Videos and Media Mentions
Salesforce Agentforce World Tour 2024, November 2024
President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury spoke at the Salesforce Agentforce World Tour in NYC on November 20, 2024 alongside Salesforce Senior Director of Product Marketing, Brad Schleicher. He shared how Unity Environmental University is using Salesforce Education Cloud and Agentforce to revolutionize student recruitment and enhance enrollment experiences. As the first university to implement Agentforce, we’re reaching more students passionate about sustainability and conservation.
Inclusion Maine Conference 2024, May 2024
In May 2024, President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury once again represented Unity Environmental University on the State Leaders Panel – State of DEI in Maine at the annual Inclusion Maine Conference in Portland, Maine. The Panel was moderated by Director of the Division of Programs at the Maine Department of Labor, Tarlan Ahmadov; and included Kerem Durdag, Chief Executive Officer at GWI; Gia Drew, Executive Director at Equality Maine; Julia Trujillo Luengo, Director of Strategic Planning Management at the Maine Community College System; and Lisa Parham Jones, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Black Travel Maine. The panel discussed a range of topics including the challenges faced by diverse populations in Maine and offered insights on the state of DEI in Maine.
2024 Meet the Moment: AGB National Conference on Trusteeship, Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President and CEO, Sharon Reishus, Board Chair, Unity Environmental University and Greg Clayton, President of Enrollment Management Services, EducationDynamics.
In an era of constant change and intense competition within higher education, marketing has evolved into a critical driver of institutional viability, particularly as schools increasingly seek to aggressively grow their online enrollments. In this session, leaders from Unity Environmental University and EducationDynamics will explore the pivotal role strategic marketing plays within an institution seeking to expand online programs while remaining true to its mission and vision.
Discover how today’s visionary leaders are driving institutional strategy through data-driven decision-making and market insights. Learn how effective marketing strategies and branding can elevate your institution’s reputation, grow your program enrollment, and differentiate your institution in a crowded marketplace.”
Education Dynamics InsightsEDU 2024, in Phoenix, AZ
In an era of constant change and intense competition within higher education, the role of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has evolved into a critical driver of institutional viability. In this session Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President and CEO of Unity Environmental University will explore the pivotal role of a CMO as a strategic leader within an institution and how they align marketing efforts with the school’s overall mission and vision.
Discover how CMOs drive institutional strategy through data-driven decision-making and market insights. Learn how effective marketing strategies and branding can elevate your institution’s reputation, grow your program enrollment and differentiate your institution in a crowded marketplace. Understand how marketing can impact an institution’s bottom line. Join us for this engaging session and uncover how a strategic Chief Marketing Officer can transform your institution’s trajectory, ensuring long-term success and growth.
Navigating the Future: Placing Students at the Heart of Higher Education. February 21, 2024
Education Dynamics InsightsEDU 2024, in Phoenix, AZ
Join us for an engaging panel discussion that delves deep into the realm of student-centered marketing and enrollment management approaches, where institutions craft their narratives, programs, and services to resonate harmoniously with the modern student journey. This panel brings together visionary marketers, and industry experts who have championed the cause of student-centricity. Through their experiences and insights, attendees will gain invaluable perspectives on how to adapt and flourish by placing students at the heart of higher education. Join us for an insightful panel discussion that will equip you with the tools and strategies to reshape your institution’s marketing approach. Learn how to navigate the ever-changing currents of higher education by placing students at the heart of your strategies.
Changing Governance to Create a Sustainable Institution, January 29, 2024
In this session, Unity Environmental University President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury and Board Chair Sharon Reishus, will describe how they aligned Unity Environmental University’s board and institutional governance structure to prioritize adaptation and stabilize presidential turnover for a historically regional, tuition driven, non-profit, small private residential university. They will share the roadmap, process, success metrics, and pain points of adopting the “Enterprise Model” that transformed Unity from a 500-student campus to a university with over 7,500 students.
Higher education has gone through much change in the past year, let alone the past five years. With modern learners’ ever-growing need for accessibility and flexibility, it’s critical that institutions adapt to meet it. In this interview, Melik Khoury discusses what’s in store for higher ed, what leaders need to keep top of mind and how to better serve learners.
2023 National Social Mobility Symposium, California State University, October 6, 2023
Dr. Khoury was featured on the “Panel of Presidents” session, where university presidents discussed their contributions to social mobility within the context of higher education. He used the opportunity to talk about Unity’s innovative model, which is designed for maximum flexibility and affordability and has helped the institution grow in size and diversity. The Symposium is a chance for leaders from around the country to connect and share new ideas and explore innovative ways of serving students while also partnering with external community stakeholders.
Impact Conference 2023, Montecito, CA, August 8, 2023
Dr. Melik Khoury and Dr. Erika Latty presented at the Impact Conference in a session titled, “Top Reasons to Embrace Education Cloud,” alongside Kathleen Lueckeman from Education Trailblazers. They discussed how Education Cloud, a comprehensive next-gen solution brand new to higher eds, has impacted Unity Environmental University. Education Cloud draws on the power of Salesforce to connect insights across recruitment, admissions, and student success for a unified view of every learner’s journey. They explained how executives at Unity Environmental University decided to embrace the solution as its single source to offer personalized experiences that translate into successful lifetime learners — from prospective student to engaged alum. Participants learned about Education Cloud’s fully-featured platform and understand the considerations for implementing this learner-centric model.
NACUBO Annual Meeting, July 15-18, 2023, Orlando, Florida
President Khoury was tapped to present at the NACUBO 2023 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida in July, where he shared Unity Environmental University’s story of innovation and transformation in his presentation: Using Budget Modeling to Create a Sustainable Tuition Driven Institution.
Inclusion Maine Conference 2023, March 2023
In March 2023, Dr. Melik Peter Khoury spoke as a member of a panel during Inclusion Maine’s 2023 Conference. The panel spoke as part of the, “Building an Inclusive Future: State Leaders addressing Current Challenges and Strategies to support Racial Diversity in Maine,” session at the conference. The panel of state leaders, which was moderated by Marwa Hassanien, focused on current challenges and strategies to support attracting and retaining multicultural talent in Maine. Dr. Khoury was proud to challenge the crowd of more than 400 people to help shift the conversation from being allies to being champions for diversity and belonging.
InsightsEDU Conference 2023
In March of 2023 Dr. Khoury traveled to Denver, Colorado where he participated in two separate sessions at the InsightsEdu Conference. During the panel discussion Driving Transformative Change in Higher Education, he and his fellow panelist discussed the issues facing higher education today while offering suggestions on how colleges and universities can transform for future success.
He also co-presented Expanding Your Geographic Footprint with Dr. Jamie Brownlee and Becky McCafferty where they discussed how colleges and universities can grow enrollment in distance education programs by increasing their presence in the online space.
Fall Speaking Engagements
September 2022 was a busy month for Dr. Khoury! President Khoury was invited to partake in several high-profile national speaking engagements including Salesforce’s Dreamforce Conference 2022 in San Francisco and the Education Dynamics P3 Conference in Denver. At Dreamforce he participated in the session, “How We Reimagined Our SIS: Two Perspectives,” which looked at two different approaches to the same legacy SIS challenges. During this session, Dr. Khoury explained how Unity College plans to harness the power of the Salesforce Platform to launch a flexible student information system that will better serve our current and future students.
The P3 Conference was an invitation-only event that brought together a select group of university leaders and a handful of private company CEOs to network and share best practices around public-private partnerships in higher education. and Dr. Khoury participated in the panel discussion “Empowering Enrollment Growth” where he was joined by Bruce Douglas, CEO of Education Dynamics.
Drastic Pivots for Success
In this article by The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), Unity College was among just three institutions chosen to demonstrate how it successfully pivoted in a challenging financial and educational landscape.
“Unity College in Maine has instituted a dramatic restructuring of its educational model, including customizing how content is delivered according to the demands of different types of students and changing its governance to create different educational business units.”
AGB, by David Tobenkin 5/10/22
Thriving in an Age of Disruption – Insights EDU
President Khoury was a panel member of “Thriving in an Age of Disruption” at the Insights EDU Conference presented by Education Dynamics. Along with other higher education experts, Dr. Khoury discussed what he learned from his experience in today’s education landscape and shared valuable insights on what to do moving forward.
2/25/22 in Denver, Colorado
Integrating Data for Real-Time Decision Making in Times of Change
In April, President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury was a featured panelist for Education Summit 2022. Dr. Khoury discussed the challenges of leading Unity College through the implementation of a new student information system (SIS). The presentation included how this new SIS will help keep the institution up-to-date data with real-time data reporting.
Ed Tech Magazine
At a time when small colleges all over New England are closing or merging with larger institutions, Unity College’s ongoing efforts to expand distance learning has helped us increase enrollment by more than 300 percent in the past decade. And the new student body has proved to be more diverse in every way.