Liaison’s Laura Nicole Miller recently interviewed Casey Caronna, assistant director of graduate admissions for Saint Martin’s University. Casey shared what he’s looking forward to at next month’s Liaison User Conference and provided some background on The Admission Application for the Academic Mind: The Person Beyond the Transcript, the conference session that he’ll be co-presenting with Associate Dean Christopher Maund. Read on for excerpts from the conversation.
Laura Nicole Miller (LNM), Liaison: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today, Casey! Let’s start with some background information. How long have you been at St. Martin’s?
Casey Caronna (CC), St. Martin’s University: I’ve been at St. Martin’s for three and a half years, four in October, and this is our first year with SlideRoom. We’ve moved light years ahead of where we were before SlideRoom in terms of efficiency! This cloud-based system meets the needs of our students, our mission and our review process. We’re pretty excited about our progress. We wanted to use SlideRoom to its maximum capacity — and we’ve been able to because of the amazing support from the team. We really appreciate how proactive they are!
LNM: That’s great to hear! Can you tell me more about the system that you had in place before SlideRoom?
CC: When I first arrived, the school was using a student information system called a file cabinet — you remember those, don’t you? During my first month here, I decided we needed a better solution. I slowly started implementing an imaging system, then the university decided to move to a CRM for the first time.
It was a good idea to make the move, but we had far too many verticals in terms of our programs and we weren’t flat enough in the two systems that we were using to make that successful. It was a big transition and a big change for us to move to SlideRoom, and that process is what we’re planning to cover in our conference presentation.
LNM: Who do you think will get the most out of attending The Admission Application for the Academic Mind: The Person Beyond the Transcript?
CC: We’re developing the content with a few different audiences in mind. Staff from individual programs or departments, or from smaller universities, will benefit from attending since it will help reinforce ideas about using multiple ad variant programs and applications within the system.
I think it’s also going to be great for people who are looking for an admissions tool that is measured, informative and really artistically complete in a complementary sense. They may use Liaison for a larger application service, collecting information about a large number of applicants, but then they could add SlideRoom for special candidates — where they need to get a deeper understanding of the person behind the application. That’s where we’re going beyond the transcript — that’s the type of person we’re hoping to expose to the beauty of SlideRoom as a tool. It allows you to play in a dynamic way and use its adaptability to fit your needs.
LNM: I’m looking forward to attending your session to learn more! Would you mind sharing some of the other things you’re excited about at the Liaison User Conference?
CC: I’m looking forward to learning more about Liaison and its full family of products and services. In addition to the SlideRoom sessions, I’m planning to go to some of the sessions focused on what Liaison offers as a larger application service. I’m also eager to see how Liaison brings SlideRoom into the fold — how are you planning on making it a complementary product, how will you integrate SlideRoom into the company, ensuring that more admissions professionals have access to the holistic element it brings to application review?
LNM: Then you’re definitely going to want to attend the Product AMA (Ask Me Anything) session — it’s a chance to get answers to exactly those types of questions. Our Vice President of Products, Vice President of Implementation Services and one of our product managers will be there.
Thanks so much for your time today, Casey! To close, can you share your tips to help people get the most out of attending a conference like this one?
CC: I’m expanding my trip into a week-long event. I’ll spend some time at my alma mater, Goddard College, where I earned a master of arts in education; I want to explore Boston, visit MIT and Harvard. I like to think of my trip as a macrocosm where I’m trying to soak up everything to do with education. It’s going to be really great to meet a bunch of new people on both the business and the academic sides. I think it’s important at conferences to see how the environment and the people can connect in an interdisciplinary way.
Download the Liaison User Conference event guide to add The Admission Application for the Academic Mind: The Person Beyond the Transcript to your agenda.
