When ‘Build It and They’ll Come’ Stops Working – Leveraging Labor Market Insights and Strategic Partnerships to Fuel Enrollment Growth
Grand Ballroom C | Graduate | Strategic | Tag(s): Engagement and Opportunity, Graduate Education
In today’s competitive and evolving higher education landscape, institutions must adopt a proactive, data-informed approach to drive graduate and adult learner enrollment. This session explores how aligning academic programs with real-time labor market trends and strategic industry partnerships can fuel sustainable growth. Attendees will learn a practical framework for evaluating and optimizing program portfolios, identifying high-opportunity areas, and building collaborations that enhance both enrollment and career outcomes. Featuring insights from EAB and Loyola University New Orleans, alongside OHIO Online’s success in forging impactful workforce partnerships, this session offers actionable strategies and real-world examples to help institutions thrive in a demand-driven market.

• Val Fox, EAB
• Beth Donaldson, EAB
• Paul Cesarini, Loyola University New Orleans
• Kathy Wilson, Ohio University
• Natalie Wittmann, Ohio University

Moderator: Jessica DuPont, Oregon State University

Small Changes for Big Impact: Serving Graduate Students Through Cross-Campus Partnerships
Churchill B2 | Graduate | Foundational | Tag(s): Graduate Education
This session explores the impact of a coordinated, centralized effort to provide staff in graduate affairs type roles with their own community and network for support, resources, and information. Participants will engage in a guided interactive exercise to identify their graduate student attributes and to better understand their opportunities to influence small changes in their organization to create a big impact on student support.

• Jessica McCarthy, Boston University

Moderator: Kristin Marengo, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Dialogues That Matter: Scaling Socratic AI to Deepen Learning in Online Graduate Education
Churchill C1 | Graduate | Applied | Tag(s): Faculty, Graduate Education
This session shares insights from implementing Socratic Mind, an AI-guided formative assessment tool, in a graduate-level online reinforcement learning course. The tool prompted students to explain complex concepts aloud, fostering critical thinking and self-reflection. Data from student surveys, platform usage, and TA interviews revealed improved conceptual understanding, reduced instructional burden, and strong learner engagement. The instructor played a key role in designing prompts and refining assignments based on student feedback. Students appreciated the tool’s low-stress, dialogue-based format. The session will offer strategies for adoption and explore how AI-guided formative assessment tools can support online graduate learner success.

• Meryem Yilmaz Soylu, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Rodrigo Borela Valente, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Jeonghyun Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology

Moderator: Stevie Rocco, Penn State University

Connect, celebrate, and collaborate at the Network Lunch & Awards. Hosted by UPCEA Networks (Areas of Practice) and open to all attendees, this luncheon brings peers together to recognize excellence through Network Awards and strengthen connections across the UPCEA community. Select the Network that aligns with your professional focus.

Graduate
Churchhill B2
Join the Graduate Network to explore the full graduate education continuum--from academic leadership, faculty engagement, market analysis, program design and enrollment management and student success.

Moderators:

• Wendy Boland, American University
• Benjamin Brand, University of North Texas
• George Irvine, University of Delaware
• Minh Virasak, Santa Clara University
• Nancy Ludwig, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Nancy Prater, Ball State University

Before, During, and After: Innovating the Learning Journey from Enrollment to Career Advancing Impact, and Everything In Between.
Marlborough A | Graduate | Strategic | Tag(s): Engagement and Opportunity, Graduate Education
Today’s adult learners seek flexible, purpose-driven education that delivers impact. This interactive workshop features two institutions reimagining the learner lifecycle in 3 phases: enrollment, program design, to professional outcomes. Villanova University’s College of Professional Studies will highlight data-informed recruitment strategies and learner engagement methods that sustain enrollment in a competitive adult market. The team will also highlight its Career Management Services model, which integrates career exploration, skill-building, and coaching to support adult learners. Saint Francis University’s Executive Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership and Innovation will showcase a scholar-practitioner approach, infused with servant leadership and innovation theory that drives applied research and cross-sector impact. Together, these models demonstrate how intentional design, authentic engagement, and flexible delivery can transform recruitment, retention, and career success. Through discussion and hands-on exercises, participants will identify ways to strengthen belonging, connection, and post-graduation impact across diverse institutional contexts.

• Paul Ballentine, Villanova University
• Meredith Okenquist, Villanova University
• Tricia Giannone McFadden, Saint Francis University

Moderator: Clayton Dean, Ziplines Education

Graduate Program Review: Approaches, Tools & Tradeoffs
Churchill C1 | Graduate | Applied | Tag(s): Engagement and Opportunity, Faculty, Graduate Education
The sessions will focus on two approaches to evaluate your graduate program portfolio to align with resources, drive innovation, and respond to the rapidly changing graduate landscape. First, the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University will present their comprehensive program review process for its online professional master’s degree programs as a consistent, structured way to gauge program quality and identify opportunities for curricular innovation. Second, American University will present a profit & loss tool that they are using to help deans across the university assess their graduate portfolio and make difficult decisions around program changes and closures. The session will provide an opportunity for attendees to evaluate their degree programs from multiple angles and hear from colleagues about their experiences. Additionally, participants will reflect on the potential value of program review for their institutions and discuss how to operationalize it in whole or part for their own needs.

• Soo La Kim, Northwestern University
• Wendy Boland, American University

Moderator: Jason Smith, Blackboard

Roundtable Presentations
Grand Ballroom AB
In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to engage with up to two different topics during small-group, 30-minute, table-based guided discussion around a specific and timely topic, question, or issue. Roundtables are designed to provide space and time to important but particularly nuanced topics which deserve attention, and presenters will promote the sharing of thoughts, solutions, and questions among their respective table’s attendees.

Moderator: Jessica DuPont, Oregon State University

Leveraging Technology to Support a Relationship First Online Graduate Student Experience
Graduate | Applied | Tag(s): Engagement and Opportunity, Faculty, Graduate Education
This session explores how Ohio University leveraged Slate for Current Students and a Canvas integration to develop a Student Success Dashboard to optimize success advising, communication cadences, and retention interventions across our online graduate student portfolio. As part of OHIO Online's relationship first partnerships with program directors, learn to balance proactive outreach with student autonomy using Slate’s early alerts, personalized interventions, and predictive analytics. Discover how unified data streams enhance tracking and reporting while fostering relationships with program directors and students to align advising with curricular goals. Leave with actionable templates and frameworks for cross-departmental collaboration to strengthen student persistence and institutional retention efforts.

• Thomas Raimondi, Ohio University
• Elizabeth Bonin, Ohio University

Teaching Academy for Graduate Students
Graduate | Applied | Tag(s): Graduate Education
Upon earning a graduate degree, individuals may have the opportunity to teach in a higher education institution. They may also have the opportunity to serve as a course instructor while they are earning their degree. To prepare for these teaching opportunities, it is beneficial to provide students with a pedagogical foundation and training in instruction. In this session, we’ll explore the components of a developed teaching academy for graduate students that is interdisciplinary and provides a strong foundation for teaching. We'll discuss strategies for training graduate students and explore how this type of program can be implemented in other institutions.

• Laura Ramp, Penn State University

Beyond the Buzz - AI Ethics and Techniques for Staff, Faculty, and Students
Grand Ballroom C | Graduate | Foundational | Tag(s): Graduate Education
The MS–Applied Data Science Instructional Services Team from the University of Chicago will lead an interactive workshop on AI prompting, focusing on both best practices and the limitations of AI in education. Participants will work through real-world scenarios to examine the positive and negative social impacts of data science, moving past surface-level fears about generative AI. Emphasizing an educational approach over rapid adoption of tools, the session will equip educators and administrators with the critical skills and ethical awareness needed to thoughtfully integrate AI into teaching, learning, and institutional decision-making.

• Emma Kerr-Ketchum, The University of Chicago
• Taylor Alexander, The University of Chicago

Moderator: John South, Lightcast

Modeling Self-Regulated Learners with Digital Twins and Language Models: Insights into Performance and Learning Strategy Modifications
Churchill B1 | Graduate | Applied | Tag(s): Engagement and Opportunity, Faculty, Graduate Education
This session presents a hybrid language model and simulation-based analysis of self-regulated learning. We model students’ learning and experiment with various conditions to identify the factors most closely associated with improved performance in the context of online education. Our findings highlight the critical role of peer and instructor support, particularly when students face challenging learning situations. Participants will engage with a data-driven, simulation-based environment designed to support and enhance student learning.

• Jeonghyun Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Meryem Soylu Yilmaz, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Stephen Harmon, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Eric Sembrat, Georgia Institute of Technology