Strategic Partnerships Fall 2015 Listening Tour Report
February 25, 2016
In the October and November of 2015, Lynn Baronas and several members of Strategic Planning
Implementation Team 2 hosted a Listening Tour, at which faculty, staff and students shared thoughts,
ideas and information about current and future University partnerships. The Listening Tour consisted of
three in-person sessions, an on-line survey and a number of individual communications from faculty,
staff and students. We are grateful to all who contributed to this effort.
As described in more detail below, we are happy to report that we have already implemented some of
the ideas attendees shared during the Listening Tour and that some of the other ideas we heard
expressed during the Tour are current “works in progress.” We will use all other suggestions and ideas
to inform our efforts, moving forward, to develop, support and leverage the University’s strategic
partnerships across campus.
We have already implemented these Listening Tour suggestions:

Establish a centralized committee(s) to discuss partnership activities, share information, and
leverage relationships.
We have established two new committees: the Academic Partnership Council (APC), comprised
of representatives from each college, and the Administrative Partnership Council (AdPC),
comprised of administrative department leaders who regularly interface with external partners.
Members of both Committees provide direct lines of communication between their areas and
the Director of Strategic Partnerships, sharing information on current and prospective
partnership activities; offering assistance in identifying and evaluating opportunities that will
positively impact our curriculum; increasing communication, visibility and awareness of
partnership activities; and sharing best practices, systems of accountability, data tracking and
information on industry trends.
The eleven-person APC meets on a monthly basis and held its first meeting in November, 2015.
In addition to Lynn Baronas, APC members include: Kevin Ball (ENHP), Jim Fuller (CETA), Suhash
Ghosh (CETA), Celia Lofink (BSB), Annette Rogers (BSB), Linda Moran (Hillyer), Sundeep Muppidi
(A&S), Alan Rust (Hartt), Rob Barefield (Hartt) and Mark Snyder (HAS). The AdPC, currently
comprised of thirteen members, held its first monthly meeting in September, 2015. In addition
to Lynn Baronas, AdPC members include Amy Barzach (Women’s Advancement Initiative); Matt
Blocker-Glynn (Center for Community Service); Lisa Condon (Procurement); Scott Dolch
(Athletics); Kristin Geshel (OSP); Peter Lisi (OSP): Christine Grant (Community Relations); Llonia
Gordon (Alumni Relations); Kate Hohenthal (Career Services); John Kniering (Career Services);
Keeley Patrick (IA); and Jason Farrell (Facilities).

Develop a process to fund or recognize collaborative partnerships or ideas.
Implementation Team 2 has launched a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to encourage and
support faculty and staff efforts to design and implement partnership activities affording mutual
benefit to the University and its students and to University partners. Selected RFPs will receive
one-time funding awards, ranging between $5000 and $20000, for new and existing partnership
activities. All completed RFPs must be submitted to Lynn Baronas at baronas@hartford.edu
before March 15, 2016. For more information, including the RFP application, go to
http://www.hartford.edu/aboutuofh/office_pres/committees/strategic-plan/files/pdf/GoalTwo-RFP-FINAL.pdf.

Promote and profile the University’s strategic partnership activities on the University of
Hartford website, highlighting benefits to partners and profiling individual partnerships.
The University has just added a Strategic Partnerships section to the University of Hartford website.
The webpages provide an overview of the “value add” of a University of Hartford partnership; lists some
of our partners, with links to their websites; spotlights select University partnerships (highlighted
partners will change every quarter); and offers a way to ask for further information. Here is the link to
the strategic partnerships webpages: http://www.hartford.edu/partnerships
We are currently working to implement these Listening Tour suggestions:

Create and begin to use a template to create a snapshot of each partner.
IT2 members are working with Lynn Baronas to develop a template to profile each current and
potential partner. Once completed, the snapshot template will permit the University to weigh
and assess important partnership factors including compatibility, potential for exchange of
mutual benefit, potential for involvement in multiple colleges, degree of partner engagement on
campus, availability of student learning opportunities, potential for investment, and impact
quotient.

Institute a centralized database for sharing partnership information.
IT2 members have been working with Lynn Baronas considering a variety of potential platforms
designed to track partnerships. We have been working closely with a Barney team that is
examining this same issue and hopes to pilot a system for tracking relationships. We have
spoken with representatives from other higher education institutions which have implemented
relationship databases. IT2 members are also working with Lynn to define fields of information
to collect and track, to establish definitions and to consider accessibility for data entry and
retrieval. We will be “test-driving” several databases in the near future, and hope to select a
platform before the end of the semester.

Draft and publish a periodic Partnership Newsletter.
Lynn Baronas is looking for a student intern to assist in the design and publication of a Strategic
Partnership Newsletter. Once the intern is selected, the Newsletter process will begin in earnest
with a goal of launching our first partnership newsletter early in the fall of 2016.

Leverage partnerships to show students possible career pathways or areas of expertise.
We have already invited partner representatives to come in to the classroom to talk about areas
of expertise or career pathways. For example, Jason Madrak, Vice President, CT Regional
Market for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, spoke on the Connecticut Affordable Care Act to an
MBA class in November. We are currently working with a partner company CEO who is willing to
speak with students about how he leveraged his MBA to run a manufacturing company. These
are just two of many examples of how we continue to leverage our partner relationships to
enhance the career ready skills of our students.

Develop and share partnership best practices.
IT2 members have catalogued partnership best practices at other colleges and universities. Lynn
Baronas has leaned about partnership best practices through her membership in the Network of
Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO). Each college and administrative department
has been sharing useful partnership practices through APC and AdPC meetings. We will be
working to develop a resource that chronicles these into a set of partnership best practices for
the University of Hartford. We will also share the best practices we develop through a workshop
that will be offered “live” and available on-line.
Please feel free to reach out to Lynn Baronas if you would like an update or have a question about the
status of any of these activities.
Here is a summary of the helpful feedback we received from our Listening Tour attendees:
1. Based on your experiences with partnerships (if any), what is the University doing well and what
could the University do better as a partner? Please explain.
What we are doing well:
There is wonderful support for applying for funding and reporting.
We are preparing our students well to do internships.
We are meaningfully involved in activities within the greater urban Hartford community.
We are doing an admirable job of returning value to our partners.
What we could be doing better:
We need a structure and processes for enhanced and centralized communications:
Build processes to enhance communication re: partnerships within the University
community, including internal communication within colleges, departments and
programs as well as among individual faculty members, staff and students
Provide better support for advertising/highlighting projects and clinics, both externally
and internally
Improve communication with partners during summer break
Establish a centralized committee with representatives from each college,
administrative group, publish minutes
Promote/profile partnerships on the website, highlighting benefits to partners
Respond to calls and emails to partners within 24-48 hours
We need to develop and implement partnership best practices:
Develop and share guidelines within the University community for dealing with
partners; include expectations and roles, how to maintain consistent relationship with
organizations and companies and how to ensure a mutual exchange of value
Create and use a template to profile each partner, pinpointing potential touchpoints
across colleges, departments and programs
Promote value-add on webpages for partners- consider giving partners access to library
and research tools, reduced-fee conference and athletic facility rentals, tuition discounts
Institute a centralized database for sharing partnership information
Clarify internship practices on campus, including what colleges require internships, how
we identify internship opportunities, who coordinates internship relationships and what
reporting, if any is required
We also need to consider these areas:
Review accessibility of career fairs to all students, from all colleges, departments and
programs, and increase assistance from Career Services
Bring professionals from the “real world” into the classroom to speak about career
paths and to network
Give faculty credit for time they take to work with partners—part of the teaching load?
Improve processes for supporting grants and research, such as human subjects review
Leverage the connections of parents, alumni and adjunct faculty when identifying and
cultivating partnerships
2. In your view, what value does a business, industry or other organization receive in exchange for
partnering with the University of Hartford?
Talented and energetic student workers
Enhanced visibility in the community
Networking opportunities
Opportunities to participate in/contribute to University’s community service efforts
Pathway to learn new technologies
Trained workforce at no cost/volunteer expertise/cost savings
Innovative ideas and contributions
Opportunity to “pay it forward”/have an impact on student success
3. In your view, what benefits do partnerships afford the University/our students?
On-the-job training
Mentoring
Networking
Development of soft skills, e.g., presentation skills, oral and written communication skills,
research experience, clinical practice
Expertise
Career path information/exposure
Entre into a field/employment
Enhanced reputation for University Admissions
4. How can we leverage partnership opportunities across multiple colleges/departments/programs?
Design and implement an effective strategy for communicating across and within colleges and
departments
Encourage each college to report out and share what they are doing to build and support
partnerships through a committee that has representatives from all colleges and administrative
areas
Include students in the process
Identify similarly situated programs and departments across colleges and work with them to
promote collaboration
Expand service learning opportunities
Develop and instill an intentionally collaborative culture/mindset-think broadly about each
partner, what are the opportunities for cross-campus collaborations? How can we spotlight
program models that demonstrate collaboration among programs/departments/colleges?
Draft and publish a monthly partnership newsletter; or consider using social media to spotlight
partnerships
Consider awarding prizes or awards to recognize collaborative partnerships and ideas
5. In your view, what future partnerships make sense for the University? Feel free to suggest a partner
or an area of focus.
Printerys and design firms
Area service organizations—not-for-profits and community service projects
Connecticut Invention Convention http://www.ctinventionconvention.com
International partnerships
Small- to medium-sized companies—advertising, communication related, human services
West Hartford Merchants Association
Affinity groups within organizations, e.g., women’s groups and cultural groups
6. What other comments/suggestions would you like to offer regarding supporting current or
cultivating future partnerships?
Remember that one size does not fit all
Stay on task in messaging the need for our students to be career ready and how important
partnerships are to this goal
Leverage partners to show students possible career pathways
Make sure we keep clubs and programs in the loop regarding partnerships
Be systematic about working with partners, move away from collaborations that are “in name
only” or overly dependent on one person
Celebrate successes visibly and broadly