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Letter from the Editor: November 3, 2026
To “enroll” once meant to “record in a register or write in a roll” of parchment as a record of…
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Beyond the Lectern: Freeman Hrabowski on Resilience, Relationships, and Learner Success
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County suggested that institutions can no longer…
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Build Belonging Before Transfer
Marco Mendoza, Director of TitanHub, and Jessica Barco, Associate Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management, explain how a one-stop center…
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Let Students Lead the Way to Enrollment
Live from #SEM 2026. How Delaware County Community College uses student voices and personalized video to guide students from first…
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AACRAO and AIRC Announce Professional Exchange Program Trip to Vietnam
“Vietnam has emerged as one of the most dynamic and promising markets for international student recruitment … Many Vietnamese students…
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Building an Enrollment Infrastructure Plan
Transform your project list into a framework for prioritization and capacity management.
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Decision Paralysis: Are We Mistaking Overwhelm for Disinterest?
“In admissions, it is easy to interpret student silence, indecision, an incomplete application, or failure to respond as a sign…
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Session Preview for #SEM2026: Military Credit, Peer Power, Human-Centered Design, Automation
Did you know that more than 40 million adult and military-connected learners have earned some college credit but stopped before completing…
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September 2026 – Research Updates and News, AI Adoption, Learner Protections, and More
The September 2026 Eye on Research commentary welcomes new research, insights, AI adoption, learner protections, trends in higher education, and…
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How We Turned a Book Club Into a Functional Working Group
“During the Fall 2025 semester, I facilitated a book club at Eastern Kentucky University around Kevin McClure’s ‘The Caring University.’…
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New Data on Student Survey Design
“In an era of volatility, institutions that discipline themselves to measure consistently—rather than endlessly—are best positioned to transform student voice…
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Brian Gann Named Incoming Director of The AACRAO Conference on Strategic Enrollment Management
A longtime SEM Conference attendee and community college leader will guide the conference after Jack Miner’s final year as director.
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Discuss The Human Side of Technology Change with Colleagues
Jennifer Minke of Tarrant County College District hosts the September 24 Collective Gathering to engage in a peer-driven conversation about…
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Session Preview for #SEM2026: Structured Operations, Career Outcomes, Scholarship Funds
Three SEM 2026 session previews spotlight the systems, data, and funding strategies leading the next enrollment era as “enrollment management”…
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Start From Yes – Joint Statement on Credit Evaluation & Learning Mobility
Nineteen higher education organizations have joined the LEARN Commission in calling for a fundamental shift in how prior learning and…
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‘SparkNotes’ on Learner-Centric Initiatives to Get Your #AACRAO2027 Session Proposal Ready
A recap of #AACRAO2026 sessions focused on making it as clear, quick, and simple as possible for learners to get…
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New Authors Answer the Call for C&U’s Centennial
The C&U 100th Anniversary/100 Authors campaign celebrates a complimentary Annual Meeting 2027 registration winner while spotlighting new work from its…
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See What’s Really Happening in Higher Ed Technology
“We are thrilled to partner with AACRAO to bring clear, transparent technology insights directly to the professionals who shape the…
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We Said We Wanted Adult Learners, But the Aid Architecture Disagrees
Beginning in fall 2026, a working adult enrolled at nine credits borrows less than a traditional student enrolled at twelve—even…
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The Return on Investment in Learning Revealed on the Return Home
“… professional development doesn’t ask us to abandon our leadership philosophies; it asks us to evaluate, refine, and strengthen them…
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Ask a Consultant About Bridging the Leadership Gap in Higher Education
AACRAO Consulting had an opportunity to sit down (virtually, of course) with Executive Coach Teneal Taylor to discuss the growing…
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‘Regional Accreditation’ Is No Longer a Federal Classification
During recent conversations and presentations, I have found that one important change in federal accreditation policy has not been widely…
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AACRAO Welcomes 19 Professionals to Nine-Month ASCEND Leadership Development Cohort
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers welcomes 19 mid-career professionals as ASCEND Cohort 7 scholars, who will…
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The Student Support Gap: What the Research Says and What Institutions Can Do
Three evidence-based strategies that higher-ed administrators can implement to improve retention and wellbeing among students who need it most.
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A Letter to the Admissions Road Warriors
“Every future alum once stood nervously at a recruitment table asking, ‘So … tell me about your school?’ Every enrollment…
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Session Preview #TheAssembly2026: CPL Systems, Dual Credit, Friendly Transfer
The Assembly starts in less than two weeks, and credit mobility is becoming one of the clearest tests of whether…
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Your Course Correction on Credit Transfer
In this Q&A, learn from our course faculty: Dr. Marc Booker, who authored the on-demand AACRAO Transfer Articulation 101 course,…
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Ask a Consultant About the History of SEM
The origins of enrollment management go back half a century. Find out how it came to be and about the…
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The Impact of the AACRAO Leadership Meeting
“It has to be said that the invite list is based on specific roles, but the list is encompassing and…
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June 2026 – AACRAO Publications Refresh, Spring Enrollment, College Degrees and U.S. Religions, and More
The June 2026 Eye on Research commentary welcomes new research, insights, and a call for survey participation. Highlights from this…
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Survey Reveals Four Positive Impacts of Professional Development on Registrar & Admissions
Using an exploratory case study methodology, the authors collected survey data from 30 past participants across five previous cohorts and…
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Between Two Worlds: The Higher Education ‘Crossover Album’
“We love strategic plans, committees, task forces, and redesign efforts. Meanwhile, students are trying to register for classes, transfer credits,…
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Closing the Cycle Without Losing the Lessons
The challenge is that graduation season is rarely the right time to stop and fix everything. When the volume and…
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Meet the Next Parliamentarian to Keep the Business of AACRAO in Order
“Governance can seem complex from the outside, but it becomes much more accessible through involvement.” —Tiffany Blackwell,
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Discuss AI in Higher Education with Colleagues
Michael Davenport of The University of Arizona hosts the June 11 Collective Gathering to invites higher-education professionals to explore how…
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In Conversation: SEM-EP Evaluators in 2026
Meet the two outgoing SEM-EP evaluators, Dr. Andrea Lehmacher and Keir McIsaac, who are wrapping up their service and welcome…
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‘We Got the Program Approved. We Didn’t Get the Back-End Ready.’
AACRAO conducted one-on-one interviews with members who have worked in or alongside Prison Education Programs—registrars, admissions professionals, enrollment managers, and…
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An ASCEND Scholar’s Reflection on the Perplexity of Silos
“Perhaps naïve, but I did not realize there was such dissonance in structure until joining an institution as the Director…
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Session Preview #TheAssembly2026: Transfer Melt and Statewide Strategy
Explore two sessions on transfer melt and statewide strategy. You’ll find tips for participants on how to approach The Assembly…
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Build Skills That Lead Successful Campus Projects
You’re already managing projects even if “project manager” isn’t in your title. Dr. Reginald Garçon uncovers what the AACRAO Project…
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Too Many Scoops: How Stress Culture Impacts Us All
“In higher education, workplace trauma is rarely discussed openly, yet it quietly shapes the experiences of faculty, staff, and administrators…
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May 2026 – Research Updates and News, AI and Learners, Learning Mobility, Trust in Higher Education, and More
The March 2026 Eye on Research commentary welcomes new research, insights, and a call for survey participation. Highlights from this…
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Live from #AACRAO2026: Best Practices for Compliance Tracking and Communication
The Government Relations team, the Federal Compliance Committee, and the State & Regional Relations Committee showed how you can keep…
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Live from #AACRAO2026: What Leaders Do When Things Get Hard
Three different speakers. Three different contexts. One room full of a community of enrollment and academic services professionals trying to…
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New Report Finds a Way Forward for Price Transparency in Higher Education
Strada Education Foundation’s latest report reveals how cost confusion is driving distrust in higher education, along with a new set…
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Why Interoperability Still Matters in the Age of Agentic AI
At this year’s Ellucian Live 2026 Conference, one theme consistently emerged across conversations: the growing role of agentic AI in…
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AANHPI Caucus Highlights from the 111th AACRAO Annual Meeting in New Orleans
The Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Caucus had a vibrant presence at the 111th AACRAO Annual Meeting and…
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Letter from the Editor: May 12, 2026
Spring term is culminating with commencement—you could say your graduates are blooming. But what about you—how will you bloom this…
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From Latinx to Raíces: A Name Change Rooted in Identity, Belonging, and Collective Purpose
The AACRAO Latinx Caucus becomes the Raíces Caucus, marking a timely, intentional shift toward a more expansive and inclusive understanding…
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Identifying the Invisible Middle of Leadership
Drawing on her career trajectory, Dr. Kimberly Taylor-Benns of La Salle University challenges the traditional assumption that leadership influence only…
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The New Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree in the U.S.: Part 4
Robert Watkins and William Paver, Ph.D. introduce factors that should be considered as U.S. graduate schools debate admissions policy for…
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A Community Built By Its Volunteers
AACRAO is, at its core, a volunteer-led member association. And the case for what volunteering gives back is well-documented.
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Letter from the Editor: April 28, 2026
For our profession, patience can be an active and practiced skill, showing up in the careful answer, the double-check, the…
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The Next Five Years: What the New AACRAO Strategic Plan Means for You
The 2026–2031 Strategic Plan made its public debut at the Annual Meeting in New Orleans—and the most pressing questions from…
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Ask a Consultant About Staffing
Dr. Robert Hornberger offers an approach to staffing pressures that starts with identifying how the work is structured.
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Your Documentation Matters
Cindy Suter of Norwich University offers four tips to maintain and organize your process and operations documentation with or without…