Voices of SEM

In this season-opening episode of Transfer Tea, I share reflections from the Strategic Enrollment Management Conference and an intro for a new season centered on learning mobility. The episode explores why higher education must continue to adapt as learners face changing policies, costs, and pathways. Listeners are introduced to learning mobility as a way of making sure learning counts—wherever and however it happens. This episode sets the tone for conversations ahead about transfer, credit, policy, and systems designed to help learners move forward, not start over.

Host:

Dr. Loida González Utley

Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Services

Email us at transfertea@aacrao.org

Visit www.aacrao.org

Transcript

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Welcome back to Transferte. As we begin this new season, I want to start by grounding us in the moment we're in, not just as professionals in enrollment management, but as stewards of access, opportunity, and trust in higher education. This season opens up with Voices of SEM, reflections coming out of the strategic enrollment conference this past November. And if you were there, or if you've been paying attention to the conversations happening across campuses and systems, you know this, higher education is at an inflection point. We are being asked, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly, to reexamine the value of education in a landscape where skepticism is growing, affordability is under scrutiny, and families and learners are asking harder questions than ever before. We are navigating legislative shifts that shape who we can serve, how we serve them, and what resources are available to do the work well. We are balancing budgetary realities that force difficult decisions, even as students' needs grow more complex. And yet, despite all of this, we are still showing up. We are still answering phones. We are still reviewing transcripts. We are still listening to students explain the barriers in their way, financial, academic, personal, systemic, and asking ourselves, how do we remove friction instead of adding to it? Strategic enrollment management today is no longer just about numbers, projections, or funnels. It's about people. It's about trust. It's about designing systems that work for learners as they are, not as we wish they would be. What I heard throughout the conference were voices wrestling with the same questions. How do we remain mission driven in a resource constrained environment? How do we protect access while adapting to change? And how do we transform the way we serve students now more than ever, so higher education remains a pathway, not a gatekeeper. This session of transferee begins right there, in reflection, honesty, and a shared commitment to do better by the learners who trust us with their futures. My name is Fabiola Rodriguez. I am from Laredo College. It is my first time attending the STEM conference, and I have been able to learn that a lot of institutions that I've been able to share thoughts with, um, are experiencing the same problems that we are having at Laredo College, and we've been able to think about strategies that can help us improve these issues. Molly McDermott Fallon, Assistant Vice Provost and university registrar at the University of Cincinnati. I have been so encouraged that everyone is still have their mission of success at the institutions and that we're still driving forward even through the climate of change. Hi, I'm Jessica Rodriguez from Colorado State University. I'm a first-timer at STEM, and one thing I think I find motivating is just the collective of people who are able to uplift each other during the crazy times and being to, being able to commiserate and, you know, know that we're not in this alone, that we're all going through the same things. My name is Emily Christian. I'm with the University of Washington, Bothel. And I learned from my colleagues at WSU Vancouver that their chancellor has a saying, you can centralize compliance, but you can't centralize service. And I loved that. Lenore Standing Oak, I'm from Fort Peck Community College, and one of the things I find inspiring is how ACR has so many willing participants to support even the smaller colleges that I'm from. And that really, really, really makes me happy that we have that support. Hello, my name is Rao. I'm from Kazakhstan, Kimweb University. This is my first time in US and at Accra conference, so I'm very excited with all the vendors who presented there and how many things that could be improved by using AI. Uh, and so many platforms, digital that can be also helpful for the university growth and for enrollment growing. So it's very, very interesting. Thank you. Julia Reyes Laredo College. Um, this is my 3rd year at SEM, and one of the things that I found enlightening this, this SEM was the connection to continuing from a community college to a university and looking at those bridges to help the students out at a college or transition over to a university level. Ian Gilberto Garcia, vice president for enrollment Management at Texas A&M International University. Uh, it's great to be back at SEM, um, having been in, in this conference for about 3 years, and, uh, I'm enjoying the conference and I'm enjoying the conversation with my peers. It's something that I, I am extremely grateful for, uh, for my team cause we're, we're really doing a lot of good things, uh, but there's obviously things that we can improve, but, uh, I, I don't think we're that far for, from, from getting to the, the place that we wanna be. Uh, uh, as, as I was listening to the sessions, found a lot of good ideas of, of data points that we can add to what we're already doing, uh, and some improvements that we can do on processes and systems that we're already using. So, uh, yeah, I'm excited to go back, share with the team what, what I learned, and, and, you know, get to work. Uh, Rose Mayungu, um, Old Dominion University. And, um, I'm so happy to have my colleagues here with me, my newbies. There you go, first time attendees. Go ahead. Leslie Sharp, Old Dominion University, first-timer, but not a last timer because this has been a blast. I presented, which was amazing, have made so many incredible connections, have made wonder, have met wonderful vendors. It's been a blast. My name is Alba Cook. I'm with the University of Texas at El Paso, and I'm a first-timer at ACO SCM. Something I found really enlightening at some of the sessions is the focus on the future of strategic enrollment management, specifically the leadership and how we can develop future leaders in our field, and just a lot of the planning and things that people are thinking about and that I hope that sometime contribute to. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Reynolds from Colorado State University. I'm a first-timer here at SEM. And I think one of the things I find uplifting and kind of inspiring is that we're all working towards the same goal to help make our students Whatever their light bulb moment is a reality. Hi, Loya. This is Sarah Reed, the university registrar, soon to be changed title um at UC Berkeley. And I'm having a moment here at ECOM 2025. 1st of all, in Las Vegas. Second of all, I am taken back to the moment we met 3 years ago now. At Acro, just having this conversation for the 1st and 1st time. So, Moments. I appreciate you. OK, so the question is, what have I found enlightening, stimulating, or motivating here at ACR? I always find it motivating to be with professionals who are just killing it in their profession. I think a lot of people still have imposter and don't think that they are, but I see them doing it and leading in their own way, and I think that's always really. Exciting and motivating for me just to see like their take, their lens, their contributions, and then especially in the enrollment management world, like I'm, we're, we're cusping into that at Berkeley, but we're not there yet. And so I love to see the path people are on, how, how, you know, 3, year 35, whatever they're in, how good it is. But outside of that, let's see. I can feel like I can add something else. What would that be? I'm so tired. Um, you know what it is for me this year? I've seen so many people I do not know. And I am loving that. I feel like there's such an opportunity for me to meet more people. And also, there are a lot of new people this year, and I just really love that. People are, first of all, are able to come financially for whatever, you know, whatever they had to do to get here. I'm grateful for that. But I also I'm so excited that it feels still so fresh. I thought I knew a lot of people and I do, and I was like, oh my God, who are all these amazing people? Like, I don't know them yet, and I hope to. So yeah, I think that's been really rewarding for me. Shanita Brown from Georgia Institute of Technology. I have been inspired by all of the new innovations and how AI can make enrollment easier for, for staff and students. Tyler Miller Gordon, Old Dominion University, as an analytics professional, it's been really enlightening to deep dive into the minds and the strategies of these enrollment management professionals and take back some of that expertise so that we can begin to build smarter, better models and come back and present them next year. As we move forward from these reflections, I want to invite you into what this season of transfer tea is really about, because reflection alone isn't enough. The challenges we're facing demand response. They demand imagination. They demand courage to rethink systems that were built for a different time. And that response, the driving force of this season, is learning mobility. Learning mobility is not just a buzzword. It's not a trend. It's a recognition of reality. Learners are not linear. Learning is not confined to a single institution, and talent does not live neatly inside one single transcript. Learning mobility asks a different question. Instead of asking, where did you start, it asks, What do you know? What can you do, and how can we help you move forward? Throughout the season, we'll explore learning mobility as a direct response to the needs of today's learners, especially transfer students, adult learners, military connected students, and those whose learning lives span multiple institution systems and experiences. We'll talk about prior learning and how we recognize learning that happens outside the traditional classroom and what it means to truly value experience, work, and lived knowledge. We'll dig into technology and interoperability because mobility stalls when systems can't talk to each other, when data is trapped, and when students are asked to carry the burden of translation. We'll examine policy, institutional, state, and national, and how rules meant to ensure quality can sometimes become barriers to progress if they aren't reimagined with learners at the center. Will highlight cross-system collaboration because no single institution can solve mobility alone. Real progress happens when K through 12, community colleges, universities, workforce partners, and policymakers work together intentionally and transparently. You'll hear about learning mobility labs, spaces where institutions test, pilot, and redesign pathways rather than waiting for perfect solutions. We'll explore state and national initiatives, pushing this work forward, and we'll talk honestly about credentialing, what counts, what should count, and how credentials connect to opportunity and economic mobility. This season is about momentum. It's about moving from conversation to practice, from policy to people, from intent to impact. And it's all leading towards the assembly, a space designed for practitioners, leaders, and innovators who are ready to do the work of learning mobility together, not in theory, but in action. If you've ever sat with a student and thought, there has to be a better way, this season is for you. If you've ever questioned whether our systems truly reflect our values, this season is for you. And if you believe that higher education still holds transformative power, when we're willing to transform it ourselves, then you're exactly where you need to be. This is Transferte. These are the voices of SEM, and this season, we're talking learning mobility because learners deserve systems that move with them, not against them.