5A: Identity, Belonging, and Success: Building Professional Development Pathways for Students Location: Haydn - Temple Level
First-generation and underrepresented students bring resilience, creativity, and perspective to higher education, yet they often encounter barriers that limit their success. This session highlights identity and belonging as critical drivers of persistence and professional growth. Through lived experience and actionable strategies, we will explore how to design pathways that affirm identity, cultivate belonging, and prepare students for long-term success. Participants will leave with:-A framework for linking identity development to career readiness.-Tools to create inclusive environments that strengthen belonging.-Strategies to enhance mentorship and coaching for students entering into emerging fields such as biotechnology.-By reframing belonging as both an ethical commitment and a professional development strategy, institutions can ensure students are empowered to thrive, not just survive.
Presenter: Edward Freeman, Biotechnology Professional
5B: Free is (Usually) Free: Implementing Free Community College in Massachusetts Location: Mozart - Mezzanine Level
In Summer 2024, the Massachusetts State Legislature signed a bill to make community college free at public institutions in the Commonwealth. Learning we had a limited amount of time to address a huge influx of students, North Shore Community College assembled a Free Community College Task Force to respond and get the institution ready for the largest student body since 2019. In this session, we will discuss our change management strategies, strategic planning for enrollment, and gain an understanding of time-sensitive group decision-making.
Presenter: Alex Wolniak, Registrar, North Shore Community College
5C: Designing the Future: Strategic Planning with Purpose Location: Handel - Temple Level
Strategic planning is both a cornerstone of institutional effectiveness and a process that often sparks as many questions as it does answers. In higher education, we are challenged to balance tradition with innovation, address shifting student demographics, and respond to regulatory and accreditation pressures all while keeping mission, vision, and values at the forefront.
This session explores the fundamentals of strategic planning, including goal setting, stakeholder engagement, environmental scanning and assessment. It will highlight different approaches you can take, from highly structured, top-down models to more collaborative, iterative frameworks that invite broad campus participation. Through examples and strategies employed at Bridgewater State University, as well as interactive discussion, participants will gain practical insights into selecting the right planning approach for your area's culture and needs.
Presenter: Joe Wolk, Executive Director of Student Records, Registration, and Compliance/University Registrar, Bridgewater State University
5D: Catalog 2030 - AI, APIs, and the Connected Curriculum Location: Beethoven - Mezzanine Level
Replace legacy catalogs with real-time, predictive, compliant platforms. Explore 5 trends from cloud-first infrastructure to student-centric design that will define the future of the academic catalog.
