The Connected College Podcast with Elliot Felix

The Connected College Podcast with Elliot Felix

The Connected College Podcast provides leadership strategies for student success. Join Elliot Felix for insightful interviews with higher ed innovators along with the stories, stats, and strategies he's learned as a consultant to 100+ institutions. Let's create better connected colleges and universities where students find belonging, feel supported, and connect their courses to rewarding careers.

Episodes

October 21, 2025 32 mins
How can the right combination of curiosity, collaboration, community, and classes equip students to be changemakers? How can you expand the definition of and participation in entrepreneurship and what are the outcomes? How is AI changing education and work to prepare students for change? We dive into these questions with Cornell Suhartono, current Berkeley student, Samiha Singh former student and now a McKinsey consultant, and Laur...
Mark as Played
How can colleges and universities improve the employee experience and in turn increase student success? What do institutions need to do differently in terms of strategic planning, professional growth, and leadership development? How can institutions take on the tough decisions and conversations that come with cuts and consolidations? We dive into these questions with Kevin McClure, author of The Caring University as well as a facul...
Mark as Played
What's the role of technology in student success? How are online and hybrid learning and ubiquitous connectivity changing experiences? How do you make decisions about what's in the enterprise tech stack while leveraging personal devices? How can you use data to connect coursework, co-curriculars, and more to a career path? We dive into these questions with James Vasquez Associate Dean for Strategy and Operations at the USC Annenber...
Mark as Played
What role can engaging companies in your community play in enabling student success? How can experiential learning help students not just learn skills but ways to apply new ways of thinking and working? How can students learn to work with people with different perspectives and backgrounds? What does this say about the future of higher ed? We discuss all this with Risa Dickson, President at University of La Verne.
Mark as Played
How can experiential learning help students grow personally and professionally? What industry partnerships best enable that growth in a learn and earn model? How do real stakes with real people and real metrics drive success? We dive into these questions with Nick Bayer, Founder and CEO of Saxbys, where they've turned running campus coffee shops into a platform for experiential learning – with measurable learning outcomes.
Mark as Played
How can colleges and universities be intentional about their governance so they are prepared to make decisions they've never made before, with higher stakes, in less time? How can boards strike the right balance between hindsight, oversight, and foresight? How can they create meaningful metrics on outcomes and the processes to achieve them? We dig into these questions with Steve Charles, Founder of the IMMX Group and higher ed boar...
Mark as Played
How can public-private partnerships transform higher ed? What can institutions and industry partner on? Why are partnerships on the rise? What the best ways to identify, structure, and manage partnerships? What should you be on the lookout for as you partner in the future; for example as you look to partner on AI? We dive into these questions and more with James Sparkman, founder of the P3EDU Conference (www.p3edu.com) and partner ...
Mark as Played
 What role can entrepreneurship can play in student success? How can colleges and universities embed entrepreneurial skills into their culture and curriculum? What are the events and programs to run? How can the right spaces support these efforts? We dive into these questions with Mary Ryan the Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London and here all about their Enterprise Lab and global entrepreneurship eco...
Mark as Played
 What role can marketing play in student success? How can it can increase alignment within the institution, improve awareness among students, and destigmatize or normalize getting help? How can it bust silos and build a connection to the brand? We dive into these topics with Jaime Hunt, former CMO at higher ed institutions and now consulting with institutions at Solve Higher Ed, host of the "Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO," and the...
Mark as Played
How can you implement evidenced-based practices for more engaging and equitable teaching and learning across research universities? What systems and process within them need to change? How can universities collaborate with peer institutions and with employers to get better outcomes? We discuss these questions with Julia Michaels, Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships at UERU, the Association for Undergraduate Education...
Mark as Played
What role can mentoring play in student success? What are the surprising attributes that make for a good match? How can mentors connect students to other support on campus and online? How can data inform effective mentoring, reporting, and retention? How can working with a partner bring expertise, consistency, and scale? We dive into these fascinating questions and more with Erin Mayhood, CEO of Mentor Collective.
Mark as Played
How can you get beyond the doom and gloom headlines to talk through how institutions can be more hopeful about their futures? How to build trust in those futures? What role can pilot programs and projects can play? We discuss these with Greg Pillar, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs at Gardner-Webb University and author of the white paper “Rewiring the Academy: Leading with Hope in an Age of Chaos” and the "Field Notes from th...
Mark as Played
How can you transform higher education through human-centered design? How can you listen to people and gather insights that inform and inspire changes to programs and policies? What role can design play in helping institutions get real results to improve their student experience? We dive into these questions with the Radka Newton, Michael Doherty, and Jean Mutton, co-editors of the great book Transforming Higher Education with Huma...
Mark as Played
How can you go from disparate technology systems and student services to a unified, personalized, and interactive digital hub to better support students? How can these bring together the services and information students need to drive engagement and retention while saving time and reducing costs? What is the role of AI in supporting students? We dive into these questions and the digital transformation needed to make it all happen w...
Mark as Played
How can you use the data you already have (but aren't looking at) to predict student success? How can you create incentives to drive the adoption of high-impact practices? How can you build caring, mentoring relationships that increase student success? We dive into these questions with Jeff Doyle, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Southwestern University and prolific blogger/poster of "Deep Thoughts on Higher Ed."
Mark as Played
How can you combine people and an AI-powered virtual assistant to provide wraparound student support? How can you do this in way that makes things easier for the staff and faculty supporting students rather than adding more platforms and passwords? What are the right student success measures for institutions and how to you tie detailed data to the big picture? We dive into these and other questions with Melvin Hines, co-founder and...
Mark as Played
What are the competencies employers want and students need? How can you redesign your general education curriculum to deliver on those? As you do, how might you integrate AI, foster experiential learning, and engage with industry? We talk about all this and more (like a 90 credit hour degree!) with Brad Fuster, Provost at San Francisco Bay University where they are really reimagining what a university can and should be.
Mark as Played
How can you reimagine student employment as experiential learning? What projects can students work on to learn and grow while helping their university? What skills and relationships can they build along the way? We dive into these questions with Julia Allworth who founded and leads University of Toronto's Innovation Hub which trains students in design thinking and deploys them as consultants on projects improve the student experien...
Mark as Played
How can institutions collaborate to share courses? How does this enable focus and differentiation? What do you have to change from mindset to culture to operations to make it happen? We dive into these questions with Josh Pierce co-founder of course sharing platform Acadeum. Along the way, we use the analogy of travel to think about the student journey – and see what can be learned from the travel industry itself.
Mark as Played
How does an unconventional path to the presidency offer new perspectives? How can colleges and universities equip students to lead lives of meaning and purpose? How can leaders balance tradition and innovation to create living learning communities? How can students own their experiences and belong? We dive into these questions with Suzanne Rivera, President of Macalester College!
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

    It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.