Get to know the the enrollment management and student success leaders that make up Raise Me’s Partner Advisory Council.

Raise Me owes much of its success in supporting students to and through college to its collaboration with university partners. Within a few short years since our platform’s launch, the number of colleges and universities on Raise Me has soared from 10 innovation partners, to more than 300 across 46 states and 4 countries at present. Along the way, our college partners have acted as our most trusted advisors and closest collaborators in pursuing a mission to empower all students to discover and realize their college and career ambitions.

In the early days of 2018, Raise Me approached leaders at some of its most innovative and long-standing college partners to join its inaugural Partner Advisory Council. The Council’s purpose is multifold:

• Holding Raise Me accountable to its mission to get students to and through college in the most effective way possible via regular impact and efficacy outcomes-sharing;
• Providing direct feedback on new and upcoming product enhancements to Raise Me’s platform, ensuring that our product can deliver maximum value to students and educators alike;
• Catalyzing meaningful relationships and facilitating professional development between enrollment professionals, high school district leaders, and community college student success advisors via in-person events, webinars, andconference presentations;
• Offering a dedicated community of learning among PAC members and a space for fostering critically important dialogue and best practice-sharing in the world of student achievement, engagement, and postsecondary success.

Raise Me team members and Partner Advisory Council members at our Inaugural “PAC” meeting in August 2018. Partners from West Virginia University, Florida International University, Wayne State University, Northeastern University, Loyola Marymount University, University of Rochester, and UT Austin joined us in-person in San Francisco.

In practice, Partner Advisory Council activity takes the form of two, all-member events each year, as well as periodic polls and collaboration on conference proposals. At the PAC’s first meeting at Raise Me’s San Francisco headquarters in August 2018, partners participated in a design sprint led by Raise Me product experts, the outcomes of which informed the eventual launch of Raise Me’s newest student success offering. Council members also participated in small break-out discussions on a range of topics, including accommodating DACA students on campus, optimizing cost transparency and financial literacy on Raise Me and beyond, and supporting student-success habits with more than micro-scholarships.

Raise Me Partner Advisory Council members participating in a design sprint in San Francisco led by Claire, one of Raise Me’s product managers.

The council is made up of 12 to 14 members at any given time. Twelve members are currently serving:

Boyd Bradshaw, Chief Enrollment Officer, IUPUI

Jon Burdick, Former Vice Provost, Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid, University of Rochester, Vice Provost for Enrollment, Cornell University

Jody Glassman, Director of University Admissions, FIU

Marc Harding, Chief Enrollment Officer, University of Pittsburgh

Rachelle Hernandez, Senior Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, the University of Texas at Austin

Sundar Kumarasamy, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Northeastern University

Stephen Lee, Former Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, West Virginia University, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Lock Haven University

Dawn Medley, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, Wayne State University

Sandra Oerly-Bennett, Executive Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, West Virginia University

Sam Petoskey, Vice President of Business Intelligence, Wingate University

Ronné Turner, Vice Provost for Admissions & Financial Aid, Washington University in St. Louis

Maureen Weatherall, Vice Provost of Enrollment Management, Loyola Marymount University

Stay tuned for future profiles of our Partner Advisory Council members and hear from some of them in our webinars, including November 2019’s Fireside Chat: Working Smarter in Enrollment Management and Admissions (Vimeo password: Raise Me).