June 29, 2023: USDLA Countdown to the Conference — Meet Keynote Speaker Kate Colbert

6/29: USDLA Brief

USDLA 2023 National Conference is less than 3 weeks away: July 17-20

We know you won’t want to miss any of our amazing speakers at this year’s national conference at the gorgeous Wyndham Orlando Resort — including bestselling author Kate Colbert. Scroll down for details about her luncheon presentation on Tuesday, July 18, from noon to 1 pm.

Kate shares: “My recent research on the current state and future of higher education involved significant focus on the role of online/distance learning — what we learned during the pandemic that fast-tracked our progress, how institutions are creating more engaging learning and community-building experiences via technology, and what awaits us as we charge forward into an era in which geography is largely irrelevant to our ability to learn (in K-12 spaces, in formal higher education and postsecondary education, in corporate education and on-the-job training, and beyond).”

At the luncheon presentation, Kate will:

  • offer tips for evolving beyond the status quo and meeting the moment to (finally!) satisfy the demands of learners who want to decide what they learn, where they learn, when they learn, and how they learn. You’ll also:
  • provide guidance on surviving the looming “admissions cliff” and how to use pandemic lessons to create a competitive advantage.
  • start a candid conversation about the current and future states of learning in the United States and how you and your organizations can seize the moment to change higher education forever.
  • teach us to create relationships, partnerships, and conversations that break down the walls, silos, rules, and bureaucracies that have held us back for many years through an anonymous “real talk” activity, whereby you’ll write answers to prompts and be invited people to raise hands to show agreement or respond to “polls”
  • then, Kate will raffle off autographed books and invite you to stick around to chat to keep the conversation going.

Don’t miss our interview with Kate and co-author Joe Sallustio on the Distance Learning Roundtable show. Click here to listen to the podcast and watch the video.

We’ll see you soon! — The USDLA Communications team


Tuesday, July 18 luncheon presentation: Meet Kate Colbert, author of the bestselling book, Commencement

About Kate: A former higher-education insider and current world-renowned marketing expert, Kate Colbert develops college-and-university brand stories that are meaningful to the prospective student and measurable on the institutional balance sheet. She has overseen brand and enrollment marketing, public relations, and alumni relations at two Chicago-area graduate schools.

Kate has additional expertise in corporate education, university crisis management, and faculty relations. She has consulted for Northeastern University, UC San Francisco, Carthage College, Tulane University School of Law, Babson College, The University of Tulsa College of Law, Bradley University, and Medical College of Georgia. Ms. Colbert has spoken at the American Association of Medical Colleges, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and graduate education seminars with EducationDynamics.

She is a six-time recipient of CASE District V’s annual awards for excellence in marketing and communications. She contributed to the book Net Proceeds: Increased Revenue from Enrollment and Advancement (Moore and Abrahamson) and authored the 2018 bestselling book Think Like a Marketer: How a Shift in Mindset Can Change Everything for Your Business. Kate has served as a faculty member at Illinois State University, the College of Lake County, Loyola University Chicago, and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.


About Commencement: The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education

First, there was the podcast; then there was the book; now there is a revolution.

The EdUp Experience Podcast, co-founded by Elvin Freytes and Dr. Joe Sallustio in 2020, quickly became the nation’s #1 higher-education podcast, where the industry’s brightest and most influential minds stepped up to the microphone to talk about the pressing issues faced by colleges and universities and the students they serve.

As hundreds of academic leaders offered their candid insights on air, it became clear that a deep analysis of the emerging themes from those conversations – coupled with additional research about the future of higher education, alongside unfiltered perspectives from industry thought leaders Kate Colbert and Joe Sallustio, EdD – could become a book that the industry needs and deserves. So, on Thanksgiving 2022, Colbert and Sallustio released the book born from interviews with 100+ college and university presidents, welcoming readers into a conversation like no other.

Commencement debuted as Amazon’s #1 New Release in the higher-education administration category and remains atop several category bestseller lists. Fierce Education heralded the book as this year’s “must-read book for higher education’s winter break” and Dr. Bill Pepicello, Former President, University of Phoenix, calls Commencement “A torch to be passed in the long relay race of higher education.”

Higher education is a time-honored tradition … but traditions change. Commencement challenges readers – from within higher education as well as from places of influence in ed-tech, K-12 education, industry, educational consulting, public policy, and elsewhere – to discard the status quo and to answer the call of modern learners to bring new-and-improved value to post-secondary learning experiences.

Higher-education leaders and authors Kate Colbert and Dr. Joe Sallustio offer a rare glimpse into the inner sanctums of decision-making in American higher education, with stories and quotes that will shock and delight you, alongside practical tips from book contributor Elvin Freytes, workbook-style exercises, “pop quizzes,” and bold predictions that make Commencement the one book that could change the face of higher education forever.

Click here to buy the book!