Higher Ed Pulse

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Mallory sits down with Granit Doshlaku, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Manaferra, to discuss the findings from Manifera's AI Index, which analyzed 200,000 prompts to reveal how AI search engines recommend institutions. Granit explores the role of domain authority, Reddit, and third-party mentions in shaping AI-generated answers, emphasizing that solid SEO fundamentals and off-site brand presence remain crucial for institutional visibility in AI search.

Related Links:
Manaferra’s AI Index
HigherEducationMarketing.com

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“We need this to go viral” sounds like a clear request. In higher education marketing, though, it can point to several very different goals. Does the institution need greater brand awareness? More engagement from prospective students? More qualified leads? A newsworthy moment? Or does someone simply want to see a bigger number on the social media report?

In the first episode of What Do We Really Need?, Ologie Marketing Director Erin Fields talks with Alicia Camden, Ologie’s Associate Vice President of Digital Creative, about what leaders are really asking for when they want a piece of conten...

Mallory welcomes back Jenny Petty, Vice President Industry Relations and Advisory Services SimpsonScarborough, and Marina Cooper, Head of Brand and Marketing at The Johns Hopkins University, to introduce the Next Leader Experience (NLE) program at the upcoming AMA conference in Denver. Designed for rising higher education marketing leaders, NLE bridges critical skill gaps in leadership, financial acumen, cabinet dynamics, strategic planning, and team management. 

Related Links:
2026 AMA Next Leader Experience
Spencer Stuart's 2025 CMO Tenure Study
The Conference Board's CMO+CCO Meter - June 2025
SimpsonScarborough's 2025-26 CMO Study

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In the final part of this Pulse Check series, Host Michele Ehrhart welcomes Jason Cook, Vice President for Marketing and Communications and Chief Marketing Officer at Baylor University, to discuss how a college degree represents far more than a certificate—it encompasses personal, spiritual, and character growth, alongside critical thinking and leadership. In an era increasingly shaped by AI, human connection and complex problem-solving become key differentiators. Together, they explore how higher education fosters ethical boundaries, adaptability, and personal calling, urging institutions to articulate the enduring, holistic value of the campus experience.

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Mallory sits down with Erik Toedt, new business leader at Snapchat, to discuss how higher education institutions can effectively reach 13- to 18-year-olds amidst tightening platform ad restrictions. Erik shares valuable lessons from his previous work at TikTok in travel and quick-service dining, emphasizing the power of organic content, strategic retargeting, and authentic, unpolished creative. Learn why institutions must venture beyond traditional platforms, step out of their comfort zones, and commit real support to drive meaningful enrollment growth.

Related Links:
AI Engage Fall Summit 2026
Pew Research Center, Teens' Experiences on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat
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In Part 3 of this Pulse Check Series, host Michele Ehrhart is joined by Tom Addonoizio, Vice President for University Communications & Chief Marketing Officer, to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence in academia and the workforce. They discuss how AI acts as a productivity tool rather than a job replacement, highlighting the growing importance of human success skills like adaptability, collaboration, and critical interpretation.

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Mallory Willsea
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In this final episode of our pulse check series, Understanding the Modern Student Journey, Faton Sopa talks with Mark Hatton, Director of Admissions and Marketing at Webster Geneva Campus, to discuss the evolving landscape of international student recruitment and how digital platforms and AI are shifting how students research colleges. Mark emphasizes that despite the rise of online tools, personal relationships with global referral partners and face-to-face connections remain critical in building trust with families. The conversation highlights the value of campus visits and why institutions must remain adaptable to navigate changing global climates.

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Mallory is joined by Natalie Gleason, VP of Marketing at Portico, to discuss the critical skill of building internal advocacy for new ideas. They explore why change efforts often stall under committee governance and how to overcome these hurdles by crafting solid business cases, anticipating stakeholder objections, and obtaining early voice-of-customer proof. Natalie shares insights from launching Portico’s new community initiative, offering practical advice on managing resources, executing successful pilots, and checking your ego at the door to turn great concepts into greenlit realities.

Related Links:
Portico’s The Commons community site

Stop Losi...

In Part 2 of this Pulse Check series, Michele Ehrhart talks with Merianne Roth, Vice Chancellor, Marketing & Communication at Texas Christian University, to explore why a college education offers value far beyond financial ROI, highlighting the development of essential "success skills" like leadership, critical thinking, and identity formation. Merianne outlines how TCU is navigating AI through its AI Squared initiative and ethical use policies, and they also explore the importance of workforce readiness, alumni networks, and why choosing a path is a deeply personal decision.

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Mallory is joined by Rob Zinkan, founder of Navigate Gray, to discuss the career trajectories of higher education chief marketing officers. While corporate CMOs often advance to executive roles like COO or CEO, higher ed CMOs frequently face limited upward pathways, often moving laterally to other campuses or exiting the sector entirely. Rob shares insights from analyzing nearly 100 organizational charts, highlighting the need for institutions to intentionally integrate marketing leaders into core strategic planning and build leadership capacity to develop true enterprise leaders.

What Comes After the CMO?

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In the debut episode of this new Pulse Check Series hosted by Michele Ehrhart, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for the University of Memphis, we are joined by Dave Martel from the University of Virginia to discuss the true impact of college. Both first-generation graduates reflect on higher education as a fundamental pathway to a better life beyond simple financial ROI. Together, they explore how higher education fosters essential success skills, navigates the integration of AI tools, and addresses growing national affordability challenges. Tune in to discover why educating citizen leaders and protecting the transformative personal journey of college remains...

Mallory interviews Kim Infanti, Executive Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement at Syracuse University. Kim discusses launching Ask Orange Alumni, an AI-powered platform that connects students with alumni mentors while keeping human relationships central, and they explore how AI tools frequently pull alumni network information from public sites like Reddit instead of institutional websites.

AI Visibility in Higher Education Recommendations

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Mallory Willsea
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About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
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Mallory welcomes Phil DiMartino and Marisa Uluski from 5 Tool Productions to explore how higher education institutions can transform video from a simple production line item into an effective marketing strategy.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea

About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!

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Mallory is joined by Amy Still from ZeeMee and Paul Garner from Western Carolina University to dissect new data regarding student perceptions of AI in the admissions process. With insights drawn from over 12,000 students, the discussion highlights a critical boundary: while students embrace AI for personal research and low-stakes reminders, they remain deeply skeptical of its role in high-stakes interactions. As students move deeper into the enrollment funnel, the demand for human connection increases significantly, with four out of five students preferring human guidance when making their final college choice.

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In Part 3 of this Pulse Check series, host Faton Sopa sits down with Stephanie Geyer, associate vice president for marketing and brand strategy at the University of Montana, to explore the evolving student journey. The conversation challenges the common practice of organizing university websites around institutional bureaucracy rather than student decision-making, emphasizing that digital strategies must prioritize the user's perspective.

Guest Name: Stephanie Geyer, AVP of Marketing and Brand Strategy, the University of Montana

Guest Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-geyer-553a862/

Guest Bio: Stephanie Geyer has spent more than thirty years...

Lindsay Nyquist, Chief of Staff at Occidental College, and Dr. Miriam Merrill, Chief of Staff at Hamilton College, join Mallory to discuss the inaugural Chief of Staff Summit, where 50 higher-ed chiefs of staff met at Colorado College in Colorado Springs for closed-door, case-based peer problem solving. They explain the chief of staff role varies widely by president and institution, often centering on supporting decision-making, execution, and human impacts. Summit topics included cabinet politics, crisis leadership, managing up without formal authority, board relations, burnout, career trajectories, strategic planning, and AI. 

Register for Next Year’s Chief of Staff Sum...

In Part 2 of this Pulse Check, Understanding the Modern Student Journey, host Faton Sopa is joined by guest Robert Kadar to dismantle the outdated reliance on traditional marketing funnels in higher education and highlight a critical industry misalignment.

Guest Name: Robert M. Kadar, Senior Director of Marketing, Yeshiva University

Guest Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkadar

Guest Bio: Robert Kadar is a higher education marketing leader with more than fifteen years of experience across marketing strategy, communications, enrollment, fundraising, media relations, and organizational leadership. He combines strategic thinking, data-driven analysis, and hands-on...

Mallory hosts Higher Ed Pulse with guest Jenn Hayes, Associate Dean for Marketing & Communications at Cardozo School of Law in New York, to discuss higher ed’s recurring “hero” cycle: hiring passionate leaders to rebuild broken systems, celebrating visible wins, and then losing them to burnout.

Related Links:

New CUPA-HR Survey Results Shed Light on Employee Retention in Higher Education

CMOs Are Staying in the Job (Slightly) Longer
Knowledge loss induced by organizational member turnover: a review of empirical literature, synthesis and future research directions
Tribal knowledge - Wikipedia

Breaki...

In the debut episode of this new Pulse Check Series, Understanding the Modern Student Journey, host Faton Sopa sits down with higher education marketing strategist Kristin Nichols to unpack the rapidly evolving landscape of college discovery. The conversation highlights a major shift in how prospective students form their initial impressions of institutions. While schools once relied heavily on their websites to control the narrative, students are now discovering colleges through AI tools like ChatGPT, Reddit, and various online communities long before they ever visit an official institutional site.

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2026 AI Search Trends: Brand (In)Visibility Brief

Mallory is joined by Andrea Gilbert and Mike Bell from Everspring to discuss their latest AI search trends report. The report finds big brand universities can be cited in AI overviews on non-branded searches as low as 1%, while smaller private schools see higher citation rates, driven by useful, specific content (e.g., career center pages) rather than brand campaigns. They discuss how reduced AI visibility affects enrollment and revenue, budget allocation challenges, and why AI rewards context, substantiation, and diverse formats.

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In this 4th and final episode of Funnel Vision, Rishab Malhotra sits down with Valpo’s LeAnn Hughes and Rosa Alvarado to discuss how their team turned around a decade of enrollment decline through strategic leadership, trust, and a focus on core value.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea

About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are yo...

Mallory is joined by Megan Cabrera, Director of Strategic Enrollment Management at Okanagan College, about an enrollment trap she calls “residual momentum,” where funnels look stable after marketing spend is cut, then collapse years later. Megan recounts pulling investment from a long-time feeder market during a budget crunch; applications initially held steady, but after partner institutions became degree-granting competitors, yield dropped from 25–50 students to 3–5. They discuss why dashboards lag reality and what earlier signals to watch, including engagement velocity, market penetration, conversion quality, competitor visibility, and relationship health with high schools. Megan argues for integrated, cross-department KPIs to fix handoffs...

In Part 3 of Funnel Vision, host Rishab Malhotra welcomes Anna Esaki Smith, author and co-founder of Education Rethink, to examine the critical state of higher education. Moving past the usual focus on demographic cliffs, they discuss the systemic health of colleges, framing the industry's condition as a need for urgent care rather than a simple checkup.

Anna and Rishab explore the root causes of current challenges, including self-inflicted issues like rising tuition costs, administrative bloat, and the complex data game of merit aid discounting. Anna introduces her book, Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go...

Howard Heevner, co-founder of the National Alumni Survey, argues the core problem with institutional giving isn’t debt, apathy, or generations rejecting philanthropy—82% of alumni gave or volunteered last year—but a “30-point cliff” between 87% who love their education and only 17% satisfied with the post-graduation relationship. Alumni who feel their priorities are extremely well known give about $500,000 lifetime versus under $4,000 when they don’t, highlighting the cost of not listening. Heevner critiques transactional, forced-choice fundraising and warns technology and AI can make outreach more efficient but not more trustworthy.

2026 National Alumni Survey Results

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The higher education sector is facing a quiet talent crisis: a staggering 74% of higher ed marketers are actively considering an exit from the industry. Mallory sits down with Shane Baglini, Executive Director of Marketing and Branding at William & Mary, to uncover the systemic issues fueling this exhaustion and explore how institutions can reverse the trend. Drawing from his own journey climbing from a small four-person team at Muhlenberg College to overseeing 22 creatives at a historic flagship university, Shane breaks down the unique hurdles of stepping into a high-visibility executive marketing role. They dive headfirst into a problematic culture where...

In Part 2 of this Pulse Check series, host Rishab Malhotra sits down with Clay Harmon, executive director of the Association of International Enrollment Management (AIRC), and Clare Overmann, CEO of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), to discuss the vital intersection of domestic and international enrollment strategy. The conversation highlights how higher education institutions have historically managed these areas as separate, siloed entities, often leading to fragmented institutional strategy.

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Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
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Carrie Phillips chats with Brian Piper, host of AI for U, live at Engage Summit 2026 in Charlotte, NC.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea

About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!

Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at elem...

The financial pressures squeezing higher education are real, but when it comes to the complex world of mergers and acquisitions, focusing solely on the spreadsheet is a critical mistake. In this episode of The Higher Ed Pulse, Mallory sits down with Dr. Morgan Johnson, VP of Academic Experience at The University of Arizona Global Campus, to discuss the human layer of higher ed M&A. Having recently defended her dissertation on the leadership competencies essential to navigating mergers, Morgan shares firsthand insights from more than 20 senior leaders across three completed institutional mergers.

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Welcome to this brand new Pulse Check Series, hosted by Rishab Malhotra, Founder and CEO of AIDO. Higher ed has been running two separate plays for too long. Domestic over here, international over there, and strategy getting lost in the middle. We're going to laugh. We're going to cry. We're going to question why they gave me a microphone — but we've got university and enrollment leaders, association heads, and tech innovators who have something to say about it.

Guest Names: 
Dr. Matt Boyce, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, UMass Amherst 
Dr. Kalpen Trivedi, Senior Vice Prov...

On this special episode of Higher Ed Pulse, Mallory Willsea sits down with former co-host and higher ed marketing leader Seth Odell at the inaugural Let's Go Upstate Retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York. Together, they reflect on friendship, leadership, wellness, and what the higher education community needs most right now.

Seth shares updates on life and business, including the growth of Kanahoma, the launch of new AI-powered products, and the joys (and sleep deprivation) of raising a young family. But the heart of the conversation centers on the retreat experience itself—why creating space for wellness, vu...

Engage Summit 2026 is almost here, and the excitement is building. In this special episode of Pulse Check, Engage emcees Brendan Henkel, AVP of Solutions Engineering at Element451, and Cecily Street, VP of People at Element451, sit down to preview what's in store for this year's conference in Charlotte.

From reflecting on the remarkable growth of Engage—from a small gathering in a Raleigh hotel conference room to a major industry event at the Charlotte Convention Center—to sharing what they're most excited about this year, Brendan and Cecily offer a behind-the-scenes look at the community, innovation, and...

Artificial intelligence is moving faster than most institutions can govern it. For the 64 campuses within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, that challenge became very real when a new system-wide AI policy required every campus to adopt or update AI guidelines by the end of 2026. While many institutions are just beginning the work, SUNY Westchester Community College was already a year ahead.

On this episode of Higher Ed Pulse, host Mallory Willsea sits down with Ed Tatton, co-chair of SUNY Westchester’s Strategic AI Committee, to discuss what it takes to build meaningful AI governance be...

On this episode of Higher Ed Pulse, host Mallory Willsea sits down with Katy Campbell, newly named CEO of VisionPoint Marketing, for an urgent conversation about the future of search in higher education. Following Google’s announcement that AI-powered search is now the default experience for more than a billion users, Katy breaks down what this shift means for enrollment marketers, institutional websites, and the way prospective students discover colleges. Together, Mallory and Katy unpack why traditional SEO strategies are no longer enough, how AI agents are changing the student search journey, and why higher ed institutions need to re...

Welcome to the next chapter of this Pulse Check Series, Part 3: The Impact of AI on Regional Businesses.

On this episode, host Adam HedeBrink-Bruno explores what AI adoption really looks like for small businesses, regional organizations, and community partners navigating rapid technological change. Joined by Marisa Enzinna, Director of Member Relations and Communications at the Ontario County Chamber of Commerce, and Camille Zess, Vice President of Growth at Travel Alliance Partnership, the conversation dives into how organizations are using AI to augment workflows, improve efficiency, and better support their teams and clients.

Find out more...

On this episode of Higher Ed Pulse, host Mallory Willsea sits down with Ed Cabellon, Interim Vice President for Student Experience at Frederick Community College, for a behind-the-scenes conversation about what it actually takes to build an enterprise AI strategy in higher education. Rather than rushing into flashy AI pilots or chasing trends, Ed shares how FCC spent months laying the groundwork for a sustainable, institution-wide AI roadmap rooted in governance, collaboration, and operational readiness. Together, Mallory and Ed unpack the realities of leading AI transformation on campus, including how to align cabinet leadership, faculty innovation, IT infrastructure, and...

If your campus has plenty of AI activity but remains a little light on the strategy, you’re not alone. Many higher education institutions are running lots of experiments without a clear path to scale the right ideas responsibly. This leaves faculty and staff reinventing the wheel rather than moving forward together. In this episode, we go behind the scenes to explore the supports that shift individual experiments to structured pilots with potential for broader implementation. We’ll talk about microgrants, stipends, professional learning, and lightweight governance that doesn’t kill momentum.

Find out more about what Finger...

Related Links:
Mastering the Art of Visual Storytelling in Higher Education Marketing
Think before you ink: The Three Principles Behind Every Digital Transformation that Actually Work
“Beyond the Facelift: Navigating the Website Redesign Journey”
“Engaging with ‘First Generation’ Prospects: The Power of Visual Storytelling”
“The Enormity of Inclusion: The Importance of Authenticity over Aspiration”

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea

About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part...

Mastering AI tools and techniques takes time. In this episode, we share how community colleges can become the region’s trusted AI onramp by offering accessible, mission-aligned AI literacy programming for students, employees, and community members. We’ll break down how to approach AI as a critical mindset rather than a technical skill set. 

Learn about the values behind our AI model and the practical decisions that make it work. We’ll address the tensions and uncomfortable realities driving this work, including AI overreliance, academic integrity, and workforce disruption. Finally, we'll examine how AI literacy can support college...

Mallory Willsea sits down with Dr. Nick Ladany, President of San Francisco Bay University, to unpack one of the boldest experiments in AI in higher education and student success strategies happening today. Together, they explore how SFBU is designing a human-centered, AI-integrated learning model that prioritizes capability development, workforce readiness, affordability, and access over outdated systems built around seat time and content delivery.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea

About The Enrollify Podcast Network:<...

- - - - Connect With Our Host: Mallory Willsea https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/ https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea About The Enrollify Podcast Network: The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too! Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.