Agenda and Meeting Notes
Deans Council - Jan. 20, 2026
- Advancing Graduate Recruitment and Business to University Initiative
- Annual Strategic Alignment Meetings Debrief Discussion
Meeting Notes
Advancing Graduate Recruitment and Business to University Initiative – Presented by Kristy Magee, Associate Director for Graduate Student Recruitment; Amanda Ostreko, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Enrollment Management; Carolyn McKnight, Senior Director, Community Engagement & Business Development; and Nick Stevens, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management.
Magee, Ostreko, McKnight, and Stevens discussed ongoing efforts to strengthen KU’s graduate enrollment and employer collaborations. Their work is largely focused on career alignment for prospective students, particularly full-time working professionals, and increasing access to KU programs through employer tuition assistance benefits and potential tuition discounts. Cost remains a significant barrier for many prospective graduate students, emphasizing the need to coordinate university-employer initiatives.
A key challenge is that individual KU units sometimes develop and maintain external agreements independently, leading to potentially inconsistent recruitment messaging, mismatch between student and employer needs, difficulty tracking outcomes, and confusion from prospective students regarding tuition assistance. By aligning and streamlining the process, the Business to University (B2U) initiative will improve data collection and employer-relationship tracking (reducing administrative burden on individual units), reduce duplicative outreach, establish consistent messaging across all units, and create employer-facing resources that reduce confusion and simplify the admissions process for prospective students.
McKnight also highlighted the importance of strengthening relationships with employers, in addition to state and regional entities. Expanded statewide engagement will support both KU’s workforce mission and measurement and reporting expectations tied to initiatives such as Jayhawks Rising strategic plan and Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement.
As next steps, the B2U team will circulate a Qualtrics survey to the deans to identify high‑impact employers, existing collaborations and relationships, and programmatic strengths that align with workforce needs. A draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) template will also be shared with the deans for their feedback. Future conversations with deans will help clarify program priorities, enrollment capacity, and opportunities for coordinated outreach.
Annual Strategic Alignment Meeting Debrief
Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer and deans discussed common themes emerging from the recently completed Annual Strategic Alignment Meetings, the current legislative session, and identified barriers and opportunities for KU’s health and future growth.