The Commons

Conversations for Nonprofits in Tough Times

‘Insight’ Archive

Big Thoughts on Branding

2010 Feb 8
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My book on higher ed branding – The Real U: Building Brands that Resonate with Students, Faculty, Staff, and Donors – is being published later this month by CASE.  Buy one now!
The Real U represents the first book-length manuscript I’ve written since completing my doctoral program, which was largely focused on modern and contemporary American [...]

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Why you won’t find us on Facebook.

2010 Feb 3
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Don’t get me wrong, Web 2.0 is cool, very cool.  From blogs to wikis to cell phone apps, you can remain connected to your posse, your causes, and the brands you love 24-7.
As such, companies are drooling for the chance to engage you with their latest project, create a conversation, or make you their brand [...]

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Eisenberg’s Critique of Philanthropic Practices Off the Mark

2009 Nov 9
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Pablo Eisenberg’s jeremiad on charitable giving in the Wall Street Journal misses the mark in a variety of ways.  First, of his nine recommendations, only one of them deals with the more than 80 percent of philanthropic giving that is made by individuals – and that one only marginally.  He is beating a tired, lame [...]

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B-Schools Need to Strike a Balance

2009 Oct 20
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I work with and study a lot of business schools and no doubt this article on M.B.A.’s and social change identifies a real trend toward students wanting to explore issues of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, “green” enterprises and other social entrepreneurship concepts. These are, not surprisingly, subjects with tremendous natural appeal in today’s environment.
One can [...]

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A WILD CARD IN THE SELECTIVE ADMISSIONS GAME: NO-LOAN AID

2009 Oct 12
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When Princeton University announced in 2001 that it would replace all student loans with grants, a chain reaction was set in action, slowly but surely. Students weren’t so much being enticed to choose Princeton—an attractive enough option on its own—as they were being lured away from Princeton’s nearest competitors.
It wasn’t just that Princeton had found [...]

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Is NBC’s Sitcom a friend or foe to community colleges?

2009 Sep 22
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Does NBC have a hit on its hands with “Community“? It appears it might.
The new sitcom about students at a community college was the second-highest rated show of the night.  But as I blogged earlier this year, the question for higher ed is, “What impact will the program have on the image of the community [...]

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Get Schooled

2009 Sep 9
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I attended the launch yesterday of “Get Schooled,” a new, five-year public engagement effort funded by the Gates Foundation in partnership with Viacom and several other corporate partners. Viacom committed an extremely rare 30-minute “roadblock” on all of their properties to broadcast a short film to officially launch the initiative. The film showed how the [...]

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Confessions of a Campus Tour Guide

2009 Aug 24
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“We’re walking, we’re walking…”:  Anyone who has been through the rigors of a multi-college campus tour knows that Bonnie Hunt must have modeled her character in the movie Dave by shadowing a college campus tour guide. The backwards-walking, über-perky tour guide that can rattle off anecdotes that date to the 1800s has reached the level [...]

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Can ‘Community’ Provide an Opportunity?

2009 Aug 3
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Years ago, NBC had a slogan that went, “Let’s All Be There.” Many fans of community colleges have already decided the network’s new fall show, titled Community, is the last thing they want to be there to see.  They’re worried that it’ll be a retread of tired, negative stereotypes about community college students and teachers.  [...]

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Sacred cow tipping (Debunking Conventional Wisdom on College Costs)

2009 Jul 24
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There is a big hubbub right now on an Inside Higher Ed piece by Dennis Jones and Jane Wellman called “Bucking Conventional Wisdom on College Costs.” Judging by the commentary, they have clearly gored a small herd of sacred cows by attempting to debunk the conventional wisdom that budgets will (should) only rise, that spending [...]

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