Interview Assignment

Riggs has worked in higher education marketing for 15 years. Societal issues like Title IX, affirmative action, and financial aid programs have increased diversity and access. However, competition for students in the digital space poses challenges with limited budgets. The interviewee learned about the importance of marketing, challenges of limited resources, and need to adapt to changing technologies and student demographics.

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Interview Assignment

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Week 4 Interview

LDR645: History of Higher Education

Liesel Riggs is the Director of Marketing here at Siena Heights University. Riggs has worked
in the higher education landscape for 15 years now. I wanted to interview Riggs because in
higher education, we often think of presidents, deans, and admissions; however, marketing
is a vital part to any higher education institution. Riggs has an interesting and unique
experience for working in higher education for 15 years.

Identify how “societal issues” have influenced the History of Higher Education in the last
75 years.

Higher Education has undergone a huge transformation in the last 75 years ranging from
gender-based discrimination, diversity and inclusion, financial opportunities, and the
recent test-optional entry requirements.

With federal laws protecting gender-based discrimination, Title IX has protected and
allowed all students – both male and females – to have access and equality in education
regardless of gender stereotypes about coursework and careers.

The civil rights movements of the 1960s was just the beginning of breaking down the
diversity and inclusion barriers within higher education. Affirmative action policies
resulted in many more excluded many students from marginalized communities now
being admitted to high education institutions. It is is very common to have offices and
initiatives around diversity and inclusion on many college campuses and all students
regardless of race, gender, and disability have access to a supportive and welcoming
community in which they can thrive.

Financial opportunities such as the GI Bill and Pell Grants has opened up federal
financial assistance for individuals to make a college degree attainable.

Finally, some universities, like Siena Heights University, has removed some barriers for
admittance and became an official “Test Optional Institution.” There is more to a
student than just their test score. This move may attract a more well-rounded student
who may be passed over because of a poor test score.

These are just a few examples of societal issues that has influences and changed higher
education over the last 75 years.

Main Points:

• Title IX aiding in DEI

• Civil Rights movement leading the change to affirmative action
• Offices and appointed leaders for DEI on campus
• Additional federal aid for students
• Universities changing policies to test-optional

In your role as a leader in higher education, what has been a major change that has had
a positive impact on the History of Higher Education?

Citing some of the examples above, I’ve seen a much more diverse and inclusive group
of students. It is refreshing to me to see the next generation be so accepting and
inclusive of one another.

As far as my role as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Siena Heights

University, marketing and recruiting students has undergone a major shift. Technology
has made this world a much smaller place and we must be nimble while communicating
in today’s world. With social media and the 24/7 news cycle, marketing to potential
college students needs to be engaging and authentic to attract potential students.

Main Points:

• Increase in student diversity

• Changes in marketing and recruitment efforts
• Technology and social media much more prominent today

In your role as a leader in higher education, what has been a major change that has had
a challenging impact on the History of Higher Education?
Working in Marketing and Communications at a small, liberal arts university, is
challenging as we don’t have the resources to compete in the digital marketplace. The
competition is fierce, and it takes a very large marketing budget to position yourself in
the digital age with things like Google ad-words, AI technology, display advertising and
retargeting across the internet. At Siena Heights, we use all of these digital options to
recruit students, but we are up against other college and universities that spend millions
of dollars a month in the digital ad space.

Main Points:

• Lack of resources to compete with other schools

• Financial budget restraints make it tough to operate

What advice might you offer to me as I advance my career as a leader in the field of
Higher Education?

My advice for working in higher education is to always be ready to learn something new.
No matter your age, your position, or your career path, it is very helpful to have an open
mind and be ready for what is next.

For example, social media is ever-changing, and we don’t know what the next channel
will be, but I’m sure with the next generation, something new will emerge. When I came
to Siena as a Communication Specialist, Facebook was just emerging. I suggested to the
director at the time that Siena should start a Facebook page because it was another
avenue to get the word out and it is free.

In my 15 years in the department, I’ve learned more about Facebook and digital
advertising, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube and maybe one day, I’ll
join TikTok. Now we have a full-time position in the office that handles all our social
media channels. I have to wonder what will be next?

Main Points:

• Be ready to learn and adapt

• Generational changes in social media and recruiting/marketing efforts
• New opportunities to stay on top of trends

What did I, as a graduate student, learn from conducting this interview?

I learned a lot from interviewing Liesel Riggs for this assignment. A lot of what she was
mentioning centered around diversity, equity and inclusion, which directly correlates to
what we have been discussing here in class. Liesel touched on how far we have come
from the Civil Rights movement and early days of inclusion and diversity in higher
education.
Marketing is a very important aspect of higher education. We often do not think of
marketing first when we think of higher education, but without proper marketing, a
higher education institution would undoubtedly fail. Liesel discussed how marketing is
everchanging and evolving, especially in regards to social media, as new social media
can also be added. Social media marketing “is classified in the display marketing
category, which works very differently from other channels, such as search marketing
category” (Garcia, et. al., 2021, p. 37). Even if you do not have a huge budget, you have
to work with the means you have and create a marketing plan that works.

References

Garcia, J. E., Pereira, J. S., & Cairrão, Á. (2021). Social media content marketing strategy for