AACRAO Spotlight interviews are published biweekly before major professional development meetings. They feature our conversations with industry experts, highlighting key issues and promoting sessions and workshops at the upcoming conference.
In this issue of Connect, we talked with representatives from the U.S. Departments of State and Education on education diplomacy and academic mobility. We also talked with session presenters on collaborative relationships between academic advising and registrar's offices, mining student data, and NCAA updates.
U.S. Government Perspectives on Academic Mobility
Last August, the National Security Council issued guidance for U.S. global engagement, outlining priorities ultimately driving the fiscal year 2016 budget request. One of the priorities discussed was promoting U.S. higher education abroad, and EducationUSA was cited as an important tool in achieving this goal.
In Tuesday's General Session, representatives from the U.S. Departments of State and Education will discuss the administration's approach to education diplomacy, mechanisms to increase student mobility, and the increased interest in cross-border education exhibited by many governments around the world. The session will be moderated by AACRAO International Education Services Dale Gough.
Read our interview with Heidi Arola, Rafael Nevárez and Dale Gough here.
Collaborative Relationships Between Academic Advising and Registrar's Offices
As campuses around the country are increasingly realizing the value of academic advising and dedicating more resources to it, the necessity of registrar's offices to increase their communication and collaboration with this important academic entity is becoming more important. This session will analyze the working dynamics and interdependencies between these two units and will suggest solutions that will increase their collaboration in a way that will benefit students' progress to degree.
Read our interview with this session's presenters here.
Mining Student Data in Search of “The Graduates”
AACRAO caught up with University of Minnesota colleagues Tina Falkner, Director of Compliance and Continuity and AACRAO Vice President for Records and Registration, and Rachel McKessock, Coordinator of Student Degree Progress. They discussed their upcoming AACRAO Annual Meeting session, Mining Student Data in Search of “The Graduates.”
Read on for our interview with Falkner and McKessock here.
NCAA Academic Reform Update: Improving the Academic Performance of Student-Athletes
Current standards and new legislation adopted by the NCAA Division I and II academic governance committees will impact many institutions across the country. Andrew Cardamone, the Associate Director of Academic and Membership Affairs of the NCAA will hold a session at the Annual Meeting on recent developments in the NCAA and best practices.
Read our interview with Cardamone here.