University Advancement Blog | Rob Zinkan

25 Apr

5 questions with Larry Lauer

Larry Lauer, vice chancellor for government affairs at Texas Christian University, is one of the more thoughtful writers in our field. His blog reflects on lessons learned – about strategy, leadership, organizational process, and much more – over the course...
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11 Apr

Book review: Embrace the Oxymoron: Customer Service in Higher Education

This Friday Dr. Neal Raisman brings his expertise in the areas of academic customer service and student retention to Indianapolis to keynote the CASE Indiana spring conference. Two of Raisman’s books should be required reading of all advancement teams. I’ll...
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4 Mar

Book review: The Story Factor

In 2010 Chas Grundy, a marketing and fundraising professional at the University of Notre Dame, told me about the book The Story Factor. Chas is a great colleague; he shares excellent content via Non-Profit Chas and grundyhome.com, and we both serve on...
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17 Jan

5 questions with Seth Godin

Seth Godin offered some provocative words for higher ed in 2010 with “The coming melt-down in higher education (as seen by a marketer).” I have always valued his perspective on leadership (Tribes book review) and challenging the status quo. Seth kindly...
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12 Jan

2012 resolution: fewer meetings, fewer bad meetings

I don’t recall the who, what, when, or where. I just remember the response. Someone a few months ago asked me what I do at the university, and my eight-year-old daughter quickly piped up, “He just goes to meetings all...
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20 Dec

Book recommendations

I believe strongly in the value of books as a professional development tool. In our unit (External Affairs), we have our own “book club.” Each semester – fall and spring – I provide a book for our directors to read,...
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22 Nov

CASE Indiana: Can colleges brand?

Elizabeth Scarborough, CEO of SimpsonScarborough, keynoted the recent CASE Indiana conference on 11.11.11 at Ball State. A dynamic speaker, Scarborough told us “Why Colleges Can’t Brand.” According to her, higher ed institutions can’t brand because: Every time we say “brand,”...
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21 Nov

The University Advancement Blog

Rob Zinkan's thoughts and recommended readings on university advancement