Podcast | Fiscal resiliency
Higher Ed Advisor: supporting student success beyond academics advances institutional fiscal resiliency
Welcome to Higher Ed Advisor, the Baker Tilly podcast series where we speak with higher education industry leaders about practical and proactive guidance to help colleges and universities protect and enhance their value.
Iowa Wesleyan University (IWU) President, Chris Plunkett, returns to our podcast to discuss student success as part of our fiscal resiliency series. President Plunkett shares what it means to be a student-ready institution and how IWU’s Student Success Center (SSC) empowers and educates its diverse student population, including many first generation and low-income students, and its faculty and staff to be more engaged and connected. The University acknowledges that “student success” means something different to everyone. Taking an individualized and analytical approach has led IWU to make confident decisions in supporting students, which has increased enrollment and retention and improved grades throughout the institution.
Listen as we dive deeper into:
- Student success beyond academics, including how the SSC focuses on IWU’s mission to help students have meaningful lives and careers
- Essentials to supporting student needs in a cost-effective manner and ensuring institutional fiscal resiliency
- Benefits of partnering with like-minded institutions on shared services, faculty/staff and revenue, using the Southeast Iowa Higher Education Alliance as a prime and proven example in achieving enrollment, community workforce and economic development growth
- Leading practices to cultivate student success at your own institution
This podcast is the ninth episode in our fiscal resiliency series for higher education institutions.
Interested in more higher education podcasts on fiscal resiliency and student success?
Higher Ed Advisor hosts
David Capitano
As the higher education practice leader, Dave Capitano provides oversight to more than 200 team members servicing over 400 colleges and universities across the United States.
Christine M. Smith
Christine is a director in our higher education practice and has been with Baker Tilly since 1998. She has advised clients for more than 20 years on innovative solutions to transform organizational effectiveness and ensure the appropriate level of compliance, transparency and efficiency. Christine has extensive experience managing strategic budgeting and financial planning, organizational and operational analysis, strategic planning, resource optimization, performance and program audits, and human resource management initiatives. Her work in risk management spans overall internal audit organizational effectiveness assessments, internal controls reviews and sponsored research operations assessments. She has served traditional four-year and research universities, private colleges, community and technical colleges, and university extensions.
Meet this episode’s guest speaker: Christine Plunkett, MBA, President, Iowa Wesleyan University
Christine (Chris) Plunkett is the 30th President at Iowa Wesleyan University and the first female president in its 177-year history. President Plunkett has held administrative and executive positions in leadership, accounting and finance for more than 25 years.
Additional resources
For more information, or to learn how Baker Tilly’s higher education specialists can help your institution enhance student success and fiscal resiliency, contact our team.
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