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How Utah State Is Using a Connected Campus to Boost Student Engagement and Persistence

Release Date: 07/01/2025

Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions

Changing Higher Ed

Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies to review how the predictions made at the end of 2024 played out during the 2025 operating year and what those outcomes mean for institutional planning in 2026. Rather than offering speculative forecasts, this episode uses 2025 as a calibration year. When predictions materialize, they remove ambiguity. They clarify which pressures are structural, which risks persist,...

Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education

Changing Higher Ed

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), about the findings of the and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal research, the 2025 survey challenges many of the dominant public narratives about the value of college. Employers continue to express strong confidence in higher education, place equal importance on workforce preparation...

Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk

Changing Higher Ed

Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the , speaks with , Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas at , about how university presidents and boards must rethink how communication functions inside their institutions under today’s crisis-driven conditions. Drawing on more than two decades of enterprise and higher education communications leadership, Maffei explains why internal communication now determines external...

How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative

Changing Higher Ed

Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the , speaks with , CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of , about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and through authentic human stories. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and senior leaders navigating public skepticism, political pressure, and communication environments where external voices often define higher education’s story. Some of the Topics Covered The forces driving negative public narratives about higher education...

Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt

Changing Higher Ed

Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Erika Liodice, Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT), about how institutions can strengthen their innovation capacity through futures thinking, cross-sector insight, and structured team-based planning. Topics Covered: How futures thinking helps leaders anticipate demographic, workforce, and technology shifts Why innovation efforts fail...

Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success

Changing Higher Ed

are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the features , President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), in a strategic conversation with about how institutions can strengthen accreditation readiness and support stronger student success. This episode is essential for presidents, provosts, trustees, and senior leaders responsible for accreditation, mission alignment, evidence systems, governance oversight, and long-term institutional resilience. Topics Covered How...

The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed

Changing Higher Ed

Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don’t manage it strategically. In this episode of , speaks with , Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and author of The Missing Course, about how teaching quality has fallen outside institutional oversight and what presidents and boards can do to make it a core part of strategic leadership. They explore how governance structures, incentive systems, and faculty preparation create a...

Free Speech on College Campuses: Insights from FIRE's 2025 Report

Changing Higher Ed

Free speech on college campuses has become one of higher education’s most volatile and defining challenges. In this episode, talks with , Chief Research Advisor at FIRE—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression—about findings from FIRE’s newly released and the state of academic freedom, the growing political pressures on universities, and how presidents and boards can protect open dialogue in today’s divided climate. Topics Covered: Why FIRE expanded its mission beyond higher education and no longer stands for “Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.” How...

Aligning Higher Education Strategy and Programs with Workforce Needs and Student Value

Changing Higher Ed

Host welcomes , president of the University of North Texas and former Texas commissioner of higher education. This episode of the helps higher education presidents, boards, and senior leaders rethink how to connect institutional mission with workforce readiness. It explores how institutions can better align employer partnerships, faculty innovation, and experiential learning to ensure graduates gain both economic and civic value from their degrees. Listeners will hear how the University of North Texas is translating statewide strategy into campus-level change—showing what’s possible when...

Holistic Enrollment Strategy and Management: Filling the Enrollment Pipeline

Changing Higher Ed

At one of the smallest graduate schools in the nation, a system built to serve just over a hundred students is redefining how higher education can grow. CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism has proven that scale isn’t the key to enrollment stability—structure is. By integrating admissions, student affairs, career services, and alumni engagement into one cohesive unit, the school has created a holistic enrollment strategy and management model that continuously fills its pipeline while centering student success. In this episode of the Changing Higher...

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Digital transformation in higher education often focuses on technology. But for Utah State University, the transformation has been about outcomes: improving retention, strengthening equity, and building scalable systems of support without overhauling infrastructure.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Rene Eborn, Associate Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Deputy of Digital Transformation at Utah State University, about how the institution designed and implemented a connected campus strategy that integrates advising, communications, and academic support into a single mobile-first platform.

Drawing on her decades of experience in higher ed and edtech leadership, Eborn shares how USU replaced nine siloed tools with five integrated platforms, enabling early alerts, AI-powered nudges, and real-time visibility across departments. She explains how this model supports faculty, staff, and especially underserved student populations—including first-generation, commuter, and online learners—by surfacing what students need, when they need it.

This conversation is especially relevant for institutional leaders looking to align digital infrastructure with student success goals, without ballooning their tech stack or losing sight of their mission.

Topics Covered:

Why USU’s connected campus approach focuses on student equity and support
How the university integrated CRM, LMS, advising, and communications systems
The role of AI nudges and early alerts in preventing student disengagement
How faculty and staff use the system to support students in real time
What the rollout process looked like—and why stakeholder involvement was key
What’s next: building toward a full 360-degree student lifecycle view

Real-World Examples Discussed:

A first-generation student juggling three jobs flagged by the early alert system and connected to scholarship resources in time
Student dashboards that surface personalized academic, advising, and financial steps
A platform expansion that now includes parents, alumni, and prospective students
High adoption rates driven by student feedback and design input

Three Key Takeaways for Leadership:

Technology should be integrated, not layered—start with user needs and existing infrastructure.
Faculty and staff buy-in depends on systems that make their work easier, not more complicated.
Student success improves when support is timely, personalized, and accessible—especially for those who need it most.

This episode offers a practical look at what’s possible when digital transformation is driven by strategy, not software—and why connected campuses may be one of the most effective ways to support today’s diverse student population.

Recommended For: Presidents, provosts, CIOs, trustees, enrollment managers, and student success leaders building or scaling student-centered infrastructure.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/creating-a-connected-campus-strategy-for-student-success/

#ConnectedCampus #StudentSuccess #HigherEdTechnology #HigherEducationPodcast #DigitalTransformation

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