Student Experience Team – Resolutions and Aspirations

As we near the end of 2023, amid the Advent season and in preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas, we all have an opportunity to step back and reflect on our experiences, lessons learned and growth during the past year. It is also the perfect setting for introspection, setting the stage for resolutions and renewed aspirations in the coming year.

This column has allowed me to think about the year in its totality, and more specifically, the chance to reflect on the last four months since being appointed Senior Director of the newly formed Student Experience team and to consider what the future might bring.  

Since August, I have had the opportunity to begin working alongside administrative and academic leadership to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the student journey across all of Mendoza’s academic programs and from the lens of graduate student services, experiential learning, program management and academic operations. The ultimate vision is to build a new collective Student Experience team committed to creating enriching learning environments that foster both academic and personal growth for our students, which is embedded into our newly created mission statement.

The goals and objectives of the Student Experience Team align with the College’s strategic priorities; namely, to establish Mendoza as a premier global business school, elevate our MBA program as our flagship, and provide formative experiences that contribute to the formation of our students. These areas of emphasis present three overarching areas of focus for the team: Strategic Planning, Efficiency and Transparency, and Relationship Building:

Strategic Planning. To create a strategic plan for student engagement, it was important to hear first from those involved with different aspects of the student journey. Conversations were held with individual and broader student experience team members, academic and functional leadership, and our campus partners — the Registrar’s Office, Notre Dame International and General Counsel among others. From those conversations, it was evident that to achieve our ambitious collective strategic priorities, our approach must involve a vigilant focus on both a top-down and bottom-up strategy.

Early examples of success include the transition of the sourcing of Grow Irish projects to an in-house model, building growth and financial models across our programs, the rollout of registration videos to address challenges, and planning for new programs such as the Master of Science in Digital Marketing and a dual degree with MSBA. With our senior leadership team now fully staffed, I look forward to continuing conversations crucial to our student’s success in 2024 as we leverage, align and enhance our strategic efforts across the entire student journey.

Efficiency and Transparency. Future success in elevating the student experience hinges on transparency and open dialogue. The team has adopted new business tools such as RASCI models resulting in a deeper appreciation and understanding of roles and decision-making responsibilities. This has reduced confusion and redundancy, and more importantly, empowered our team members. In addition, we have improved communication and transparency by utilizing tools such as Slack and Monday.com. For example, we defined and continue to monitor our Student Experience Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) using a Monday.com board.

Relationship Building. As leaders who score highly on collaboration and connectedness, we know that building our networks and leveraging relationships is pivotal to our ongoing success. To this end, our team has intentionally engaged with College and campus thought partners to facilitate proactive and transparent conversations. Recent successes include convening our undergraduate advising team with our graduate student services team to exchange common challenges and best practices; increasing collaboration among enrollment, student services and career development; and forging stronger connections across the campus. In addition, there has been purposeful outreach to our peer and aspirational institutions, fostering discussions on shared challenges and opportunities within the realm of the student experience.

As I continue to grow and learn in this new role, I am humbled and impressed by the dedication, care and commitment to serving our students equally matched by the talent and potential of our staff across the student experience team. I am particularly grateful to the directors, Sam Fisher, Christine Gramhofer, Megan Piersma and assistant director Kari Friestad for their leadership, knowledge-sharing, candor, thought partnership and collegiality through this transition. We have achieved so much in 2023 and I’m enthusiastic about what 2024 will bring!

Best,

Kara

Kara Palmer
Senior Director of Student Experience