2026 Annual Conference Session Highlights

Keynote Spotlight

We’re excited to have Joshua Routh, author and entertainer, as our keynote speaker. A circus performer, stage presenter, and (yes) sword-swallower, Joshua will speak on Wielding Sincerity in a World of Performance, detailing the S.W.O.R.D.^TM framework (Self-Awareness, Witness, Openness, Repair, and Debrief) as a tool to build trusting teams and communities.

Wielding Humanity: Staying Human, Trusted, and Connected in the Age of AI
In addition to serving as our keynote speaker, Joshua will also join us for the breakout sessions of our schedule, presenting his program on Wielding Humanity. AI is changing the way we work, communicate, sell, serve, and lead. It can make us faster. It can make us more efficient. It can even make us sound smarter. But it cannot replace what people want most from leaders, teams, brands, and organizations: trust, sincerity, discernment, and real human connection.

In this engaging and thought-provoking keynote, Joshua Routh helps audiences understand how to use AI as a tool without losing the humanity that makes work meaningful and relationships strong.

With humor, insight, and memorable storytelling, Joshua shows why the future will not belong to the people who simply know how to use AI. It will belong to the people who know how to use it without becoming artificial themselves.

Artistic (and Somewhat Magical) Ways to Develop Yourself Professionally
Join Trinka Pape in this session as we will take a look at our personal goals, examine AACRAO free and paid training, micro-credentials, free resume reviews, and complete a Self-Assessment. If your desire is to develop your skills and education in pursuit of a specific career path, or are just starting to consider your options, this session will help you.

Presenting on Presenting: Removing the Horror from Public Speaking
Presented by Sam Taylor, this session will focus on Tips, Tricks, and Treats while talking about presenting/public speaking and how to build confidence enough to try it out.

FERPA Essentials What Staff and Faculty Should Know
Offered by Dan Weber, this session will provide a foundation of what FERPA is and who FERPA applies to, but it will also take a deeper dive into aspects of what a staff or faculty member should know.

The Students We Already Have: Using Data, Partnerships, and Targeted Interventions to Support Persistence
Tiffani Robertson helps guide us through strategies on how best to serve those students we already have. Institutions invest heavily in recruiting new students, but what about the students already enrolled? This session explores how the College of Business at Governors State University uses data, targeted interventions, and campus partnerships to support persistence. Through continuing-student outreach and a grant-funded transition initiative, attendees will learn practical strategies to identify student needs, coordinate support, and turn data into action.

The Wonderful World of Waitlists
Join Geoffery Glowacki to talk about waitlists! During this session, we will discuss how McHenry County College optimized waitlist data as part of its enrollment management efforts. Learn how we increased the percentage of students registering from a waitlist, set up staggered waitlisting for 16-week,

More Doors, Fewer Barriers: A Cross-Functional Approach to Registration Support
Presented by Denise Jones. Academic advising offices often manage most registration issues, creating service bottlenecks and limiting time for academic planning. Triton College recently launched a cross-functional initiative to expand registration support across selected student service areas. This session will share the model, staff training, advisor shadowing, early lessons, and assessment plans. As implementation continues, Triton will evaluate staff readiness, service delivery, and student impact.

There is Never Enough: How Registrar's Create Value in Challenging Times
Offered by Mark Mountain. There is never enough: staff, budget, time, or enrollment. Using a summer redesign as a case study, this session explores how registrars can create value through leadership, data-informed decision making, and cross-campus collaboration. Attendees will leave with ideas to support enrollment, student success, and institutional priorities without adding resources. Practical ideas and leadership lessons included.

Operational Planning: Why It Matters and How to Do It Effectively
Presented by Hannah Kang. Operational planning is a powerful way to align your department’s work with your college’s mission, strategic priorities, and desired outcomes. In this session, participants will explore the value of operational planning and learn a practical, step-by-step approach to developing effective plans with their teams. Discover strategies to engage staff, build shared ownership, and create a planning process that is both meaningful and motivating.

Beyond the Cliff: Data-Informed Frameworks for Sustainable Enrollment Growth
Join Diane Dean and Autym Henderson as we navigate changing Illinois demographics, expanding dual-credit pipelines, and funding shifts with data-informed, relationship-based operational frameworks. Move beyond generic theories to analyze key friction points along the enrollment-to-completion funnel. Participants will leave with an actionable diagnostic toolkit to evaluate and adapt academic operations and strategic enrollment on their campuses.

Three Tools, One Effective Strategy: uAchieve, TES, and Transferology.
Presented by Aleta Carlberg and Stephanie Sutton, our CollegeSource sponsor. uAchieve allows you to store transfer articulation rules, build degree programs for your curriculum, build term-by-term student degree plans, and build schedules.  TES gives staff an efficient way to view catalog information in one place that is needed to make equivalency decisions or communicate with those making equivalency decisions. Anyone interested in viewing how their courses transfer to your school and learning how they apply to your degree programs can do so from within Transferology.

MyCredits Transfer Statewide Meeting
Join Gina Modica, coordinator for MyCreditsTransfer (MCT), to hear MCT project updates, Transferology usage statistics, and Transferology updates. Come with Transferology/MCT questions.

Comprehensive Academic Operations: How a Platform Approach Supports Institutional Goals
Registrars, provosts, and academic affairs teams are doing more with less every year. Siloed-manual processes, pointed solutions and duplicate data entry only make it harder. This session explores how bringing Scheduling, Curriculum, and Assessment together on one platform, with AI-powered reporting and contextual recommendations built in, lets institutions streamline operations, make faster data-informed decisions, and support retention and financial sustainability.