The Education Beyond Degrees Podcast

Today we spoke to Navalent's Jarrod Shappell. As a Partner at the organizational and leadership development consulting firm, he has done dozens of organizational development projects — and between the two of us, we didn't hold back on talking details. On Episode 09 of The Education Beyond Degrees Podcast

On today's episode, I had the pleasure of being joined by Melissa Peraino is Director of Educational Outreach within the Center for Adult and Continuing Studies at Grand Valley State University. On this episode, you'll learn: How a more thoughtful approach to programming — not quickly rushing into where the demand is — has worked out really well for Grand Valley State. Why your continuing education portfolio should be in near “constant flux” (unlike the rest of the institution, which was designed to be slow and incremental). Why so many learners have struggled during COVID without support and how CE can fill in the gaps. How to meet the needs of the community while balancing the comfort level at the institution for change. Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

This week I welcomed Dr. Terri Given's, author of the brilliant book, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. It gives individuals like you and me the tools to make institutions and systems more fair, transparent and, yes, empathetic. As a political scientist, vice provost, provost and CEO and founder of Brighter Higher Ed, a platform for professional development for faculty. Terri shares how she's been round and round and home again within the many places and spaces in academia — from Stanford to UCLA to University of Washington to UT Austin to Menlo College — and now in a faculty role at McGill University in Quebec.

Instead of doing a regular episode this week I wanted to talk a bit about why taking a break is so important — which also allowed me to get a bit of a break myself after I was on vacation this week. This week's episode is short — under 9 minutes — and it covers three mistakes I see CE leaders making since COVID began. - Thinking the 40-Hour Workweek is Still a Thing - Losing Sight of the Life Outside Your Office - Not Managing The Energy and Mental Health of Their Teams Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

On Episode 05 of the Education Beyond Degrees podcast, Jenni shares all the details about being part of the California State University (CSU) system, and how she and her team have made Sacramento State top-of-mind for any continuing and professional education needs the Sacramento region may have. On this episode, you'll learn: How Sacramento State gets its competitive advantage by being “embedded” in the day-to-day work of its top clients How to launch a long-haul marketing and recruitment strategy to boost the health of your university or college for decades Why she segments her program portfolio by ‘College to Learner' and ‘College to Organization' — and the different strategies to deliver on both The best advice Jenni ever got about managing up to presidents and provosts

On this episode, we heard from Sara Leoni, CEO of Greenfig, which partners with universities to offer turnkey digital skills certificate courses and microdegrees. During this chat, you'll learn: When universities and employers partner, they become unstoppable in closing the global skills gap Why launching high-quality, diverse, impactful curriculum is far more attainable to colleges than it was even a few years ago Why “codeless” occupations (digital marketing, sales, customer success, HR) often get overlooked for microcredentials far more than their “coded” or technical counterparts The importance of ensuring critical thinking is prioritized in certificate and microdegree programs. Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

On this episode, we heard from Therese Grohman, Senior Director of Marketing and Enrollment Management at Northwestern University's School of Professional Studies. During this chat, you'll learn: The questions Therese's team asks when they're determining the up-front viability of a new program Why ideas in isolation can be great on paper but ultimately fail once they're turned loose in the market How “stackable” bite-size credentials and certificates from major universities will be the go-to playbook for a generation of learners Why the phrase “online” means so much more than just getting on Zoom and teaching a class Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

Meni and Dr. Jim Shaeffer, President of Eastern Shore Community College, riff on some big ideas in Episode 02 of the Education Beyond Degrees podcast. On this episode, you'll learn: How to get buy-in from presidents and their cabinets about the value of continuing education [Hint: It involves data.] Why it's best when the mission of the continuing education division aligns to the larger mission of the college (and what happens when there's not a mission) Where continuing education is going post-COVID How life on campus seems a bit more personal at a community college, and why that improves student outcomes Why it's never been more important for community colleges and four-year universities to prioritize transferring students Follow Meni on LinkedIn or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter to get alerts about new episodes.

Join The Spur Group founder Meni Sarris as he kicks off The Education Beyond Degrees podcast. In this overview episode, you'll hear: Why should you listen to a podcast about CE? The value of sharing ideas among fellow CE professionals Why CE program ideas are meant to be shared, not guarded in secrecy Why CE is uniquely prepared to meet the demand's of next-generation students A snapshot of what's changed since COVID, one year later What to expect from The Education Beyond Degrees podcast Follow Meni on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menisarris/ or stay in touch at spurcg.com, where you can sign up for our biweekly newsletter.