AY User Conference 2007 - Washington D.C. June 25 - 26
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Session Details and Presentations
The Importance of Creating and Managing Your Admissions Process: Harvard Business School
Presented by Pam Ralston, Assistant Director, MBA Admissions and Katie Golus, Manager of Technology & Operations

Harvard Business School utilizes AY features and tools year-round to aid in its marketing, candidate evaluation and operations.  This session describes how its processes are scheduled in relation to its application calendar and how AY technology and expertise are utilized to achieve its goals.


The Value of an Annual Marketing Communications Plan – and How to Evaluate it: Purdue University
Presented by Dana Werner, Director of Graduate Student Recruitment Services and Janet Beagle, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

In addition to recruiting students for its over 70 graduate departments, Purdue University’s centralized graduate recruitment office serves as a resource and consultant to the departments and facilitates communication with prospective students.  This session discusses Purdue’s communication plan and provides guidance on the importance of evaluating its results.


The Road Less Traveled – Evaluating Lesser Known i-Class Functionality:  AY
Presented by Peter Pravikoff, Director of Sales

Did you know that AY customers, on average, use less than half of the i-Class modules that are available?  This session describes all the i-Class modules, as well as reveals some of the hidden gems and secrets to using i-Class.


Introduction to the New Common Application Online (CAO): The Common Application and AY Software Services
Presented by Rob Killion, Executive Director of the Common Application and Jennifer Wagener, President of AY Software Services

The new Common Application Online (CAO) system debuts on July 1. This session provides a summary of the past twelve months of development, key highlights of the system, and an overview of the transition and support process.


Bringing a Program Online: Duke University
Presented by Sara Ashenburg, Director

The Environmental Leadership Program at Duke University has a goal to improve the knowledge and understanding of environmental issues and leadership capacity. This session discusses how this program was brought online - providing useful tools and steps applicable to starting and/or improving other online education initiatives.


Redesigning Your Admissions Process: University of Southern California
Presented by Susan Ikerd, Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Admission and KC Peterson, AY Implementation Project Manager

The University of Southern California just completed their first season with AY and the i-Class product. This session outlines the steps taken to achieve measurable process improvements and to ensure ongoing positive relationships with graduate school staff and advisors.


Using AY to Effectively Manage Your Deadline Process: AY
Presented by Theresa Blakey, Senior Client Relationship Manager

Managing your application deadlines (and dealing with last minute submissions) can be a stressful and overwhelming process. This session outlines best practices for utilizing WebCenter tools to effectively manage your deadline process, and how to best utilize AY’s expertise to assist in this endeavor.


Overview of the Improved CAO Application and the New School Forms System: AY Software Services
Presented by Chad Massie, Vice President and Kathey Kuhnle, Client Support Manager

The online Common Application has been redesigned for its July 1 debut, including enhanced search engine functionality. This session highlights the new application and provides a brief overview of the new online school forms system.


Integrating AY and Other Third Party Technologies for an Effective Recruitment Process: MIT
Presented by Angel Navedo, Assistant Director, MBA Admissions

The Sloan School of Management at MIT utilizes multiple technology solutions to meet its recruiting needs.  This session will cover their recent integration of the Hobson’s electronic brochure with the AY Prospect Module.


Managing a Decentralized Admissions Office Through a Centralized Process: : University of Missouri Columbia
Presented by Terrence Grus, Director, Graduate Admissions & Records

The chaos of managing a completely decentralized graduate admissions process was improved dramatically at the University of Missouri Columbia over the last several years due, in part, to the use of the i-Class system. This session outlines solutions implemented and successes achieved.


AY Partner Presentation: Imaging and Workflow Speed Admissions Processing
Presented by Tom vonGunden, Industry Specialist and Jennifer Tysse, Director at Hyland Software

Several AY clients integrate their i-Class data with an OnBase imaging solution. In this session, Hyland Software provides an overview of OnBase, a document imaging, management and workflow solution.


Overview of the Common Application Control Center: AY Software Services
Presented by Jason Monks, Training Manager

The new administrative back-end for the new CAO is called the Control Center. This session provides the skills and knowledge needed for member schools to access this center and perform the functions necessary to manage their CAO data.


AY Security and Privacy: AY
Presented by Gus Costa, CTO and Jennifer Wagener, COO

Data security and privacy are increasingly important concerns for universities, institutions and students. This session outlines AY’s commitment to providing mission critical operations that utilize industry standard (and better) practices and protocols.


Being Creative with Online Templates/Forms: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Presented by Andrea Scott, Director of Admissions and Recruiting

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities has used AY to create online templates/forms for its Faculty Admission Decision and International Financial Certification processes in order to improve its processing speed and to reduce the amount of paper files being transported around campus. This session describes these processes and makes recommendations for implementing similar templates/forms.


AY Partner Presentation: Leveraging Cross-Media Communications
Presented by Keith Renneker, Sales Manager and Sasha Peterson, VP of Sales & Client Development at Hobsons EMT

Several AY clients utilize both AY and EMT products to manage their recruitment processes. In this session, Hobsons EMT will discuss how chat, message boards, blogs and SMS (Short Message Service, also known as text messaging) can help you achieve your goals.


Incorporating Events and Interviews into Your Overall Marketing Strategy: Boston College
Presented by Shelley Burt, Director of Graduate Management Enrollment, Kathryn Harvey, Assistant Director of Graduate Management Admissions and Kristen Baumann, Supervisor of Admissions Operations

The Carroll School of Management at Boston College utilizes AY’s event and interview tool to increase overall event participation and streamline the event registration process. This session reviews how this tool is utilized and provides recommendations for leveraging it.


Improving and Refining Your Application by Getting Feedback from Your Applicants: Brigham Young University
Presented by James Crane, Assistant Dean and Janice Robinson, Special Projects Coordinator

The School of Graduate Studies at Brigham Young University has been an AY client since before the launch of the i-Class product and has experienced numerous successes over the years. This session outlines BYU’s detailed process of utilizing a survey tool to get valuable insight from their applicants and why it is important to utilize this information.


AY Partner Presentation: Electronic Payment Evolution
Presented by Brian Lennon, Vice President and Catherine Troillet, Sales Director at Sallie Mae

In this session, Sallie Mae provides information on its electronic payment services and solutions designed specifically for higher education. AY has many clients who utilize Sallie Mae to process their application fees and enrollment deposits through i-Class.


Common Application Data Importing and Exporting: AY Software Services
Presented by Matt McCabe, Product Manager

Exporting your Common Application and/or supplement data from the Control Center and importing it to your campus systems is a critical element of your admissions process. This session covers some of the key concepts in implementing a smooth data integration process with the new CAO and also highlights changes to the new Common Application data catalog.


Maximize Your Use of the i-Class WebCenter: AY
Presented by Stefan Giede, Client Support Specialist and Donna Giles, Senior Education Advisor

The WebCenter has a wealth of functionality and tools available at your fingertips. This session identifies key features, highlight strategies for improving the admissions process, and answers the most commonly asked technical support questions.


Leveraging i-Class Technology for Maximizing Measurable Success – a Real Life Case Study: North Carolina State University
Presented by Rick Liston, Assistant Dean for Operations and Fiscal Affairs

The Graduate School at North Carolina State University understands the challenges of a large, decentralized admissions environment. This session offers best practices in managing this and will provide examples of measurable workflow efficiency and customer service improvements by utilizing i-Class.


Utilizing Upgrade Packages for Added Functionality with the Common Application: AY Software Services
Presented by Chad Massie, Vice President

AY has designed a number of upgrade packages to enhance member school functionality in the Control Center, such as reporting and email communications. This session highlights the value of these packages, and how and when they will be available to member schools.


Best Practices for Data Importing and Exporting with i-Class: AY
Presented by Branch Carr, Senior Client Relationship Manager and Erez Asif, Development Manager

Exporting/importing application and/or prospect data to and from the WebCenter is a critical element of your admissions and recruiting process. This session reviews how to best utilize this capability and outlines automated processes for achieving this.


Online Decision and Enrollment – a Case Study and Best Practices: AY
Presented by Lesley Hargreaves, Manager of Customer Operations and Hussein Abubaker, Client Relationship Manager

This session provides a case study into the successful roll-out of an online decision and enrollment process at the Undergraduate Admissions office at Columbia University. It further provides AY’s best practices to maximizing this functionality in i-Class.


Creating a Successful Online Payment Process with the Common Application and Sallie Mae: Sallie Mae and AY Software Services
Presented by Brandi Couto, School Relations Specialist and Jason Monks, Training Manager

Capturing application fee payments online is a critical element of your admissions process with the Common Application. A similar, but new payment platform will be utilized with the new CAO. This session reviews the payment process from the applicant perspective and provides member schools what they need to know to get up and running on the new platform.