What's New at PTK: There's Something for Everyone

An honor society for community college students—what’s not to like? In this episode, Caitlyn Potter Glaser chats with Emily Gora, College Relations Coordinator with Phi Theta Kappa International Society. They discuss who PTK students are and how the society provides essential resources for community college leaders and transfer professionals. Did you know that PTK has been the official honor society for two-year colleges since 1929? Amazing!

The folks at PTK have been busy putting together new programs and resources that help transfer professionals serve their cohorts more effectively. Emily gives us the scoop on the Direct Admissions program and PTK Connect, which helps smooth the way in the transfer journey. We also dive into the new professional development webinar series specifically designed for transfer admissions counselors. 

Whether you are looking for updates on virtual college fairs or want to better understand the "transfer student heart," this conversation offers a clear roadmap for what is next in the field.

PTK Catalyst 2026 Don’t forget that PTK Catalyst is coming up March 26-28, 2026, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. This is the biggest event of the year for this community and there is still time to join. Find more information and registration details on the PTK Events page.

About our guest: Emily Gora is the College Relations Coordinator at Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, dedicated to helping students and higher education professionals find the connections they need to succeed. With over ten years of experience in Transfer Recruitment across two-year and four-year institutions, she brings a deep understanding of the student journey and a genuine passion for opening doors. Through her work with PTK's College Relations Department, Emily cultivates strong transfer partnerships with four-year colleges and creates opportunities for institutions and Phi Theta Kappa members to meaningfully connect, turning ambition into achievement, one relationship at a time.

Show Credits
Host | Dr. Heather Adams
Producers | Rhian Waterberg, Emily Kittrell
Sound Editing | Abraham Urias

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Transcript

Hello Transfer Nation, and welcome back to the Transfer Talks Podcast. My name is Caitlyn Potter Glaser, and I am a proud member of the transfer nation team, serving on both the Podcast as well as the Media/Marketing team. 

Today I’m super thrilled to be joining the podcast because I want to talk about an organization that is near and dear to my heart. THis organization serves transfer students around the country and even around the world. It also supports transfer professionals working with transfer students at both the two year and four year schools. That’s right, I'm talking about Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, or as we affectionately call it, PTK. I’m so excited to bring you a conversation today that I had with Emily Gora, College Relations Coordinator with PTK and all-around Transfer Champion. I hope you enjoy it!

Caitlyn Potter Glaser: Transfer Nation. I am so excited to be spending some time chatting with Emily Gora, College Relations Coordinator at Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Welcome, Emily!

Emily Gora: Thank you, Caitlyn! I am so excited to be here. I'm, you know, obviously love all things transfer, so I felt like this was a great opportunity to connect and talk about something I love so much, which is PTK.

Caitlyn: Oh, I love it. Thank you so much for joining, and sharing more about PTK with our Transfer Nation listeners. I tell you what, I have such a soft spot in my heart for PTK and PTK students. In my past life when I worked in admissions, I worked with the organization a lot, and just, just so excited for this conversation today.

Emily: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I always tease that, like, I wish I would have known about PTK when I was, you know, starting college, because I'm just so jealous of all the students that get to go through it, and, like, talking to them about transfer opportunities and stuff like that. I'm like, dang it! I wish I would have known about this. So, I am excited. The more people that know about PTK, the happier I am.

Caitlyn: Oh, I love it. Well, let's do our best, then, to help folks know more about what PTK is and what you're all about. So for anyone listening who hasn't yet heard of Phi Theta Kappa, or really fully have an awareness of what you all do, can you just tell us a little bit about the Honor Society?

Emily: Yeah, so we were originally founded in 1918, and we were officially recognized by AACC in 2019 as the official Honor Society for two-year colleges. So, we're official, we're legit, all the good things. We are the premier international society for students at the two-year college level. We recognize and encourage academic achievement, leadership, service, scholarship among, you know, these high-achieving students at the two-year college, community colleges.

So just a little bit, some numbers for you. We are in about 1,000 community colleges. We have 220,000 active members, 3,000 staff and faculty advisors, we have 70 full-time staff, like myself. We're based out of Jackson, Mississippi, so that's where our headquarters is.

And we have thousands of four-year partners. So, we've got our hand in kind of everything, and we're in all states. We do have some international chapters as well, which is exciting.

And in addition to supporting students, we also care for our colleges as we work to support and strengthen our nation's community colleges. So, we are obviously very interested in our individual chapters, but we are also trying to make the community colleges themselves better as well.

Caitlyn: That's incredible. I don't always stop to appreciate just the reach that PTK has across the world, really.

Emily: Yeah, and it's… it's funny, you know, like I said, I didn't have a good understanding of what PTK was when I was in college, but now I travel a lot, and, you know, I'm on the road quite a bit, even just with my family, and the number of times I will run across somebody that was in PTK, or knows about PTK. I mean, I was standing in line, and I was in Dallas recently, and waiting for some breakfast, and the girl in front of me struck up a conversation, because I had a community college t-shirt on. And we started talking about it, and lo and behold, she was a PTK member, like, 10 years ago or something. And it was just it reminds me, like, oh my gosh, there are…PTK's reach is so far, even if you weren't a member yourself, you know, your sister, your mom, your, you know, your neighbor, whatever, so I really love that we're really kind of everywhere in the best way possible.

Caitlyn: In the best way, of course. You know, I run into that, too, where colleagues or friends of mine that I've met post-college, and I find out about their background, I'm like, Oh, wait, you were PTK? I know what that is! That's amazing! And that also tells me you were a pretty strong student then, if you were a member of PTK.

Emily: Yes, it's a great indicator, a quick indicator to be like, oh, okay, then I know that you were a strong student, and probably in some kind of leadership, or, you know, at least interested in that kind of stuff, so it's a great… it's a great kind of connecting piece for a lot of things.

Caitlyn: I love that. Well, let's talk more about the students who join then, because that's something… a question I see a lot is when a student receives an invitation to join their community college’s chapter of PTK. And they want to know more. What is this? Why am I being selected? Should I join? So, can you just talk about, like, the students themselves, and why they should look at joining PTK if invited?

Emily: Yeah, absolutely. So, PTK members are selected and invited, so you do have to hit certain criteria to be invited to join, which is really awesome, because it just, like we were just talking about, it really solidifies that you're doing something right, and that your college is taking notice.

So PTK students, like we've said, are among some of the highest achieving scholars, you know, at their two-year colleges. They typically have to complete a set number of college-level credits. It's usually around 12. And they need to be maintaining a strong GPA. So typically, we are asking that they have a cumulative 3.5 on average. That does change from school to school, because something kind of important to note is that although we help manage the chapters at headquarters, the chapters are their own entities, so they are very self-run. So some may have some different qualifications and stuff like that, but you are as a member or a prospective member, you are being invited by your college. Your college is seeing that you are putting in this hard work, and that they want you to be a part of this. 

So, some other kind of numbers just about what our students are, kind of the demographic that we are, so actually 71% of our members transfer immediately after community college, so just kind of bringing it back to how this all involves transferring, and what students are looking for after community college. So, yeah, 71% of our members transfer immediately after community college, and almost all of them aspire to get a bachelor's degree. So, it's definitely in almost everybody's plan. We do have some students that we pick up after they've been out of community college for a little bit, which is totally fine. We are here to help anybody in their transfer journey at any point. But that 71% right after community college is amazing. Like, and that's really what we're trying to drive, is just that seamless transition between a two-year college and a four-year college, which is what we, the College Relations team, are mainly focusing on at PTK.

The other really exciting number that we have is that PTK members have a 91% student success rate in terms of either completion or transfer. So, they are… once they're there, they're doing it. So that's the other thing that is so important to us, and something that we are giving back to our students is that once they're at those four-year colleges, we're not just letting our hands go. We're making sure they're still feeling supported and that they can complete that bachelor's degree. 

And so, yeah, our members are really diverse. I mean, we have traditional students, non-traditional students, first-gen, working adults, veterans, parents, you know, all kinds of different people.  Some other numbers, so 54% receive federal aid. 44% of our members are Pell eligible. And 40% are minority students. And actually, 38% are first-generation, so we have quite a few students that really kind of span a lot of different demographics, which is really cool.

I love reading about the first-generation, although I'm kind of first-generation adjacent, I have such a soft spot for first-generation students, and I love, love, love, love that they're a big part of PTK, and that they receive that support, so yeah. That's kind of about what our students are all about, and some… some metrics of what they make up, and how successful they're doing, and, you know, You couldn't look up “PTK student” and find a cookie-cutter match, you know what I mean? Like, they are so different, and they have so many different goals and dreams, and aspirations, and I think that's what makes it such a fun challenge with transfer is you get these students that have had this goal in mind, and then you're like, alright, how do we make this happen? That's kind of the fun problem-solving part of my job, is you know, you'll get these students that are like, I wanted to be this very specific major since, you know, my first day of college, and you're like, alright, let's figure it out. How are we gonna make sure you can do that, and how are we gonna make sure you're successful? So…

Caitlyn: That's incredible. I certainly appreciate just the diversity of student experiences represented in PTK, and something I always told my colleagues when we were trying to figure out in admissions, like, how can we expand our reach? Where can we find great students at community colleges? Where can we find those transfer-ready students? I always said, We need to be really reaching out to these PTK students, because I mean, you mentioned earlier so many of them are leaders in their college communities as well. There are really strong academically, But then, I just, anytime I encountered a student who is a member of PTK, they just were always so driven and focused, and just ready to start the next step. But I think when you share some of those demographic numbers, a number of first-gen students, the number of students receiving federal financial aid, it just goes to show that these are students who really benefit from the supports that that PTK is offering, too, and, you know, it's something to keep in mind for those of us working with students, too, about, you know, just the continuing that type of support for those students, too.

Emily: Yeah, and something you kind of touched on is their drive, you know, and that is something that is unmatched from other students. I mean, if you are wanting to bring in students that are gonna just make your college better. That's what PTK members are all about.

They go into conversations so intentional and so ready to ask. I mean, like, I'll talk about them a little later, but, like, our virtual events and stuff like that, I mean, like, I lived through the, you know, pandemic years of virtual events, where you would log on and stare at yourself for an hour and not talk to anyone, or not get any questions, you know what I mean? So when we… when we continued those virtual events. I was a little nervous, because I was like, is this something that's still, you know, gonna be viable? But PTK members, they take those opportunities, and they're just like, let me… let me not waste this, let me not squander this. I have the drive to talk to people, and so that's something that's just so special about this community, and really about recruiting transfer students, or recruiting PTK members in general.

Caitlyn: That's amazing. And, you know, I used to, as an admissions counselor at a four-year school, I used to attend those virtual transfer fairs, and virtual events, and I was always blown away by, first of all, the attendance, how many students came. How prepared they were with the questions they had, how they would follow up with me afterward. It was just, it was just incredible. 

Caitlyn: So, you know, I know there's folks who are listening now, we have a lot of admissions and enrollment folks who are affiliated with Transfer Nation. And they might be listening to us talking, and they're like, how can we get to these students? What can we do to reach PTK students and help them see the transfer pathway to our university? So, can you talk a little bit more about what Phi Theta Kappa can do for the four-year university who's interested in reaching these really amazing students?

Emily: Yeah, so we actually have a ton of resources for our four-year partners. So, um, like I kind of mentioned, PTK as an organization is very student-facing, student-forward, obviously, but us here in the College Relations team, we are really out here making those connections with our four-year partners. So, if you're ever, you know, wondering what you could do, or if you're ever, like, have an idea about connecting or something like that, you're going to want to reach out to us here at College Relations, because we are all about ideas, we are all about learning what our college partners are kind of hearing and doing. So all of the things that we have established are really from our four-year partners, being like, hey, this is how I want to connect, or hey, I've heard that this is really working, or, you know, so just that feedback from our partners is really what has established some of these amazing resources.

One of the main ones I kind of want to touch on is our PTK Connect service. It is a subscription service, uh, where you can download names of our PTK members based on very specific search criteria. You also get the chance to fill out a PTK Connect profile that students are able to visit. They can favorite things on there, explore scholarships, videos, pictures, I mean, anything that you want to put on there. It's almost kind of like your own little landing page for your university. 

And the awesome thing that we have recently just  launched is our direct admission. So, in the last 8 months, we've actually launched over 50 PTK direct admission partners. It took off. I mean, seriously,  we started, and we were like, okay, this is a good idea, and it was something that, uh, one of our partners had brought to us, and was just like, hey, would you ever consider this? And we kind of mulled over, and we're like, okay, let's try it with a few. And then I think, like, once the word got out, it just… it truly just start that ball rolling. So it is amazing. So, 50 in 8 months. Colleges are really seeing the value of prioritizing and fast-tracking the admissions of these highly qualified students. So, again, there are already driven, so why not make it even easier? You know, it's almost like a  it's a direct yes, you know, so it's like, why not just fast-track these students into our into our programs. You know, we… we already know that they're working hard, we already know that they're maintaining their hours and their GPA, So, why not eliminate some of these hoops and just get these students, and continuing on that transfer path? So… Again, so excited. That's a recent launch, and we are adding new partners all the time, so I really encourage anybody that is interested in something like that. 

We do lots of strategy sessions. This is kind of going into another one of our resources we do strategy sessions based Direct Admission, If you are looking to kind of target a very specific group, if you're trying to figure out how can I get, you know, XYZ students, um, interested in maybe a specific program or something like that? We are always happy to jump on a Zoom and see how we can improve recruitment and enrollment and support for our transfer students, because if our we have such a unique vantage point, um, where we can share insights based on all the different colleges and conversations and relationships that we have with all these different partners. So, maybe something that's working great for someone else would work great for you, you know? So…

I love that we are kind of this, like, college matchmaker, you know, we kind of sit down and we listen, and we're like, okay, you know, I think this would work really well, or, you know,

anything like that. 

Another big resource, we already talked kind of about it is our college fairs, starting with our virtual ones, we, you know, like you said, you've been to one of those, and the attendance is insane. Um, for 2025, nearly 5,000 students were served by PTK virtual fairs.

Caitlyn: Wow!

Emily: Yeah, which is crazy! I mean, like, think about if you had a fair with 5,000 students on it, you know, so we… it's… the virtual affairs are kind of my baby. I do a lot with them, and every time we get these big  sign-ups and registrations, I'm just like, I'm just glad that that it's still such a viable option.

Something that I love about it, and something I really want to kind of tell people that may be listening, is this is such a great opportunity to connect with students that maybe have never heard of your school before, or maybe never thought that they would have the chance to talk to somebody at a New York school or a California school. The number of times that I get an email, either from a student or sometimes from an admissions recruiter that said, “I had the opportunity to talk to somebody that didn't even know my tiny little liberal arts school existed, and now they are so excited. They've learned about our scholarships, and now, we're one of their top schools.”

Or I'll get something from a student that's like, “I never thought I would be able to talk to somebody, you know, this New York University or something like that, or… because I can't get up there to talk to them,” so I definitely encourage people, like, that may be looking as… at this as something to, uh, use as a recruitment tool. If you are wanting to just get in front of some students that maybe aren't familiar, this is the best way to do it. 

So I could talk about virtual affairs forever and ever and ever, but I will cut that short and talk really quickly about… we have our giant in-person fair at PTK Catalyst, and and we can talk about catalysts. That's another one, uh, it's coming up in Baltimore at the end of March.

We can… I will shamelessly probably plug that some more throughout, but just as a just as kind of a little precursor, it is our giant in-person fair. We host probably about 100 schools each year, and, um, we… iIt's absolutely amazing. As somebody that works from home, and I don't get to see everyone all the time, it just makes my little extrovert heart so happy to see all the people in the students love it. And  like I said, we can talk about Catalyst a little bit more, but I just wanted to kind of rope it into one of those resources that we do.

And then, really, we, the main thing we also have added on is some ongoing professional development. So, we understand that the transfer space as a recruiter is limited. I mean, we… we are all out here, and we are all doing it, but the ability to have professional development that is specific to transfer and specific to what we are trying to do in the transfer space. I mean, y'all do it, you know, and we're just trying to make that connection of, like, we're all out here, but are we talking to each other? Are we, you know, so we have really started this last year specifically, a transfer admission webinar series, um, where we invite different professionals on to discuss a variety of different, um, topics, I mean, from recruitment to… we've had a panel of PTK students and PTK advisors that are kind of asking or answering these kind of hard-hitting questions in regards to what students are looking for. We've talked a lot about diversity and what that means in this transfer space. But we had over 500 transfer professionals engaged in our transfer recruitment training webinars. Yeah, we've held 4 of them since this last summer, and we just, like I said, we are exploring, kind of, timely and relevant topics that people are usually bringing to us, you know, like, hey, I want to know more about this, and what we do is we go through that big Rolodex of relationships that we have and say, You know, so-and-so at this university is really versed in that. What if we hosted a webinar with them, and we invite everybody, and stuff like that. So,

That's another really cool thing that we started last year, and then we're bringing that to Catalyst as well. So we are also bringing some more opportunities for recruiters while at Catalyst, so kind of in person, some little roundtables and, um, stuff like that, so professional development, we're trying it, we're doing it, we are so passionate about our transfer colleagues, and we want to make sure that people are feeling taken care of, so if anybody that's listening ever has a topic that they want to learn about, or talk about, even, I mean, truly, we love learning what people are passionate about and what they want to share.

Caitlyn: That's so incredible,  and even the new things you've rolled out with that professional development and the direct admission, It's just… I'm… I'm thinking of all of our practitioners and student affairs folks and admissions counselors in our Transfer Nation community, and, you know, something we hear a lot is, we need to increase our enrollments, we need to find new partner community colleges, or maybe folks at a community college, or like, I need to introduce my students to the four-year transfer college, they might be interested, but maybe you don't have the means to travel somewhere, or maybe, you know, these are students, like you said, a lot of them are working professionals. They are crushing it in the classroom, they're leaders in their communities. They might not always have time to do a big tour of colleges and universities, so just these virtual options, and this professional development, it seems like it's such a great resourceful, economic way of really addressing some of these concerns I know our Transfer Nation community are facing. Like, how can we get in front of more students without the larger budget to fly everyone in, or, you know, hit the road the same way that you know, maybe we used to be able to.

Emily: Yeah, and that's really it, is just, we're trying to not to sound, like, cheesy, but literally, we're trying to connect, you know, people, and showing up where our students are, and that doesn't always have to be physically, you know what I mean? The number of times we have a student that is, you know, calling in because they're sitting in their car, they just got off of their shift or something, or they're on their lunch break, or they're on their, you know, and they just have a few minutes, but they want to hop on. You know, sometimes those impact, or, like, those connections are more meaningful because the student is able to do it on their time, you know? And that isn't a big to-do for, or a big lift for the recruiters, you know? And so, I… I really just love that kind of aspect of what we're doing in college relations. 

Caitlyn: That's amazing, and I'm thinking about it, too, just from the students' perspective of, okay, I need to start thinking about my next step transferring, I need to you know, figure out what schools are offering my program, you know, how can I get connected with someone to see how my credits will transfer, where can I find scholarships? And just these resources are so useful. You mentioned PTK Connect earlier, you know, that's such a great platform.

I say this, I used to manage an institution's profile and I… I loved it, because I'm like, okay, here I am. It's a way of connecting directly with these students. But that student can go in, they can raise their hand and offer to share their contact info with interested schools, so that way they don't even have to do the emailing to get the conversation started.

Emily: Yes, yeah, exactly.

Caitlyn: And they can… they can find who's offering a PTK-specific scholarship, because a lot of transfer schools do. And… it just, we talk a lot about areas to transfer, and it just sounds to me like the work you're doing is just helping to remove some of these barriers for the students, as well as the professionals who support them.

Emily: Yeah, and that's really it, is… is tor some reason, the universe or whoever is making transfer a lot more difficult than it needs to be, you know? And it's underfunded, and it's underappreciated. We all know this. This is not… I'm not groundbreaking anything here.

So, what we're really… our goal is, is what can we do as PTK to set these students up to be successful? So we're handing them over to these universities, and then they're continuing to flourish. So why… why does it need to be more complicated than that? You know, we have the good students, and here's the things that they're looking for, so let's streamline it, you know? 

And that's what I love about these relationships that we have is, it's… it is a back and forth. You know, we have partners that are like, hey, we have the scholarship money, we have this program. Do you think it would be something that PTK members are interested in? And it's like, yeah, let's explore how to get it in front of them. Let's explore how to get these scholarships in front of people.  I really, I really appreciate that about the work that we do is… is just trying to make it easier, you know? It doesn't have to be complicated, and it can be simple, as long as the support is there.

Caitlyn: Absolutely. And I just want to echo again, 5,000 students attended these virtual events. 

Emily: Yes, I'm telling you, 2025 was a good year. I mean, people… students were on top of it, and I was so proud to see that. Um, and the thing that makes me so happy is just that students are willing to… to look outside their state, or even outside their town, you know? And sometimes they log on, and they're like, this is, none of these are really for me, but almost all of them at least try to talk to someone, you know, and hop into one of those rooms, and again, get familiarized with other schools that they didn't even know. We, you know, we have schools that offer full PTK scholarships, you know, and then we… they get in there, and they just talked to such and such college, and I didn't even realize I can get this much money for being a PTK student. So, yeah, I… I'm really proud of our students for showing up in such a big way.

Caitlyn: PTK students, they're amazing!

Caitlyn: You know, as we've been talking, we've been talking a lot about those professionals and practitioners who are working at the four-year university, the transfer-receiving school, you know, the schools offering the bachelor's degrees. But I'm thinking about our Transfer Nation community, who work directly at the community colleges and directly with these students, and they're doing amazing work, as we know, but maybe they're listening to this thinking, like, “what can I do to engage our PTK chapter, or to build up our chapter, to kind of foster our community, to serve our community?” What would you offer for those professionals at the community colleges? What kind of resources and opportunities are there for those folks to serve the students who are in PTK currently?

Emily: Yeah, so, a huge thing is to really create meaningful and, like, visible projects that impact the campus and the community. So it's easy to have your meetings and show up if you're only in your group, you know what I mean? But then… but then nobody's seeing what PTK is doing, you know? Nobody is benefiting from you being on their campus. So, something that I definitely will reiterate, is just creating meaningful and visible projects that… that the community can see. You know, whether that's some kind of drive of some kind, or you're, you know, volunteering, or you're just out and about in the community. So then that way, when people think of PTK, they can be like, oh, well, I saw them on campus, doing this really fun community service project, or something like that. 

So, that's a huge thing. Definitely partnering with college leadership and local organizations, so that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the first one. You know, just getting your name out there. You know, PTK as a whole is very well known, but you want to make sure that people are knowing about you in your community. And they're knowing about, you know, the impact that you have on your campus. 

So something that we, within PTK, we have is something called Five Star Chapters, and it's something that the chapters themselves can strive for. Um, they have to hit a number of different criteria to become a five-star chapter, which includes these kind of philanthropic things, and doing something was called Honors in Action. And their college project. So it's… it's an intentional project that they are working on for the year, that really kind of highlights all of the different flagships of PTK, and then they can become a five-star chapter. 

So another thing is celebrating member achievements publicly. So, loudly and excitedly. I mean, our members are doing all kinds of stuff, even outside of PTK, you know? So, if they are celebrated at their job, or they're celebrated, um, you know, within their own personal communities. You know, that can be something that you are also celebrating through your PTK chapter.

And just letting students know that you're there for them, and that they mean something to this community. You know, that's really a big thing about PTK is fellowship and community. So celebrating little wins, big wins, things that don't have to do with PTK, just letting students know that they are important in that their celebrations and achievements are meaningful.

Obviously, encouraging conference attendance and leadership training, so, like, if students want to grow and they want to become bigger leaders, finding those opportunities for them to kind of step into those roles. Uh, we have our international officers every year, where 5 students are elected and voted on by their peers to represent PTK at the student level. So we have lots of students that we encourage to, you know, jump into those roles, or, you know, leaders within their smaller chapters. 

And then, most importantly, just making meetings welcoming and purposeful,  also student-led, you know, making sure that the students feel like they have that autonomy within this group. You know, that they, it's an organization for them, by them. You know, we obviously have our staff leaders and our faculty leaders, but PTK, at its core, is students, and it's students stepping up, and it's students finding their resources, and connecting with their community. So, making it more than just a meeting, you know?

And it makes me think of, like, this meeting could have been an email. You know, we don't want those kind of meetings. We want it where you show up, and somebody is excited that you're there, you know, they're excited that you showed up, and they're excited to talk to you about what this month, week, whatever holds.

I would just say, if I could sum all that up for our community college people, is just that make the students feel their community, and feel the fellowship, you know? And that doesn't have to be with elaborate parties or spending a lot of money, or anything like that. At the base level, just connect, you know, connect people with  other students, connect them with other faculty, um, connect them with their community. If they're passionate about something, you know, maybe they love animals, or maybe they want to, you know, help at the food bank or something like that. Just finding those opportunities where students really can plug themselves into stuff that they are passionate about.

Caitlyn: That's such great advice, and something I think a lot about is just belonging, and that sense of belonging in college, and how we know in that past research has told us that the more students feel that sense of belonging and that they matter, and that they have, ownership in what they're doing leads to student success. And just PTK is such a wonderful way of doing that, and, I just, as you were describing some of those meetings, I was thinking about some meetings I used to visit, and, you know, there'd be pizza, and they would be planning, and it was always the student officers leading, and they'd be planning, you know, their Habitat for Humanity home build, or their canned food drive, or making plans to all travel together to their regional conference, because you mentioned conferences. I know a lot of the regions put on annual or semi-annual events, too, and those are always a lot of fun.

Emily: Yes, they definitely are. I'm down here in Texas, and I know our Texas regional event is always a fun time. I'm friends with a lot of, uh, like, our advisors and stuff like that on social media, and I'm always just like, oh, you guys are having such a good time. And it really is just that it's… sometimes with community college, especially the community college is kind of around where I live, they get this kind of bad rap for being, like, commuter schools, or not having this on-campus presence. But that's what PTK kind of strives to break apart, you know what I mean? Like, there is a purpose to be on the campus, and there's a purpose to make that campus better, and even if you are a non-traditional student or a working adult, and you're not living on campus or eating on campus, you know, there's still ways to get involved and… and feel a sense of pride in your community and in your campus, and ultimately in your chapter.

Caitlyn: That's amazing, and just Like I said at the beginning, I have such a soft spot for this organization, just in all the time I got to work.

Emily:

I know, and I, Exactly, and that's what I… that's kind of what I mean, is like, I… I'm… I kick myself all the time that, like, when I was in college, I wasn't just like, oh, this is fun, you know, I was doing my own thing, so who knows what, who could have even got to me at that point, but I just always am so envious of our students, especially at Catalyst, like, They're just having such a good time, and they are just so full of excitement and this just readiness to better themselves and to learn, and it's just such a great feeling.

Caitlyn: Absolutely. Uh, so speaking of Catalyst, you mentioned it earlier, let's talk Catalyst, because it's coming up, right, this year?

Emily: Yes, it is. It's fast approaching, it's the last week of March, March 26th through the 28th, so it will literally be here before I know it, and we're getting excited, for sure.

Caitlyn: Awesome. So, let's talk about what Catalyst is, because it's something I hear people are like, what is that? Should I go? Should I go to Baltimore? Uh, talk more about what Catalyst is, and why everybody should attend.

Emily: Yes, so Catalyst is our annual convention that we put on for our students, so it is a student-focused convention. We bring students in from chapters all over. They drive, they fly, you know, they're making their way to Baltimore and from all over. So, something, a question I get a lot from our transfer partners is, okay, I'm a school in Kansas or Missouri, you know, should I go to Baltimore? Am I gonna get the students that I'm wanting to see? Is it worth me driving up there, you know, or flying up there to talk to a bunch of students from, you know, the Northeast? And I would tell you that, No, these students are coming from all over the place. I mean, I just know our chapters here in Texas are they show up and show out. So…

There will be, you know, obviously up in the Baltimore area, and kind of in that area, you're gonna have an influx of students, um, from those states, just because a lot of them can take the train or drive, you know, so there definitely will be an influx of that, but I encourage anybody from all different states, uh, if you're wanting to just get in front of these students and really get in front of PTK students face-to-face,Catalyst is one of the best ways to do it. 

It's also a great time to really understand the culture of PTK, and really feel that energy that I've just been talking about, and, like, when I get that smile on my face, and I'm just excited, is because I'm… I'm thinking about the moments at Catalyst where that culture is so tried and true, and you really feel what we're doing, and you really kind of get this renewed love for, I want to make transfer happen for these students. I want to make it easier. I want to see… I want to meet these students where they're at. Let's talk about where they're at, you know?

So,  I encourage anybody, you know, I mean, so we're in Baltimore this year, we're gonna be in the Dallas area, um, next year, so, if Baltimore doesn't work this year, I know it's kind of a quick turnaround. Dallas next year, um, and yeah, it's just… students being celebrated, and students being excited about their next step and their next chapter.

And then the main thing that I focus on at PTK Catalyst is our in-person transfer fare. So we do have two days that we have a transfer fare for 2 hours each day. And like I mentioned before, we have about 100 schools that are represented each year, um, which is really exciting from all over the place. I mean, we have schools that, you know, send their regional reps, or they have people that fly in from all over the place, and again, it's just allowing these students that maybe never thought that they could get in front of such a diverse group of schools and allowing them to just explore, you know? 

And so that's just another way to, like I've been talking about, meet the students where they're at, you know? See them in their element, see them in this very exciting and celebratory time, and then kind of catch on to that energy and talk to them about, Okay, what's next? You know, where do we go from here? And ride that wave of, like, adrenaline and excitement and talk to them about their future, so I definitely encourage anybody that has… is maybe thinking about it, um, again, if not this year, definitely next year. As soon as we're done, I turn around and start planning for the next one. So, I'm always in Catalyst mode, and I'm always excited to talk about it. Again, just reiterating our professional development that we're gonna have there. So, although it is a student-facing convention we do really try to make sure that our transfer professionals are getting something out of it as well. 

Obviously, there's the recruitment aspect of it. But we want to make sure that you are feeling like you've gone and learned about something, so we're gonna have a few professional development sessions, and then we have a fun little reception for all the recruiters. We have some little beverages and stuff like that, so you can just talk and kind of have that connection, um, with the other recruiters that are there. 

So, I love Catalyst, it is a beast, and it's a lot of work, but it is one of my absolute favorite events, again, because I just love, love, love connecting with our transfer partners, and just seeing everybody. And it really does if you're feeling a little bit, you know, in a rut, or maybe, like, it's just a heavy beginning of the year, or maybe, like, you just got off the road, and you're like, ah, I don't know if I can make one more trip to Baltimore. Or, you know, like, I don't… I just don't know if I have it in me. I promise you, it will shock you, like, like an electric strike, you know what I mean? Like, it feels so good, and it's just… our students are so fun to talk to, because they are so excited. So, I… anyways, I could talk about it forever and ever and ever, but if anybody is interested in it, they can obviously reach out to me via email, and I'll continue to talk their ear about how great and wonderful it is.

Caitlyn: That's amazing. And Emily, as you've been describing it, I have been getting goose bumps, because I'm thinking back. I was able to attend two different Catalyst conferences, and I just you're right, just the energy and the excitement. And, you know, I went into one of the big plenary sessions, and the music's pumping, and the students are all waving signs for their regions marching through the room, and I just was fired up. And I was there for those transfer fairs, but I was so fired up and, you know, got to listen to the keynote speakers, and I know if I were going this year, I'd be all about those professional development opportunities, too. That sounds like an amazing addition, but yeah.

If anyone's listening to this being like, oh, I'm so tired of travel, I'm so tired of fares, this… this one's unlike any other transfer fair out there.

Emily: Yes, and I know it's such a hard time, because I know, like, transfer, you just, like, at the beginning of the year, hit the ground running so hard. And, you know, probably by the end of March, you're like, ugh, I just want to crawl across the finish line, but…It's really such a good time, and much like Caitlyn mentioned, you're welcome to… you get to come see any of the keynote speakers, and you get to absorb as much as you possibly can, so it's definitely, definitely worth the investment to come and see what it's all about.

Caitlyn: I love it. I'm disappointed. I… since I'm… I'm not in admissions anymore, I don't have my built-in excuse to go, but maybe again. So this year, Catalyst is March 26th through 28th in Baltimore, Maryland.

Emily: Yeah, it'll be at the Baltimore Convention Center, and yeah, like I said, anybody that's interested, in information. You can obviously Google it, but if you want, kind of, uh, direct contact, I'd be happy to chat with anybody about any opportunity.

Caitlyn: I love that. I love that so much. 

Caitlyn: Well, Emily, my last question for you today is, I just want to know, aside from Catalyst, what's got you excited? What's got you pumped up? You know, this is a tough time to be in higher ed. There's a lot of change, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fluctuations in enrollment and policies. So just what's got you excited? What's got you inspired these days?

Emily: Yeah, I mean, It is hard, I will tell you. I mean, like, anybody that works in transfer, I mean, I feel it a safe space to say, like, We've got it tough, you know, and the students are out there, but how do we find them? You know? And… and I think that's why I'm so excited about our Direct Admissions initiative is just it's one of the biggest moves towards breaking down these hurdles, um, for students.

And I think that it just gets me so excited, the number of students that one, learn about what direct admissions is, because that's another thing, is we're really trying to make sure we're covering that learning curve of even letting no… letting students know what direct admissions is.

Um, and then you just kind of see their brain light up, or their eyes light up, when they're, like, Oh, that's… that's it? That's as easy as it is? You know, they're almost waiting for you to tell them, like, some super secret, difficult hurdle that they're gonna have to jump over. And just that realization that, like, it can be that easy. And… and we can offer these type of things to transfer students. We've been doing it for first-year students for however long, so why can't we just adapt to the transfer, you know, world. 

So I think just and any kind of transfer professional will probably feel this way, and I know that we are somewhat in a bubble, so, like, sometimes it feels like Transfer is getting re-centered in our conversations, you know, but I'm feeling like transfer is getting re-centered in admissions as a whole. And that makes me really excited, because we are having these conversations about, scholarships, you know what I mean? Another thing that gets me so fired up is all of the scholarships that are offered for PTK students, and not just PTK students, but transfer students. These transfer-specific scholarships, I mean, that was almost unheard of when I was in college, and even so, when I was an admissions counselor, you know, it was like you'd go on a school's website, and you'd be like, oh, all these numbers, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, and then you read the fine print, and it's like Oh, you have to have just graduated, or a first time in college, you know? So I think that Colleges are understanding the investment in transfer students

[Emily Gora (she/her)] 11:03:10

is an investment in the college as a whole, you know what I mean? And it's only gonna make our college better. If we have these students that are ready to come on our campus, they are ready to complete. They're ready to, you know, be involved in all this stuff. It's like, why don't you want those people on your campus? Why isn't that just, like, a sure thing?

So I'm thinking just, like, I get so fired up about it, because I'm just like, I love it, and I just want people to understand, like, transfer students are where it's at. You know, they may not have started with you, and you may see them maybe as, like, difficult, or because you have to try and, like, place them into something, but, like, they're not. They're excited, especially with PTK students, like, they're just excited to be included. You know, they just want to be a part of the conversation, so I would definitely say, like, I'm just fired up about that transfer is getting It's… it's getting there. We're not in the spotlight, but you know, we've, like, stuck our arm in, and we're like, hey, you know, we're over here.

And so, I think that's just exciting, and… and again, I just I'm excited that we offer all these scholarships are being offered and, you know, students, transfer students are being recognized in great ways.

Caitlyn: Absolutely. I just want to yell, say it louder for people in the back, an investment in transfer students is an investment in your college as a whole.

Emily:  Yes! Yes, it is. Yes, exactly! And I'm like, I… I wish it was that simple. And I could just say that, and someone would be like, oh yeah, okay, great, here's $100,000. Do what… do with it what you want, but I do think that slowly people are understanding that. And… and we'll get there. We'll get there. That's why, you know, things like Transfer Nation and college relations, and we just have to kind of keep putting it in front of people until people believe, like, oh, I guess what these people are saying is… is viable, and this is important, you know?

And we do that by just pairing up these students, these high-achieving students, with our partners. And the only way to do that is through success stories, you know what I mean? And through showing administration and stuff like that, that this works, you know? Uh, we… we put money into scholarships for these students, they get here, they stay here, they're excited, they stick around, you know.

So I…I'm excited to just keep putting our foot on the gas. I know it's so tiring, and there are definitely days where I'm like, I am shouting into the void, what is happening? You know, but then I get awesome opportunities like this to chat with you, or, you know, I'm talking at a virtual fair, or, you know, I'm just connecting with all of our partners, getting ready for Catalyst, and I'm like, okay, It is working. You know, we are moving the needle, even if it's just a tiny, tiny bit, so…

I'm a huge transfer champion. I work with a bunch of transfer champions, and I am so excited that I got to do this, because I just I could talk about transfer all day long, I could talk about PTK all day long, and how exciting it is to get to work with such a special group of people, and such a special group of students, you know, like… you, one, have to be a special person to work in admissions in general, and then you have to be a really special person to work in transfer admissions, so I love connecting, and I love,  just talking to people that really know the transfer student's heart and their intentions, so… yeah.

Caitlyn: Oh, I love that. And well, we love that you came to talk with us about Phi Theta Kappa and college relations. I know the Transfer Naation community are doing amazing work out there and supporting our students, whether it's at the two-year school or the four-year school, and I know they energize me thinking about what they do, so thank you so much.

Emily: Yes. And I know we have lots of crossover. I know there's lots of Transfer Nations that are also, uh, our partners, so I love that, and I'm just excited to speak out into the world to them.

Caitlyn: Well, we are so excited that you came on our TransferNation Talks podcast to speak to them as well. Emily Gora with Phi Theta Kappa, thank you so much for chatting with me today about one of my favorite topics with PTK excellence.

Emily: Thank you! 

Caitlyn: And, oh my gosh, good luck at Catalyst in Baltimore.

Emily: Thank you, I'm excited! I'm excited to get away from this Texas whatever. It's pretending to be spring, but it's not. I'm like, get me up to Baltimore, some nice Baltimore weather, so…

Caitlyn: Right, right. Ugh, well, can't wait to hear all about how it went. So, thank you so very much, and thank you for all the work you do.

Emily: Awesome, thank you as well.