Student Support System with UNC Asheville
Next Practices
Student success in higher education isn’t just about reacting to problems — it’s about building systems that anticipate them. And at the University of North Carolina Asheville, that proactive approach is making all the difference. Joining today’s conversation are two incredible leaders who are doing this work every day: Regine Criser, Director of Student Success, and Lynne Horgan, University Registrar. Regine oversees UNC Asheville’s Academic Success Center, leading efforts in advising, writing support, and peer tutoring, while Lynne brings over 25 years of experience to her role...
info_outlineAcross Purdue Global’s virtual halls 38 000 students, nearly all of them working adults, log in after shifts and school runs, yet they are moving toward Purdue degrees faster because the university treats their lived experience as real academic currency. Dr. Frank Dooley, Chancellor Emeritus of Purdue Global, explained how his team built policies that convert military medic training, corporate leadership courses, and on‑the‑job technical certificates into college credit.
On Purdue’s residential campus the playbook looks different: first‑year students find peer tutoring and study‑skills boot camps embedded in their earliest classes. The result on both campuses is the same with higher completion rates driven by flexibility and timely feedback instead of a one‑size‑fits‑all schedule. I sat down with Frank to unpack the mindset shifts behind that success and the practical systems that keep it running, from micro assessments for time‑starved adults to visible walk‑in help for traditional freshmen learning to manage independence.
We also talk about awarding credit for prior learning at scale, building employer partnerships that turn CHIPS Act funding into real careers, and designing courses that accommodate neurodiversity and the coming wave of AI‑driven change. If you are searching for a blueprint that leaves cookie‑cutter education behind, pull up a seat.
Show Notes:
[02:57] Dr. Frank Dooley has had a long career. He's a Professor of Agricultural Economics. He's been at Purdue since 1998. He went into the Provost office in 2011, and worked with undergraduate programs. In 2020, he became the chancellor of Purdue Global.
[03:53] He's now on sabbatical.
[04:07] We learn about the dual perspective of what students really need to be successful.
[05:55] Working adults and learners who come back have all kinds of experience. They need to be able to expand that experience.
[06:49] There's a lot of assessment in smaller bites.
[07:55] Throwing out the playbook that was built for the traditional student population.
[08:38] The adult learners may need more support. The importance of keeping in touch with learners who may have missed an assignment window.
[11:21] One commonality with both groups of learners is they don't always ask for help.
[12:03] The importance of using data to be proactive.
[13:24] Letting traditional students know who the TAs are.
[15:11] It's harder for online students to build relationships with classmates.
[17:27] There are many students on the autism spectrum. Having recognition and understanding that students are different.
[19:59] Unique challenges that adult learners face.
[22:00] We talk about the ability to give credit for prior learning. Purdue Global has an entire center focused on this.
[26:07] Adult learners are very intent on finishing as quickly as possible.
[27:52] Valuing different types of education and institution types and building a more inclusive and effective higher education system.
[29:39] It's important for institutions to tie to the employer base they have in their location.
Links and Resources: