Pathify’s Fall 2024 Virtual Summit brought the heat — with many innovative best practices and insights to match! From customer deep dives to surprise polls to gif battles (even a llama costume!), our gathering defied the typical. Hundreds of higher ed leaders and tech enthusiasts joined us in unpacking the latest trends, swapping bold ideas and geeking out over the technology reshaping campuses across the globe. Missed the live event? Watch the recordings here — or check out a full recap below.

Mainstage

Leading Boldly with Sean Astin: Technology, Community and Well-Being in Higher Education

Actor, mental health advocate and higher ed aficionado Sean Astin shared his experiences both as a recent graduate student and father to three college students. He offered a heartfelt perspective on the vital role of community and mental well-being in shaping the future of higher education. 

Key Quotes

  • “If universities are trying to protect themselves from this [enrollment] cliff…you must be in touch with the wants and needs of your students.” -Sean Astin
  • “Pathify makes it so the technical space of your [student] experience is invisible, at least in terms of the technology.” -Sean Astin

Mainstage

From Chaos to Cohesion: A Higher Ed IT Leader’s Guide to Consolidation & Cost Savings

Chase Williams, Pathify’s Co-founder and CEO, led a discussion examining ways Pathify consolidates tech stacks and saves budgets. With insights from Sejal Vaishnav from Illinois Institute of Technology and Ryan Adkins from Alabama A&M University, attendees learned how streamlining tech stacks drives operational excellence, empowers lean teams and reduces overhead costs. 

  • AAMU consolidated a student portal, mobile app, chatbot and employee intranet into Pathify, reducing budget by 18%.
  • Illinois Tech consolidated its legacy link farm portal, mobile app, employee intranet and email marketing platform into Pathify, reducing budget by 8%.
  • Another Pathify customer, University of the Pacific, consolidated 29 systems down to five, reducing budget by 45%.

Key Quotes

  • “We consolidated our chatbot [into Pathify] from a different vendor. As a one-person team, it’s much easier to manage our software stack, versus going to four or five different systems. It’s all in a single piece, super easy to use, great resources, great support team. And bonus, I’ve saved the university a bunch of money.” -Ryan Adkins, Cloud Application Administrator, Alabama A&M University
  • “Most everything [at Illinois Tech] is moving into Pathify because we control provisioning via roles and it’s secure with single sign-on. Pathify’s our way forward.” -Sejal Vaishnav, Chief Information Officer, Illinois Institute of Technology

Mainstage

Research, Results, Repeat: Field Notes from Pathify’s Head of Solutions

Dr. Christine Deacons, Pathify’s Head of Solutions, presented extensive research on ways technology drives student engagement and retention. She examined the academic, financial and social factors influencing retention and graduation rates, highlighting how a student’s sense of community and connection predicts success. 

Key Quotes

  • “The more social support students receive, the more positive feedback incentives they receive, the stronger their academic motivation. And with increased motivation, they’re more inclined to engage in academic learning.” -Dr. Christine Deacons, Head of Solutions, Pathify
  • “We identified the community space in the [portal] as the most powerful part of the entire system. Based on centrality, we accurately predicted who would persist and who would drop out based on their digital behaviors in the community space.” -Dr. Christine Deacons, Head of Solutions, Pathify

Technology Leadership

Front-End Facelift: The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Your Entire Campus Through SIS Migration

Many institutions are working through the next steps for their Student Information System (SIS) — tackling the challenges of navigating complex technology transitions while ensuring users remain unaffected by backend changes. Pairing Pathify with their SIS migration, Lindenwood University and Saint Mary’s College created a smoother journey forward, ensuring IT teams and campus users benefit from a connected and modern digital experience.

  • Previously on CAMS/Workday, Lindenwood University shifted to Anthology Student, alongside Pathify implementation.
  • Saint Mary’s College launched Pathify to assist with its transition from Ellucian Banner to Oracle Cloud.

Key Quotes

  • “The Pathify portal helped with our transition. We still have users in Banner and users in Oracle. Pathify is a great tool to bring those components together seamlessly, without the user having to worry about which systems they’re going to.” -Lori Zimmerman, Portal Administrator/Coordinator, Saint Mary’s College
  • “Working through the planning and implementation of the SIS meant we only had to train [users] on one portal, one time, and give them just a few tips and tricks which we did in Pathify.” -Karin May, Director, Information Technology Enterprise Systems & Application Development, Lindenwood University
  • “At Pathify, it’s important to handle the front-end experience first. And if you are making it so staff, faculty and students are settled into the new frontend, it might reduce some of the friction or impact as you make an SIS transition.” – Matt Hammond, Chief Revenue Officer, Pathify
  • “I looked forward to working on [Pathify’s] implementation.” -Justin Geigley, Systems Administrator, Saint Mary’s College

Digital Experience

Pocket-Sized Solutions: Empowering Students with On-the-Go Mobile Experiences

In this session, panelists from Augusta University, The New School and Central College explored bringing separate mobile applications and systems into Pathify, creating a unified platform with seamless integrations across all devices. Customers shared how they utilize branding, Digital Wallet and QR codes, targeted notifications, widgets and the Recipe Library to create an all-encompassing digital community for students.

Key Quotes

  • “I’m hopeful in the future to expand [Pathify] beyond our students but to our faculty and staff because they are part of our community as well, and we want them to get involved on a platform.” -Aenea Clark, Digital Operations Coordinator, Augusta University
  • “The common user experience and ability to manage content in one place and delegate is very, very positive overall. And our engagement is far better than any of our prior platforms.” -Chris Brezil, Interim Vice President/CIO, The New School
  • “I’m 100% satisfied with Pathify.” -Steve Read, Senior Web Developer, Central College

Technology Leadership

Finding Balance: Demystifying the Coexistence — and Future — of Ellucian Experience and Pathify

This session highlighted insights from St. John’s University, University of Denver (DU) and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) on strategically differentiating Pathify and Experience — with Pathify serving as the “single pane of glass” driving engagement with information, resources and people.

  • “From a student interface perspective, you have the LMS, you have the SIS, which is for transactional pieces. We needed something for the social interactions — the non-academic, non-business needs, and that’s where Pathify slid in really nicely.” -Eric Alvarado, AVP of Digital Strategy, St. John’s University
  • “We plan to use Pathify as our long-term portal, and we need a vendor agnostic portal, so Pathify is the best platform for us.” -Rohini Ananthakrishnan, Interim CIO/Vice Chancellor of Information Technology, University of Denver
  • “Overall, launching Pathify as our portal platform created a very positive experience for all end users — staff, faculty, students, career advancement, alumni, employees.” -Mike Jocic, Admin Application Support Supervisor, Des Moines Area Community College

Digital Experience

From Overwhelmed to On-Track: Leveraging Pathify as a Student Success Tool

Leah Deranian, Instructional Technology Specialist at St. Petersburg College, and Tara Bias, TRIO Student Development Specialist at Lassen College, shared how they used Pathify to create engaging and accessible student experiences. From the Communities module to notifications, pages and more, Deranian and Bias reflected on their successes and challenges across their campuses.

Key Quotes

  • “Pathify leads to increased engagement and student success. We saw a 31% increase in future-term enrollment. And it happened in just one year – Pathify works quickly! Plus, I reduced my email volume by 27%.” -Leah Deranian, Instructional Technology Specialist, St. Petersburg College
  • “When everyone else’s [enrollment and retention] numbers decreased, ours increased. Having [Pathify] helped — we had over a 20% jump in our retention.” -Tara Bias, TRIO Student Development Specialist, Lassen College

Digital Experience

Engaging Your Entire Campus: Transforming Prospective Student Experiences

Ann Aubry from Illinois Wesleyan University and Eric Hazen from Ferris State University shared how Pathify’s personalized, centralized platform enhances engagement and streamlines transitions for prospective students. Leveraging integrations with systems like Slate and Ellucian Banner and tailored content delivery, both Aubry and Hazen are setting new standards in connecting students to campus resources and communities from the start. 

Key Quotes

  • “Ferris State saw its first increase in new student enrollment for the first time in seven years [in 2024]… and while I don’t think the resolution of the data is high enough for us to point at Pathify as the single driver, I believe [Pathify] played an incredibly critical role.” -Eric Hazen, Executive Director for Digital Experience and Marketing, Ferris State University
  • “Pathify gave us a way to point everybody to one place. Instead of sending random emails, we point everything through Pathify.” -Ann Aubry, Director of Communications, Illinois Wesleyan University

Technology Leadership

Customer Spotlight with Utah State University: MyUSU Growth Insights and Pathways to Success

Launched in 2021, Utah State University’s MyUSU’s portal evolved into a dynamic digital hub driving engagement across students, faculty and staff alike. With a strategic mix of data-driven planning, creative in-person marketing campaigns and targeted features, the MyUSU team continues refining and expanding its Pathify platform — modernizing student experiences and building a strong sense of connectivity across campus. 

  • Utah State saw a 37% increase in mobile app usage year-over-year.
  • The team drove a 23% increase in Group posts with increased Group organization and governance.

Key Quotes

  • “Over the last two years, we’ve had exceptional user adoption and success around MyUSU.” -Rene Eborn, AVP of Digital Transformation and Enterprise Systems & Security, Utah State University
  • “I’m proud of how we continue building out and fine-tuning the administrative side of Pathify and how we’re reaching other departments and incorporating different entities of the university into MyUSU.” -Calissa Chandler, MyUSU Coordinator, Utah State University

Mainstage

The Chat…Has Entered the Chat: Exploring Pathify’s GenAI Chatbot

Chris Hagan, Pathify’s CTO, and Jeff Ledoux, Pathify’s Product Manager, highlighted the evolution of Pathify’s GenAI Chatbot, detailing its journey from initial design and beta customer program to its current capabilities. They shared insights into the Chatbot’s technical functionalities and strategic direction and provided a demo, including a preview of upcoming enhancements.

  • St. John’s University, Nazarene Theological Seminary, George Washington University, Concordia University-Irvine, and Chaffey College participated as GenAI Chatbot beta customers. 

Key Quotes

  • “From the get-go, GenAI reduces maintenance for customers, especially with managing pages and FAQs. It automatically processes and integrates this information, helping your chatbot deliver more relevant answers.” -Jeff Ledoux, Product Manager, Pathify
  • “In this world of highly litigious, challenge culture — administrators rarely carry the responsibility to control and observe everything represented by our institution.” -Chris Hagan, Chief Technology Officer, Pathify

Mainstage

Unveiling Pathify’s 2025 Roadmap

Jeff Ledoux, Pathify’s Product Manager, reflected on key 2024 achievements and presented Pathify’s 2025 roadmap, including major platform UX/UI improvements, additional system integrations, chatbot enhancements and module upgrades. 

  • Portal/hub updates include delegated access, campus map builder, Prospect & Alumni module upgrades, Journeys, and more.
  • Upcoming recipes and integrations include BYOAPI, Jenzabar, Ethos, Workday, Salesforce, Softdocs, and Banner Student Information. 
  • Chatbot upgrades include unauthenticated chatbot, cluster analytics, live agent handoff, expanding provider library, and more.