The Signal

Your traffic is down. Your inquiries are flattening. But your applications haven't dropped. What's happening? The front door just moved—and most higher ed marketers haven't noticed.

In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Paula French, Director of Sales and Marketing at Search Influence, a digital marketing agency with more than 16 years of experience helping institutions stay visible online. Paula co-authored a groundbreaking ...

After nearly 20 years watching colleges pour millions into sameness—the same viewbooks, the same home page videos, the same taglines—Mallory Willsea has a message for higher ed: stop mistaking activity for strategy.

In this episode, Jeff Dillon sits down with Mallory, a strategist and consultant who has been shaping digital marketing in higher ed since the early days of social media. From her early experiments with YouT...

What happens when a recent college graduate who grew up with smartphones, social media, and the chaos of modern college applications becomes a chief marketing officer? You get a perspective that most higher ed leaders desperately need but rarely hear.

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Haley Platt, Chief Marketing Officer at Síembra Mobile—a company building technology to connect first-generation students and families...

Every month, nearly half a million people type questions into your university's search bar. They're telling you exactly what they want to know—about deadlines, transfer credits, program fit. And yet, 31% of higher ed digital teams have no access to that data at all.

In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Leslie Weller, Director of Product Marketing at SearchStax, a site search platform helping colleges and universities transfo...

What happens when a prestigious art and design school has over a hundred siloed websites, each with its own content management system, hosting arrangement, and visual identity—many of them orphaned and unmaintained? You get a digital governance nightmare. But you also get a rare opportunity to rebuild from first principles.

In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Brian Clark, Senior Director of Digital Experience at the Rhode I...

What happens when a sitting vice president of enrollment management—who evaluates and buys ed tech every day—decides to build his own solution to a problem he's lived for 15 years? You get a conversation that cuts through the hype and gets real about what actually works in higher ed technology.

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Grant Greenwood, VP for Enrollment Management and COO at McMurry University, and co-...

What happens when a data scientist who built over 100 enterprise AI solutions for Fortune 500 companies decides to walk away from the money and prestige to tackle student success in higher ed? You get a founder who understands both the power and the limits of AI—and who isn't afraid to say that most chatbots are solving the wrong problem.

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Arjun Arora, founder and CEO of Advisor...

What happens when a former gubernatorial candidate, healthcare CEO, and state budget director steps into the college president's office? You get a leader who doesn't accept "that's how higher ed has always done it" as an answer.

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jay Gonzalez, the 15th president of Curry College—a leader whose resume looks nothing like a traditional academic career. From running a $32 billion st...

Is higher education using AI to simply do the same things faster, or are we on the cusp of a genuine transformation in how students learn, access support, and build opportunity?

In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Dr. Betheny Gross, Research Director at WGU Labs, for a candid, research-grounded conversation about where AI is actually moving the needle for students—and where it's falling short. With over two decades of ...

In an era where students trust a peer on Instagram more than a university's official website, how can enrollment marketers cut through the noise and build genuine connections?

This week on The Signal: On Air, Jeff Dillon sits down with Mitchell Borges, Director of Marketing for ASUCD at UC Davis and a researcher who has spent years studying how social media actually influences student enrollment decisions. Mitchell shares eye-openi...

Jaime Hunt is the founder of Solve Higher Ed and host of the popular “Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO” podcast. She unpacks the evolving landscape of higher education marketing. Jamie shares decades of experience – from her time as a Chief Marketing Officer at institutions like Old Dominion University, Miami University, and Winston-Salem State – offering brutally honest insights into the challenges and opport...

Join Jeff Dillon as he sits down with Devin Pergason, AVP for Student Experience, Marketing & Outreach at Forsyth Technical Community College, to dissect the evolving landscape of higher education. This episode tackles a critical question: why are community colleges currently best positioned to drive student success? Pergason argues that their inherent “student-first” mission – unlike research universities att...

“The Signal” is launching with a vital mission: to cut through the overwhelming noise surrounding technology in higher education and deliver honest conversations about what truly matters. Hosted by Jeff Dillon, this show originates from a thriving community – a decade-long email listserv (now boasting nearly 70,000 members) of web directors, digital marketers, and leaders across higher ed who were grappling with r...

In a higher ed landscape crowded with sameness, how can institutions truly stand out and drive enrollment growth, especially for graduate and professional programs?

This week on The Signal: On Air, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Val Fox, a strategic advisor at EAB with decades of experience leading marketing at both major universities and consumer brands like Bose. Val argues that the biggest mistake institutions make is trying to...

Jeff Dillon sits down with Shannon Vander Meulen, Co-Founder and CMO of WaitWell, a tech platform transforming how students access campus services—from advising to financial aid.

A former public service office manager turned tech founder, Shannon brings a rare blend of frontline operational experience and educator empathy to the problem of waiting. She shares how her decade running a busy registry office revealed that what pe...

Stephen Laster is the CEO of Panopto and a veteran leader in digital education whose career spans Harvard Business School, McGraw-Hill, D2L, and Ellucian.

Stephen shares how his own experience as a dyslexic learner—and an early adopter of the Apple II—shaped his lifelong mission to use technology to make learning more accessible and human. He unpacks what it truly means to be a “human-centered AI-first” plat...

Fiona’s journey is anything but conventional: from clinical audiologist and university instructor to scaling a global edtech startup used by over 30,000 students at institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. She serves as the CEO and co-founder of Viewpoint Simulations. She shares how teaching during the pandemic revealed a gap in experiential learning—and how she and her co-founder turned a classroom tool in...

Tawnya Means, Founding Partner and Principal at Inspire Higher Ed, talks about how institutions can navigate the rapid shifts in technology without losing the human heart of education.

With over two decades of experience guiding colleges through digital transformation—from the early LMS days to today’s AI revolution—Tawnya brings a rare, grounded perspective on what it takes to innovate with purpose. She breaks do...

Charity Stutzman, Senior Director of Higher Education Strategy at Vector Solutions, unpacks the groundbreaking findings from the latest Campus Prevention Network National Insights Report.

With over 15 years in student affairs—including as Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Texas at Arlington—Charity brings a frontline perspective to a dramatic cultural shift: students are increasingly choosing not to drink,...