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Partnerships: Stronger Together

These are the meeting resources from the 2025 Academic Partnerships Annual Meeting which took place from April 23-25, 2025 in Reno, NV.

Preconference Workshop: Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Planning & Budgeting Practices to Build Capacity with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)

Collaborative resource planning is essential to build capacity, scale, and sustain institutional initiatives that drive outcomes. This session will share proven models and tools that can be leveraged to bring together finance and non-finance professionals and support interdisciplinary planning and budgeting activities. Attendees will gain access to a free suite of web-based resources at the NACUBO Student Success Hub and have the opportunity to discuss innovative ways of working, presented in a newly released Collaboration Toolkit. The toolkit and resources within were developed with input from a community of 26 colleges and universities through a multi-year grant initiative.

Terri Dautcher

Senior Consultant, NACUBO

Sarah Bousman

Associate Vice President for Planning, Budget, and nalysis, University of Nevada, Reno

Keynote: Transforming Tomorrow: Strategic Partnerships for an Evolving Higher Education Landscape

In a time of continued transformation across education and workforce sectors, colleges and universities are increasingly called upon to collaborate in new and meaningful ways. Transforming Tomorrow: Strategic Partnerships for an Evolving Higher Education Landscape highlights how thoughtful partnerships—both within and beyond academia—can drive innovation, extend institutional capacity, and respond to the evolving needs of learners and communities.

In this keynote, Dr. Mordecai Brownlee will explore how strategic collaboration can unlock opportunities for program development, workforce alignment, and community engagement. Drawing from real-world examples and his leadership experience, Dr. Brownlee will outline practical strategies for building partnerships that foster student achievement, enhance institutional resilience, and support mission-centered growth.

Attendees will gain fresh insight into how purposeful alliances can help institutions remain agile, relevant, and responsive in a changing world—equipping them to shape the future of higher education with clarity and confidence.

Mordecai Ian Brownlee

WCET Executive Council, President, Community College of Aurora

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* Barbara Damron

WICHE Chair, and Professor, College of Nursing and School of Medicine, Senior Advisor to the Director of Project ECHO, University of New Mexico

Don’t  Fear the Big Blur: New Partnerships and Credentials for Beneficial Outcomes

BAS Degrees at community colleges? Workforce certification at a university? Dual enrollment? The lines in higher education have never been blurrier. Join this panel of community college and university leaders to discuss how their institutions are coloring outside the lines to serve their students, communities, and workforce needs with new and innovative relationships and credentials.

Kaylyn Bondy

Alliance Executive Committee, Bismarck State College

Kari Brown-Herbst

Alliance Executive Committee, Laramie County Community College

Denise Runge

Forum Executive Committee, University of Alaska Anchorage

Brenda Sipe

Associate Vice President of Business & Educational Partnerships, Northern Arizona University

Transfer Student Success: Embracing the Hot Potato of Statewide Collaboration to Produce Transformative Change

This interactive presentation brings together Idaho state education policy leaders and Idaho community college academic leaders to describe innovative approaches for streamlining transfer pathways in higher education. Drawing on Kezar’s theoretical framework of sensemaking and sensegiving in institutional transformation, presenters will demonstrate how cross-state institutional collaboration drives sustainable change in better supporting transfer students. By examining transfer reform through both systemic and institutional lenses, this session illustrates how theoretical understanding of change processes combine with practical implementation to create meaningful impact.

Heidi Estrem

Associate Academic Officer, Idaho State Board of Education

Angela Sackett

Dean of Health and Human Services Division, College of Eastern Idaho

Tiffany Seeley-Case

Vice President of Instruction, College of Southern Idaho

Justin Vance

Dean, School of Arts and Humanities, College of Western Idaho

No One Builds a Good Credit for Prior Learning Program Alone

Over the past 4 years, Salt Lake Community College has worked to create a robust, centralized Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) office to serve their students. This has required extensive partnerships, coordination, and collaboration across the institution, as well as patience and understanding as they navigated the highs and lows of building those partnerships.

Kiesha Fehoko

Director of Testing Services, Salt Lake Community College

Andrea Tipton

Director of Credit for Prior Learning, Salt Lake Community College

From Pathways to Highways: The 2NAU Foundation for Growing Postsecondary Attainment

Increasing postsecondary attainment and contributing to regional workforce needs demands partnership between community colleges and universities. Northern Arizona University’s collaboration with Arizona’s community colleges through the 2NAU model offers a proven roadmap to maximizing affordability, removing academic obstacles, and collaboratively supporting students. They are further demonstrating expanded partnership models through a Universal Admissions program.

Lauren Copeland-Glan

Director, Office of Economic Mobility and Social Impact, Northern Arizona University

John Georgas

Senior Vice Provost for Academic Operations, Northern Arizona University

Terri Hayes

Associate Vice President for Academic Retention, Momentum, and Success, Northern Arizona University

Adult Education/Title II Pathways to Economic Mobility and Sector-Based Training

This session will highlight the innovative work being produced through the Good Jobs Northern Nevada initiative across adult education, community college, and workforce system partners. The panel will discuss the evolution of adult education: Integrated Education and Training (IET) models to serve adult learners and Tribal communities across the 70,000 square mile service area in northern Nevada.

Arianna Florence

Assistant State Director, Nevada Department of Education

Alex Harris

Adult Basic Education Director, Truckee Meadows Community College

Angela Holt

Director of College & Career Readiness, Western Nevada College

Milt Stewart

CEO, Nevadaworks

Alexandria Wright

Senior Research Associate for Economic, Labor Market, & Educational Data, WestEd

Building an Emerging Leaders Pipeline to Strengthen Institutional Values, Bridge Silos, and Build Partnerships

This panel discussion with leaders at various levels at Colorado State University Pueblo (Provost, Dean, and “emerging leader”) will explore the benefits of developing an in-house leadership program to identify and bring together campus leaders, to promote connections, and to break down traditional disciplinary barriers at the institution while encouraging partnerships.

Victor Baeza

Associate Professor, Colorado State University Pueblo

Michelle DenBeste

Special Assistant to the Vice President for Advancement, Central Washington University

Gail Mackin

Provost, Colorado State University Pueblo

A College-Wide Collaborative Course Scheduling Solution

Salt Lake Community College’s (SLCC) class schedule is where their college most concretely realizes its promise of access to students. Being able to create and deliver an institution wide course schedule that meets the needs of your students, your academic programs, and your faculty members can be a challenging proposition. SLCC has created a collegewide strategic scheduling committee comprised of stakeholders across the college to collectively seek out and address ways that they can continually refine their schedule, as well as their internal scheduling processes, to ensure they are meeting the needs of the community they serve.

David Brower

Director of Scheduling, Salt Lake Community College

Tom Hanson

Associate Professor of Psychology, Salt Lake Community College

Establishing Cross-Campus Course Sharing

The University of Hawai‘i and University of Montana systems are at different stages of building curricular flexibility between their campuses. This session will discuss the challenges of making cross-campus course sharing a reality and the numerous administrative hurdles that must be overcome to make it possible. However, enabling cross-campus course sharing can provide numerous benefits for students and faculty including allowing for rural students to access programming not provided at their campus, ease transfer issues, and allow for underenrolled courses to reach a larger audience of students.

Debora Halbert

Forum Executive Committee, University of Hawai‘i System

Joe Thiel

Forum Executive Committee, Montana University System

Insights from the Knocking on the College Door Demographics Report

In December 2024, WICHE released the 11th edition of Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates, offering updated high school graduate projections. The demographic trends facing colleges and universities—nationally and in the West—are critical for institutional planning. Future cohorts of students may not resemble those of the past, and colleges must adapt with innovative support services and engaging programming.

  • How could understanding high school graduation projections inform your institution’s strategic plan?
  • How can you proactively respond to this demographic inflection point to position your institution for success?

Patrick Lane

Vice President, Policy Analysis and Research


303.541.0266

plane@wiche.edu

The Latest Research on Community College Baccalaureate Programs Realized Through a Multiple Partners Collaborative Approach

Innovative higher education policies and programs, grant funded projects, and new approaches may require rigorous research and a collaborative approach to secure or continue support and funding. Presenting the latest research on community college bachelor’s degrees, panelists will share a case study of the “how” and “why” of setting up a mutually beneficial research collaboration between a state system’s office, a high research university, and a private consulting firm.

Kendrick Hang

Policy Associate for Baccalaureate Programs, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

Elizabeth Meza

Senior Research Scientist, University of Washington

Valerie Sundby

Director of Transfer Education, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

Innovation and Collaboration: Transfer Pathways in Engineering to Address Workforce Gaps

Transfer is a perennially sticky topic, and never more so than in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields with strict prerequisites and increased curricular complexity.  This session will look at two examples of institutions that have prioritized transfer pathways for engineering students to meet workforce needs in their communities through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant work and new programs.

Indira Chatterjee

Interim Dean of Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno

Anne Flesher

Dean of the Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences Division, Truckee Meadows Community College

Marjaneh Gilpatrick

Associate Vice President of Statewide Initiatives and Alliances, Northern Arizona University

Measuring Postsecondary Value Across Transfer Pathways

Existing definitions of postsecondary value focus on financial metrics of ‘return of investment’ (ROI) for students, establishing ratios of program cost or loan debt against median earnings of graduates. However, these metrics have significant limitations, particularly for students in transfer pathways. This session examines the potential of inter-agency partnerships to enhance the understanding of ROI across transfer, and help students make informed decisions about transfer pathways.

Julie Garver

Director of Policy and Academic Affairs, Council of Presidents

Summer Kennesson

Policy Research Director , Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

Co-Investing in Infrastructure: The New Normal in Community Investment

This panel explores two examples of institutions partnering to develop innovative campuses to satisfy local educational and workforce needs. A representative from Colorado State University Pueblo will share their experience developing a new satellite campus to support workforce development in healthcare settings, and representatives from Salt Lake Community College and University of Utah will discuss a unique infrastructure partnership that serves transfer students.

Taunya Dressler

Director of Campus and Site Services, Salt Lake Community College

Jason Taylor

Assistant Dean for Transfer Student Success, University of Utah

Jacob Walter

Associate Director of Statewide Initiatives and Outreach, Colorado State University Pueblo

Examining Institutional Financial Viability and Program review for an Uncertain Future

In an era of shifting demographics and financial pressures, strategic finance is no longer just the concern of chief financial officers—it’s a conversation for leaders across the institution from student affairs to facilities and planning to academic affairs. The upcoming demographic changes and economic outlook will impact institutions differently; some will be more vulnerable than others. As state boards consider how to address these challenges, their responses should be strategic in nature, informed by data and evidence, and foresighted, rather than a product of triage not sufficiently based on effective planning. The South Dakota Board of Regents recently partnered with NCHEMS to develop a tool for examining its institutions’ future based on changing assumptions about possible conditions, and to offer analytical approaches for a strategic review of programs. This session will highlight that work and offer lessons learned.

Pam Carriveau

Forum Executive Committee, South Dakota Board of Regents

Heather Forney

Vice President of Finance and Administration, South Dakota Board of Regents

Brian Prescott

President, NCHEMS