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

February 17, 2026 34 mins
How can colleges and universities work with corporate and community partners to provide the kind of wraparound support like transportation, childcare, and housing that enables student success? How can programs go beyond the credential to create real economic opportunity? We answer these and along the way, we dive into how to make the case and fundraise, communications, governing boards, and measuring success with Michael Baston, Pr...
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How can you make experiential learning not just something your college does but part of who you are? As you move from doing it ad hoc to integrating at scale, how can you overcome resistance to change? What's the right mix of communications, incentives, and training? On a special 100th episode, we dive into these questions with Brian Rosenberg, author of "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It", Visiting Professor at Harvard Graduate Schoo...
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What if instead of hearing "mental health crisis" and defaulting to "more counseling" we also thought about sleep, nutrition, music, exercise, time outdoors, and time with friends? What if every student learned time management to make this possible? What can we do to make these opportunities and support services more accessible? We dive into this with Dr. Christopher Holstege, Senior Associate Vice President of Student Health & Wel...
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 What if building community is as important as the curriculum? What is the toolkit for getting beyond the "Ick" of networking to create real communities where students, faculty, and staff belong? We dive into this with Lisa Leander, founder of the WIBE Network (Where Imagination Builds Excellence). We talk through the ingredients in her secret sauce and what this means for folks that focused on community and belonging to enable stu...
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How can you continuously increase and communicate the value of higher education by integrating work experience within it? We dive into this question with Brandee Popaden-Smith, Senior Director at Arizona State University's University College. We talk through their two answers: integrating experiential learning with corporate and community partners in the curriculum at scale and redesigning student employment to provide real structu...
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 How can campus spaces advance institutional strategy? How can better data and better stakeholder engagement help you make better decisions about where, how, and when to invest in campus facilities and their operations? How can your campus create more meaningful, memorable experiences? We discuss these questions with Lora Strigens, Vice President for Planning and Strategy at Marquette University who brings a unique perspective lead...
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How can technology not only help students create, collaborate, and communicate but also provide valuable data about what they need? How can institutions curb the digital sprawl, redundant systems, and siloed data that stem from their decentralized structures? How can your strategy help you prioritize and combine communications, training, and support.? We dive into this with Peggy McCready, an AVP for Information Technology at Color...
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How can broad education + targeted skills + social capital lead to success in college and beyond? How can students combine getting an education and getting a job, especially in the age of AI? How can students play the short game (i.e., targeted skills) and the long game (i.e., broad education) as they think about the careers they want to have and the lives they want to lead? We discuss these questions and more with Ben Wildavsky, A...
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How can you solve the "need a job to get experience but need experience to get a job" conundrum? How can you help students find their purpose so they are more motivated, engaged, and resilient learners? Can you do this all in a way that levels the playing field for students and employers alike? We dive into these questions with Dana Stephenson, Co-founder and CEO of Riipen, an experiential learning marketplace that connects college...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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 ...
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 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...
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 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...
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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...
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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.
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