We've just launched our NACRO 2026 Industry Perspectives Survey, an important initiative designed to gather insights from our corporate partners and strengthen the value NACRO provides to the broader academic-industry partnership community.

Your participation in sharing this survey is essential to its success. We ask each NACRO member to invite at least two corporate partners, more if possible, to take this 15‑minute survey.

Together, our collective outreach can help us meet our goal of 100+ respondents, enabling NACRO to benchmark trends, highlight industry feedback and priorities, and continue building data-informed practices across our institutions.

“This survey reflects NACRO’s commitment to elevating the corporate relations profession through data‑informed practice,” says Heather Hirsch, Chair Elect of NACRO’s Benchmarking Committee and Director of Development, Corporate Relations with the Texas A&M Foundation. “By encouraging our member institutions to actively invite their corporate partners to participate, we amplify industry voices and equip our members with actionable insight to navigate changing priorities and build more sustainable, mutually beneficial partnerships.”

This feedback has been valuable for members to share and validate work with leaders for approvals and professional advancement. Please find the survey link included below, along with the supporting letter from our co-presidents that can be shared with senior-level contacts.

2026 Industry Perspectives Survey Link. Read our press release here.

NACRO Website Updates

Save the Dates for the 2026 NACRO Annual Conference, taking place July 14-16 in Salt Lake City, UT! Registration for both Bootcamp and Conference opens in early April.

For those requesting approval to attend, please visit the conference webpage for more information.

If you have any questions, please contact us at conference@nacrocon.org.

For our next "Quick Text With," we're delighted to feature TaKeisha Busby, Assistant Director, Stewardship & Engagement, DevAR Corporate and Foundation Relations, The University of Texas at Dallas!

NACRO: “Hi TaKeisha! First, thank you again for hosting us for our Midwinter meeting. What's a new CR project or recent big win at UT Dallas?”

TaKeisha: “You’re very welcome. Immediately after hosting our Midwinter Leadership Conference and seeing some of my NACRO friends, I jumped into a major stewardship project. I led the end-to-end strategy for a new annual report video — directing everything from the interview styles to the site logistics. Now, I'm the lead point of contact for a large-scale corporate partnership event, bringing hundreds of volunteers to campus to combat food insecurity. It’s been a busy but rewarding season! Looking forward to spring break.”

NACRO: “Thank you TaKeisha for your note – and wonderful to hear about your efforts to combat food insecurity. Keep us in the loop with your work in the year ahead!”

This month we’re very happy to feature Chad Brown, NACRO Communications Committee Chair and Associate Vice Chancellor for Development with UW Tacoma. In this video, Chad shares that key benefits of NACRO membership include the opportunity to join committees, utilize the NACRO Toolkit and collaborate with other Members for professional development.

With our new NACRO white paper report — "CORPORATE RELATIONS REIMAGINED: How Academic Institutions Can Build Sustainable Industry Partnerships" — we're highlighting each month one of our "seven essential elements" for successful corporate engagement.

#2 — Mutual Benefits: A successful corporate partnership will hinge on a critical component: the development of a mutually beneficial relationship for the university and corporation over time. A successful CR Office provides multiple areas of intersection with the academic institution plus multiple engagement points for the corporate partner to become a strategic long-term investor.

“Reimagining academic corporate relations requires more than incremental change — it demands a bold, integrated approach that reflects the complexity and potential of today’s academic-industry landscape,” said Anne Borchert, Principal & Chief Reinvention Officer, AB3 Partners and former Associate Vice President, Corporate Relations & Strategic Projects with Case Western Reserve University. Read more.

In the NACRO Blog this month, Texas A&M Foundation's Heather Hirsch and University of Connecticut's Dave Ortendahl, EdD, introduce the 2026 NACRO Industry Perspectives Survey — a national effort to capture insights directly from corporate partners on philanthropic support, research investment and shifting priorities across sectors.

"We encourage all NACRO members and institutional leaders to support this important effort," write Heather and Dave. "By elevating corporate voices, we strengthen our profession, inform institutional strategy, and reinforce NACRO’s role as a trusted source of insight at the intersection of higher education and industry." Read more.

The American Nuclear Society newsletter highlights a new collaboration between the University of North Carolina Wilmington and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy that connects classroom learning with real-world engineering practice. Through a guest-instructor program, company engineers volunteer to teach courses, mentor students, judge design projects, and support STEM outreach initiatives, creating direct engagement between students and industry professionals. Read more.

Ohio University has appointed Corey Beck as Provost Faculty Fellow for Corporate Engagement, a new role designed to strengthen collaboration between faculty, students and industry partners across the institution. In this role, Beck will work with academic units and campus partners to align faculty expertise and student experiential learning opportunities with corporate and external partnerships. The fellowship was created through a collaboration with the Office of the EVP and Provost, the Research Division and University Advancement. Read more.

A University of Wisconsin–Green Bay article highlights the growing role of corporate partnerships in helping higher education respond to workforce demands and economic change. The article notes universities are increasingly collaborating with employers to design customized training, apprenticeships and continuing education programs that build talent pipelines while addressing real industry needs. Today, nearly 79% of continuing education programs serve corporate audiences, and institutions such as UW–Green Bay are partnering with regional employers like Kohler, Prevea and Festival Foods to deliver workforce-aligned training that supports employee retention and regional economic development. Read more.

Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences - Director of Corporate, Foundation and Grants Relations

University of California, Irvine - Director of Development, Corporate Relations

UC Agriculture & Natural Resources - Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations

Wichita State University - Foundation & Alumni Engagement - Director of Corporate Development

Yale University - Corporate Strategy Officer

Interested in posting your open position(s)? The cost is $50 for members and $75 for non-members for a one-time posting in our monthly e-newsletter. Should you wish to re-run your ad, simply resubmit the posting, along with payment.

Job posting forms are due to Aubryn Shivers no later than the 1st of the month to be included in that month's NACRO News. 

We're delighted to present our new NACRO News content section comprising brief updates from recent NACRO Committee meetings. From benchmarking and communications to membership growth and professional education, NACRO committees are actively advancing initiatives that build the value proposition of being a NACRO member and supporting the field of academic corporate relations.

The Benchmarking Committee reports strong progress across its initiatives, especially with data collection complete and analysis underway for the Career Exploration Survey (designed to elevate the standards and professional identity of corporate relations officers). This includes preparation for an annual conference presentation. The committee has also started identifying priority topics emerging from the Career Survey to guide future benchmarking content. In addition, the newly launched Industry Perspectives Survey initiative (designed to capture corporate insights on the evolving university–industry engagement landscape) is beginning to yield responses, while the Institutional Survey is being finalized for its next steps towards its launch.

The Communications Committee engaged in a robust discussion during its most recent meeting, focusing on development of the NACRO strategic plan and planning for the upcoming 20th anniversary. Ongoing work continues on the new NACRO website, alongside coordination with the Benchmarking Committee to support promotion and communication efforts for the Industry Perspectives Survey. The Committee also debriefed on Midwinter conversations.

The Membership Committee continues to advance initiatives that strengthen member engagement, recruitment and cross-committee collaboration. Efforts include expanding the New Member Welcome Program with structured onboarding and early engagement touchpoints; launching a Conference Recruiting Subcommittee aligned with NACRO’s strategic growth plan; advancing targeted outreach to recently lapsed members; and enhancing the “Why NACRO?” brochure. The committee also successfully hosted regional meetups across all five regions and convened a highly attended "Foundation Relations" affinity group meeting, reflecting strong demand for specialized programming.

The Professional Education Committee continues to advance planning for high-impact learning and professional development opportunities across NACRO’s membership. For the 2026 Annual Conference (July 14-16 in Salt Lake City, UT), the committee reviewed 49 session proposals and selected 32 for inclusion. Planning is also underway for conference keynotes, including potential collaborations with regional industry leaders. The committee successfully hosted its February Virtual Bootcamp for emerging professionals and is expanding that experience through mentorship and additional programming at the 2026 Annual Conference. In parallel, leadership development efforts are underway as the committee works with the Nominating Committee to identify 2026–27 co-chairs and subcommittee leaders.

Webinar

Planning and Hosting Industry Partner Meetings with Campus Leaders
Thursday, April 9, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Virtual Regional Meetups

Topic: Student Talent & Experiential Learning

Wednesday, April 22

Midwest: 10:00-11:00 a.m. CT

Southeast: 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET

Western: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. PT

Thursday, April 23

South Central: 10:00-11:00 a.m. CT

Northeast: 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET

Mike Fisher, University of Montana

Kaylie Fontenot, Texas A&M Foundation

Juliet Jones, Montclair State University

David Reynolds, Mayo Clinic

NACRO has launched one of our most frequently requested member resources – a member-only discussion forum, hosted as a private, unlisted LinkedIn group.

NACRO members can find information on how to join the group at the Discussion Forum page in NACRO's Member-Only Content section.