Higher education is facing unprecedented shifts, from shifting enrollments to financial strain and job insecurity. How can institutional leaders stay calm and strategic when the pressure hits?

In this episode of Data Stakes, Debbie is joined by Dr. Telletha "Tee" Valenski, Campus Director at San Juan College West and the recent Kirtland Educator of the Year. Dr. Valenski shares her deeply personal journey—from a 26-year path to earning her doctorate to surviving a near-fatal battle with COVID-19—and explains how these life-altering experiences shaped her philosophy on financial preparation and leadership.

Together, Debbie and Tee discuss why preparation isn't pessimism, but rather a form of self-respect that allows leaders to pivot instead of panic.

In this episode, we cover:

• Proactive vs. Reactive Leadership: Why the best leadership is calm, strategic, and focused on foresight rather than fear.
• Financial Literacy as Professional Literacy: How understanding your finances gives you more confidence, control, and options in an unpredictable job market.
• Career Resilience: Navigating non-traditional career paths, staying coachable, and remembering that "titles are temporary, but skills are transferable."
• Creating Student Opportunities: Tee’s work in building community-driven pathways, including connecting community college students to summer internships at Harvard.
• Advancing Two-Year Colleges: A look at Tee’s new role on the executive committee for the Council to Advance Two-Year Colleges and the importance of evaluating institutional systems.

How do you go from a drum major to a Vice President? In this episode of Data Stakes, host Debbie Phelps sits down with Dr. Melanie Jenkins-Simpson, the Associate Vice President of Institutional Research at the University of Alabama, to map out the road to leadership in higher education.

Together, they explore the evolution of the Institutional Research (IR) field—from printing spreadsheets on green bar paper to the modern demands of data science and business analytics. Dr. Jenkins-Simpson shares her personal journey and offers actionable advice for professionals at every stage of their career, emphasizing that while technical skills get you in the door, soft skills and "staying in the know" help you rise.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Educational Path: Which degrees matter most for leadership (and why Computer Science is the new frontier).
• Soft Skills for Data Pros: Why a sense of humor, communication skills, and policy interpretation are just as vital as statistics.
• Professional Development: How to utilize resources from the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and the importance of volunteering.
• Navigating Change: Preparing for the "enrollment cliff" and the future of data governance.

Join us to learn how you can carve out your own path and become a legend in the data field.

Is higher education fully tapping into the power of Artificial Intelligence? In this episode, Debbie sits down with IT executive Robert Miller to cut through the AI hype and explore "Agentic AI"—highly focused, specialized tools designed to solve specific campus challenges.

Robert explains why the future lies in Augmented Intelligence, not just artificial intelligence. Using real-world examples from university research to radiology, he breaks down how AI can amplify human expertise rather than replace it, and why the "Human in the Loop" is more critical than ever.

Key Takeaways:

• The "Secret Sauce" for Higher Ed: Moving beyond generalized chatbots to targeted Agentic AI.
• The Augmented Expert: How AI eliminates manual data coding so graduate students and faculty can focus on high-level analysis.
• Mitigating Risk: Why clean data and data professionals are essential to avoid the "Wild West" of unchecked AI adoption.