The Signal

Jeff Dillon

With more than 450,000 downloads, The Signal is the podcast for higher education’s innovative leaders.

Hosted by Jeff Dillon, The Signal cuts through the noise of the "status quo" to bring you the strategic intelligence needed to reshape how institutions recruit, support, and retain students. Every Friday, we sit down with the practitioners and technology builders who are actively defining the next decade of campus life.

Why Higher Ed Leaders Listen:
In one of the most consequential periods for academia, we move past the hype to focus on Human-Centered Innovation. Our episodes feature deep-dive interviews with guest experts focusing on the "real work" of institutional evolution.

Core Topics & AI Strategy:

* Artificial Intelligence: Practical AI adoption, governance, and the "Human in the Loop" mindset.

* Enrollment Marketing: Modern recruitment strategies and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

* Student Success: Data-driven retention, mental health, and digital engagement.

* Institutional Transformation: Navigating digital transformation with a focus on workforce readiness and AVPs reimagining student care.

Whether you are a C-suite leader, IT Director, or Faculty member, join our community of 100,000+ professionals and subscribe to The Signal Newsletter at EdTechConnect.com to stay ahead of the curve.

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20 episodes
Updated Friday
weekly
30 min on average

Episodes 20

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Friday · 31 min
Ep. 99 - Brian Hartnack: Higher Ed Just Lost 25% of Its Search Traffic
What happens when an enrollment marketing agency that's been at it for 20 years looks back and realizes their biggest lesson wasn't about campaigns—it was about finding the right partners? In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Brian Hartnack, CEO of Archer Education, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary and was named Enrollment Management Solutions Provider of the Year. Brian shares the two founding principles that have guided Archer from day one: treat prospective students like
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#98July 31 · 30 min
Ep. 98 - Andy Crestodina: There's No Appeals Process when AI Picks Your School
What happens when a prospective student asks ChatGPT for the best computer science program in the Midwest—and gets a complete answer without ever clicking on your website? For higher ed marketers who've spent 15 years optimizing for clicks, that shift changes everything. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Andy Crestodina, co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media and author of Content Chemistry, to unpack what AI search really means for colleges and universities. Andy, who has been doing S
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#97July 24 · 32 min
Ep. 97 - Russell Long: Stop Blaming AI. Your Data is the Problem
Every CIO I talk to wants to know how to get AI ready. But according to Russell Long, co-founder and CEO of Authentica Solutions, most institutions are asking the wrong question. The real bottleneck isn't choosing the right AI model—it's unifying the data that feeds it. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Russell, who has spent two decades building the data infrastructure that sits quietly underneath education technology. He's taken a company through acquisition by BrightBytes (lat
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#96July 17 · 34 min
Ep. 96 - Troy Holaday: 52,000 Degrees Were Already Earned. They Just Hadn't Been Found.
Transfer credit is one of higher ed's most persistent headaches. Students lose credits, take longer to graduate, and navigate a labyrinth of institutional policies that often feel designed to frustrate rather than help. But according to Troy Holaday, president of CollegeSource, the narrative that "transfer is broken" is outdated—and it's getting in the way of real progress. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Troy, a former academic advisor and professor who spent 16 years inside Ba
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#95July 10 · 32 min
Ep. 95 - Jeff Meade: Why Paul Quinn College Made Entrepreneurship a Graduation Requirement
What if a college degree required not just passing classes—but launching a real business? In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jeff Meade, Founding Director of Entrepreneurship at Paul Quinn College, where "Every Quinnite Is an Entrepreneur" isn't a slogan—it's a graduation requirement. Every student, regardless of major, must start and launch a venture before they leave campus. Jeff brings over 20 years of agency and consulting experience to higher ed, and he's using that builder mi
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#94July 3 · 31 min
Ep. 94 - Elysia Labita: Marketing Can't Out-Optimize Misalignment
What if the biggest barrier to enrollment growth isn't your marketing budget—but your program portfolio itself? In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Elysia Labita, Executive Director of Portfolio Strategy and Marketing at EdPlus at Arizona State University. Over the past decade, Elysia has helped scale ASU Online from roughly four programs to more than 400, serving over 118,000 students. She brings a provocative and practical lens to one of higher ed's most uncomfortable conversation
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#93June 26 · 33 min
Ep. 93 - Dave Tucker: The Note Taker's Dilemma — Why Lectures Are Mostly Wasted
What if the biggest barrier to student success isn't ability—but the belief that effort is even worth it? In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Dave Tucker, founder and CEO of Genio, a learning technology company that's been quietly transforming how students study, learn, and persist for nearly two decades. What started as an assistive note-taking tool for students with dyslexia has evolved into a platform used by over 900 institutions worldwide, supporting more than 160,000 learners—
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#92June 19 · 31 min
Ep. 92 - Paula French: From Clicks to Conversions—A Practical Playbook for AI Search
Your traffic is down. Your inquiries are flattening. But your applications haven't dropped. What's happening? The front door just moved—and most higher ed marketers haven't noticed. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Paula French, Director of Sales and Marketing at Search Influence, a digital marketing agency with more than 16 years of experience helping institutions stay visible online. Paula co-authored a groundbreaking study with UPCEA titled AI Search in Higher Education: How Prospects Se
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#91June 12 · 31 min
Ep. 91 - Mallory Willsea: Activity vs. Strategy—Why Higher Ed Marketing Measures the Wrong Things
After nearly 20 years watching colleges pour millions into sameness—the same viewbooks, the same home page videos, the same taglines—Mallory Willsea has a message for higher ed: stop mistaking activity for strategy. In this episode, Jeff Dillon sits down with Mallory, a strategist and consultant who has been shaping digital marketing in higher ed since the early days of social media. From her early experiments with YouTube recruitment videos at St. Michael's College to co-founding Higher Ed Icon
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#90June 5 · 30 min
Ep. 90 - Haley Platt: Breaking the Information Barrier: How First-Gen Students Navigate College
What happens when a recent college graduate who grew up with smartphones, social media, and the chaos of modern college applications becomes a chief marketing officer? You get a perspective that most higher ed leaders desperately need but rarely hear. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Haley Platt, Chief Marketing Officer at Síembra Mobile—a company building technology to connect first-generation students and families with post-secondary pathways. At just 23 years old, Haley made the lea
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#89May 29 · 31 min
Ep. 89 - Leslie Weller: How AI Site Search Turns Student Discovery Into a Competitive Advantage
Every month, nearly half a million people type questions into your university's search bar. They're telling you exactly what they want to know—about deadlines, transfer credits, program fit. And yet, 31% of higher ed digital teams have no access to that data at all. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Leslie Weller, Director of Product Marketing at SearchStax, a site search platform helping colleges and universities transform how students find information online. Leslie brings over 25 years of
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#88May 22 · 30 min
Ep. 88 - Brian Clark: Building RISD's Digital Future at Scale
What happens when a prestigious art and design school has over a hundred siloed websites, each with its own content management system, hosting arrangement, and visual identity—many of them orphaned and unmaintained? You get a digital governance nightmare. But you also get a rare opportunity to rebuild from first principles. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Brian Clark, Senior Director of Digital Experience at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Brian shares the remarkable story of how
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#87May 15 · 35 min
Ep. 87 - Grant Greenwood: How to Automate What Actually Matters in Enrollment
What happens when a sitting vice president of enrollment management—who evaluates and buys ed tech every day—decides to build his own solution to a problem he's lived for 15 years? You get a conversation that cuts through the hype and gets real about what actually works in higher ed technology. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Grant Greenwood, VP for Enrollment Management and COO at McMurry University, and co-founder of CardCapture, an ed tech startup reimagining how universities captu
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#86May 8 · 31 min
Ep. 86 - Arjun Arora: From Enterprise AI to Education—Why the Best Tech Solves Human Problems
What happens when a data scientist who built over 100 enterprise AI solutions for Fortune 500 companies decides to walk away from the money and prestige to tackle student success in higher ed? You get a founder who understands both the power and the limits of AI—and who isn't afraid to say that most chatbots are solving the wrong problem. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Arjun Arora, founder and CEO of Advisor AI, an AI-native student success platform serving over 100 institution
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#85May 1 · 30 min
Ep. 85 - Jay Gonzalez: Guaranteeing ROI — How Curry College Is Reinventing the College Business Model
What happens when a former gubernatorial candidate, healthcare CEO, and state budget director steps into the college president's office? You get a leader who doesn't accept "that's how higher ed has always done it" as an answer. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jay Gonzalez, the 15th president of Curry College—a leader whose resume looks nothing like a traditional academic career. From running a $32 billion state budget during the Great Recession to leading healthcare organizatio
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#84April 24 · 28 min
Ep. 84 - Betheny Gross: The Real Opportunity for AI in Higher Education
Is higher education using AI to simply do the same things faster, or are we on the cusp of a genuine transformation in how students learn, access support, and build opportunity? In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Dr. Betheny Gross, Research Director at WGU Labs, for a candid, research-grounded conversation about where AI is actually moving the needle for students—and where it's falling short. With over two decades of experience studying education systems and a current focus on equity-dri
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#83April 17 · 28 min
Ep. 83 - Mitchell Borges: Why Students Trust Strangers More Than Your University
In an era where students trust a peer on Instagram more than a university's official website, how can enrollment marketers cut through the noise and build genuine connections? This week on The Signal: On Air, Jeff Dillon sits down with Mitchell Borges, Director of Marketing for ASUCD at UC Davis and a researcher who has spent years studying how social media actually influences student enrollment decisions. Mitchell shares eye-opening findings from his doctoral research, revealing that students a
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#82April 10 · 29 min
Ep. 82 - Jaime Hunt: AI Is Not the Wild West, Higher Ed Needs a Strategy
Jaime Hunt is the founder of Solve Higher Ed and host of the popular “Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO” podcast. She unpacks the evolving landscape of higher education marketing. Jamie shares decades of experience – from her time as a Chief Marketing Officer at institutions like Old Dominion University, Miami University, and Winston-Salem State – offering brutally honest insights into the challenges and opportunities facing colleges and universities today. This is an honest conversation about enro
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#81April 3 · 27 min
Ep. 81 - Devin Purgason: Who Owns the Student Journey in the Age of AI
Join Jeff Dillon as he sits down with Devin Pergason, AVP for Student Experience, Marketing & Outreach at Forsyth Technical Community College, to dissect the evolving landscape of higher education. This episode tackles a critical question: why are community colleges currently best positioned to drive student success? Pergason argues that their inherent “student-first” mission – unlike research universities attempting to retrofit a student-centric model – gives them a significant advantage. The c
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#80March 27 · 6 min
Ep. 80 - Higher Ed Is on Fire. We Need a Better Signal.
“The Signal” is launching with a vital mission: to cut through the overwhelming noise surrounding technology in higher education and deliver honest conversations about what truly matters. Hosted by Jeff Dillon, this show originates from a thriving community – a decade-long email listserv (now boasting nearly 70,000 members) of web directors, digital marketers, and leaders across higher ed who were grappling with responsive design, mobile technology, and the evolving needs of students. The show’s
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