As states and institutions work to re-engage adult learners with some college and no credential, the long-term impact of these efforts depends on how they are designed and sustained. In an AZ Comeback webinar, Liz Looker and Joanna Dressel will explore state strategies to re-enroll adult learners. Drawing on Ithaka S+R’s experience working with states and systems across the country, they will highlight structural design choices related to governance, capacity building, and cross-institutional coordination. Participants will leave with concrete…
Past Events
Catharine Bond Hill, John B. King, Jr. and David Brooks at the ATI Presidential Summit
Blueprint to Breakthrough
Operationalizing AI Across the Research Enterprise
As interest in AI adoption expands in research administration, many institutions struggle to move from experimentation and ideas to operational solutions. Successfully deploying AI in this context requires more than a subscription or a prototype. It depends on understanding how AI functions, how it interacts with institutional data, and how that capability aligns with research administration workflows. This session at the NCURA 4th AI Symposium focuses on the practical realities of deploying AI in research administration, walking through key…
The Potential of Targeted Funding to Meet Labor Market Demands
At the 2026 Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) Annual Conference, Ithaka S+R’s Elizabeth Pisacreta will present a study that examines how states use outcomes-based funding and targeted financial aid to shape postsecondary pathways and respond to workforce needs amid increasing federal constraints. Using national data on higher education finance, state aid programs, and labor markets, the analysis documents substantial variation in state strategies and shows that few states are targeting substantial resources towards high demand, high-wage industries,…
Examining Employers’ Perceptions of Online Credentials
A Discrete Choice Experiment
At the 2026 Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) Annual Conference, Ithaka S+R’s Bethany Lewis will give a poster presentation focused on an Ithaka S+R study examining whether and to what extent online learners are earning credentials that are valued by the labor market. This study explores the implications of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA), which streamline the authorization process for institutions offering online education across state lines. To answer these questions, Ithaka…
Transfer Credit
The Glue Connecting Learning Across Sectors
Students now earn college credit from many sources—high school dual enrollment, military, work experience, and attendance at multiple colleges—on their path to earn a college degree. While this multi-source learning can provide a major boost to learners, higher education institutions often struggle to efficiently and equitably award credit earned outside of their institution. At SXSW EDU 2026, Emily Tichenor and Abby Chien (Washington Student Achievement Council) will lead a meet-up session that will discuss your transfer initiatives and share…
AI in Higher Ed:
Who’s Being Heard, Who’s Not?
As AI becomes increasingly central to higher education, whose voices are shaping the conversation? This interactive meet-up at SXSW EDU 2026 invites educators, students, academic leaders, and more to share authentic experiences and challenges around AI adoption and workforce readiness. Led by Ithaka S+R’s Claire Baytas and UBaltimore’s Julia Goffredi, we’ll explore how to ensure student and faculty perspectives are included in decision-making, identify gaps in current conversations, and brainstorm practical strategies for building more inclusive, responsive AI initiatives…
Multi-Campus Model for First-Gen College Student Success
First-generation college students make up more than half of US undergraduates but too often encounter institutional systems not built for their success. The 16-institution Kessler Scholars Collaborative is reshaping first-gen support through a cohort-based model that fosters belonging, growth, and academic success. At SXSW EDU 2026, this panel will share how the Collaborative’s multi-campus partnership model drives institutional change and continuous improvement through robust evaluation while also fostering student engagement across campus boundaries to expand students’ sense of possibility…
Faculty and the Transfer Process
The Critical Role of Faculty in Boosting Credit Acceptance and Learner Mobility
Join us for the next session of the Transfer Explorer Learning Network, focusing on the critical role faculty play in advancing learner mobility, as well as common perceptions of their role. We will also touch on how faculty are engaging with credit mobility tools (including but not limited to Transfer Explorer) and how they can be key stakeholders in adopting and promoting these tools on their campuses. Lexa Logue, professor emerita at the City University…
Why Adults Don’t Enroll
Barriers to Reconnect Scholarships from Students’ View
At the DREAM Annual Convening, Ithaka S+R’s Sage Love and Joanna Dressel will lead a session on a research project that aims to uncover the challenges that prevent adult learners, particularly individuals from underserved and historically marginalized groups, from enrolling in one state Reconnect program, ranging from motivational challenges and administrative barriers to basic needs insecurity. The session will take place on Tuesday, March 3 at 11:45am-12:15pm PST.
Supporting Digital Equity and Access Through Library Partnerships
For students and communities alike, digital literacy is an essential basic need that libraries are well equipped to support. To do this, Waubonsee Community College’s library partnered with two local public libraries to co-create bilingual technology programs that expand access to digital tools and skills for both students and community members. By maximizing shared resources such as staffing, space, outreach, and bilingual instructional capacity, the collaboration has reached diverse audiences, including Spanish-speaking patrons and adult learners. What began as a…
Disability and Technology Access in Correctional Contexts
On February 21, Ithaka S+R’s Ess Pokornowski will give a presentation exploring accessibility, disabilities, and reasonable accommodations in higher education in prison contexts, at the 2026 Stop the Stigma event. The presentation will primarily adapt and summarize previous Ithaka S+R work on educational technology access and educational spaces and learning environments in prison. It will also outline promising developments and future areas for research and technical assistance related to disability services in higher education in prison settings. View the…
Focus on Re-Enrollment
Making the Case and Laying the Groundwork
As interest in re-enrolling stopped-out students grows, many colleges and universities face a core challenge: building institutional buy-in for a re-enrollment initiative while ensuring the institution itself is student-ready. An editorial webcast hosted by Inside Higher Ed and InsideTrack will explore the return on investment of re-enrollment—for learners, institutions and communities—and why proving clear ROI is crucial to making the case for an enrollment initiative, including to executive leadership. Expert panelists…
Design Thinking for First Year Success
Create, Evaluate, and Transform Programs
At the 45th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience, Ithaka S+R’s Carmen Araoz will join Christine Harrington and Michael Sparrow of Morgan State University to explore how design thinking can transform the first-year seminar, orientation, advising, and other FYE programs. During this interactive workshop, participants will learn how this approach led to the creation of a new, open-access self-assessment tool for first-year seminars. Explore how to use this first-year seminar tool on their campus and how to engage in…
Transfer Explorer Learning Network
How can faculty support students through the transfer process? How can faculty be partners in credit mobility? Join us on March 5 at 3pm ET for the Transfer Explorer Learning Network—a new series of virtual convenings to connect the Transfer Explorer community and share research, practice, and strategies to promote successful transfer outcomes. In this upcoming session, the Ithaka S+R team will share practical ways faculty can support student success and transfer, and…
Understanding Postsecondary Students’ Perspectives on Basic Needs Insecurity
Information Session
Join us in this information session on February 10 at 2pm ET to learn about a new Ithaka S+R research initiative to develop a student-informed understanding of basic needs insecurity and improve institutional communication, support, and access to public benefits. This session will share information on the project goals, participation expectations, timeline, and Request for Proposals process, with time for questions. With support from ECMC Foundation, the project will engage a cohort of 10–15 colleges and universities, including…
Rural Practitioner Spotlight
Ithaka S+R's Rural Student Success Network
Join a Rural Together Practitioner Spotlight highlighting Ithaka S+R’s Rural Student Success Network, a new, national effort designed to strengthen student success and economic mobility at rural-serving institutions. Funded by an ECMC Foundation grant, this two-year initiative brings together 18 rural, bachelor’s degree-granting institutions to tackle some of rural higher education’s most persistent challenges—from supporting community college transfer students and adult learners to aligning programs with local and regional workforce needs. In this session, Ioana G. Hulbert…
Findings from a Workshop on Sustaining Open Source Software in the Research Enterprise
On August 8, 2025, Ithaka S+R and the Apereo Foundation hosted a one-day in-person workshop, “Sustaining Open Source Software in the Research Enterprise” (SOSSRE), for 40 people, designed to bolster the ecosystem of open source software (OSS) developed for research purposes and to create holistic pathways for sustaining it within higher education. The workshop strengthened a sense of community between OSS for research and other OSS communities of practice; defined unique sustainability challenges of OSS for research; and identified potential…
Implementing AI in Research Administration at Emerging Research Institutions
Preliminary Findings from Two NSF-Funded Workshops
In the fall of 2025, Ithaka S+R, in collaboration with Montclair State University and Chapman University and with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), convened two regional workshops, one hosted at Montclair and the other at Chapman. Each workshop brought together research administrators, librarians, CIOs, and research support staff from local and regional universities to explore opportunities for collaboration around leveraging AI in research support and administration. In January 2026, a session at the CNI Pre-Recorded Project Briefing Series…
Fireside Chat: AI as a Tool within K-12 and Higher Education
On January 5 at 4pm ET, Ithaka S+R’s Claire Baytas will participate in a panel discussion on AI as a tool within K-12 and higher education, as part of the National Academies Board on Science Education 44th Meeting. The session will take place on January 5 at 4pm ET.
Sustaining Open Source in the Research Enterprise
At the Apereo Foundation MicroConference on December 10, 2025, Dylan Ruediger and Chelsea McCracken will report on the key findings and recommendations of “Sustaining Open Source Software in the Research Enterprise,” a workshop hosted on August 8 by Ithaka S+R and the Apereo Foundation and funded by the National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The workshop brought together 40 people across OSS communities of practice to discuss how OSS created by researchers in the…