Jennifer Schufer has dedicated nearly 30 years to steering marketing and communication strategies in higher education. As the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Marketing & Content Strategy at the University of Colorado Boulder, she leads cross-functional teams in developing student-centric content and campaigns that engage audiences at every stage of their university journey. In this episode, Jennifer takes us behind the scenes of her professional path, from humble beginnings as a temp to spearheading the celebrated "Be Boulder" brand initiative. Along the way, she shares insights on winning over key stakeholders with data, cutting through red tape to get things done, and the importance of nurturing rising talent.
As I reflected on our conversation, a central theme emerged: the power of an entrepreneurial mindset to drive meaningful change within institutions. Time and again, from her early days at Cal Poly Pomona to her current role at CU Boulder, Jennifer has approached challenges as opportunities to innovate. She spots gaps in the status quo, builds compelling cases for new solutions, and deftly navigates organizational dynamics to bring her vision to life. Her experiences offer a whole lot of practical advice for any marketer looking to leave their mark in higher education - or any large, complex organization for that matter.
If you're aiming to shake things up and make a real impact at your institution, this episode is well worth a listen. Check it out here:
Here are a few key moments to listen for:
[16:17] Building an ambassador program from the ground up at Cal Poly Pomona
[20:05] Leveraging data to secure buy-in for new initiatives
[25:36] Restructuring an admissions department to better support key objectives
[33:22] Adapting marketing strategies to boost student retention rates
Now, let's go a little deeper into these four key takeaways from my chat with Jennifer:
Early in her career at Cal Poly Pomona, Jennifer recognized a glaring gap in the university's marketing strategy.
"They didn't have a tour experience, a prospective student tour experience, and they did not have an ambassador program built for the university. And so that was really sort of the start of the marketing, is build the program, find the students who can be the ambassadors, teach them how to be ambassadors."
Where others may have maintained the status quo, Jennifer saw a chance to make her mark. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work creating an engaging tour experience and building an ambassador program from scratch. It's a testament to the power of proactively seeking out opportunities to create value, even as a newcomer in an entry-level role.
Driving change within an institution is no easy task - it takes more than a good idea and a can-do attitude. You need to speak the language of your stakeholders, and that language is data. Jennifer understood this from the jump.
"I've always been data driven...I did annual reports. Every year I was giving my upline, 'This is how things are working. This is what's happening.' We're correlating it to more interest, more applications. That walking the talk really is what got me the money."
By consistently tracking and reporting on the impact of her efforts, Jennifer built a compelling case for continued investment in her initiatives. She didn't just assert that her programs were valuable - she proved it with hard numbers. In a world of competing priorities and limited resources, data is the ultimate currency for securing buy-in and support.
Universities are complex beasts, often with byzantine organizational structures that can stymie even the most well-intentioned change agents. Jennifer encountered this firsthand when she took on a leadership role in admissions:
"What I was trying to help admissions do was to unflatten its organization, because having 30 people report to one person is not right... We started to create and reshape the office in a way where we could then start to think about the work that needed to be done."
Rather than accepting the dysfunction, Jennifer proactively worked to restructure her team in a way that would better support their objectives. She recognized that driving change often requires tackling systemic issues head-on - even if it means ruffling a few feathers along the way.
As Jennifer's responsibilities grew, so too did the breadth of audiences and objectives she needed to address. Moving from a pure recruitment focus to thinking about student retention required a significant shift in approach:
"Instead of focusing on recruitment, we want you to focus on persistence. How can you bring to bear what you've learned in the recruitment space and help students stay through to graduation?"
Making this pivot successfully required Jennifer to think creatively about how to adapt her marketing strategies to address the unique needs and challenges of current students. She had to flip the funnel from a sole focus on bringing students in to considering the entire lifecycle. That agility and flexibility - the ability to translate core principles across contexts - is the hallmark of a savvy, dynamic marketing leader.
