About the Blog
My first professional job was at a TV station in North Carolina, and I lived in the Charlotte metro. We were doing something innovative (at the time) creating a mini newscast that was for the web only. After a couple of years, I left the television industry to begin what is now a more than 15-year career in higher education.
It’s been years since I’ve been in Charlotte, beyond the airport. However, I can’t think of a better reason to head back than to once again think about the future.
This is my first time coming to the Engage Summit, but I can tell it’s going to be a phenomenal few days of learning in the Queen City. Like many of us in higher ed, I’m used to working with tight budgets and big goals. Competing with better-resourced institutions means I must outmaneuver, not outspend. That means being innovative, moving quickly, and staying nimble.
This conference is a perfect way to level up -- both in terms of what’s coming next with AI and in how I can apply it to help grow enrollment, support retention, and drive success for the university. I’m looking forward to conversations that are both practical and daring—and to bringing those ideas home.
As I’ve started planning my conference agenda, here are a few session standouts and why I think they’re important sessions to attend:
Building Your Digital Workforce - A Deep Dive into Bolt Agents
We’ve all heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”. And while it’s true, at some point even working smart only gets you so far. That’s why this deep dive session into Bolt Agents is at the top of my list. As a leader, I recognize that it’s all about finding ways to add capacity to our teams. When getting new positions is hard, digital agents are a concept we should start exploring in the enrollment space. It’s already being used in higher education fundraising to support capacity and pipeline development (https://www.givzey.blog/post/givzey-s-innovative-autonomous-ai-fundraiser-and-texas-state-university-featured-in-the-observer). This session not only looks at the tools helping to build capacity but also explains how the tool is designed, helping MarComm leaders understand messaging about the tool and making sure it can be modified to fit a specific campus use case.
Ready for What's Next? Tambellini Reveals the Top Trends Shaping Higher Ed
The MarComm team at UA Little Rock has technology and expertise as key sections in our marketing maturity model. Our hope is to better assess our own knowledge, identify knowledge gaps (https://www.case.org/resources/issues/currents-mayjune-2025/intention-action) and then figure out strategies to address those through new learnings (cue the conferences, webinars, etc). This session is the perfect complement to that work because it provides insight into where the industry is going. Pairing the industry direction (as it relates to technology) helps us to better shape our own learnings and focus on learning things that are aligned with where the industry is heading.
Smarter, Faster, Calmer: How AI is Changing Crisis Communications
The COVID-19 pandemic started more than five years ago, but it still impacts our work as MarComm. Specifically, post-pandemic universities are expected to have constant communication with stakeholders. In the pandemic, universities had to communicate all the time and that has remained an expectation (https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/new-spin-communications-post-covid). This shift has major implications when thinking about crisis communication. Because of the expectation of constant communication in a crisis, I am really excited for this crisis session. I hope it will help me better prepare to lead crisis communications at my university. My university has a crisis team that meets several times a year and is in the process of drafting sample messages (which AI helped in creating) for several possible crisis scenarios. However, I am hoping to walk away with other actionable ideas to help the team better prepare for a crisis.
The Integration Equation: Lessons in Connecting Systems the Right Way
Having worked at multiple universities and been involved in several CRM integrations, this session is a must-attend. While I don’t have an integration on the horizon, this is something that all marketing leaders will face at some point in their career, so I think it’s important to hear what processes and strategies have worked well and what strategies didn’t work. The more informed we are, the better this work will go, when (not if) we face it. Additionally, this session brings our IT partners into the conversation. Often, marketing and admissions are aligned on a project and IT may come into the conversation late and must figure out how to make something work. I’m curious, from the IT perspective, how can MarComm be better at working with IT on implementation work to ensure better outcomes that work for everyone across the institution.
See You There
From my start in a North Carolina newsroom, to spending more than 15 years working in higher education, this feels like a fitting place to think about what is next for our industry.
Each session I’ve highlighted speaks to some of the challenges our industry is facing but also focuses on solutions and strategies to help us prepare. The future of higher education is dependent on MarComm and other university leaders learning from one another and being open to explore new ideas, together. I’m excited to dig into this work in June at the Engage Summit.
Register here to join me in person, or catch every session online (for free)!
Connect with Carrie!
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