Building Peer Networks in Graduate Admissions: A BTAA Community of Practice Model

Thursday, April 9, 2026

1:30pm - 2:30pm East Coast USA Time

Author(s)

Katie A. Bourassa, MS (she/her/hers)

Assistant Dean of Graduate Admissions
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Presenter(s)

Melissa Sersland, MS (she/her/hers)

Director of Admissions and Recruitment
Northwestern University, The Graduate School
Buffalo Grove, Illinois, United States
Elizabeth Spark, PhD (she/her/hers)

Assistant Dean for Graduate Admissions and Enrollment
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois, United States
JK

Jesse Knappenberger

Director of Graduate Enrollment Management Services
University of Washington
CJ

Colin Johnston

Director of Admissions
University of Oregon
Dean Tsantir, MA (he/him/his)

Executive Director of Graduate Admissions
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minnesota, United States
Jennifer Marinello, MEd (she/her/hers)

Director
Graduate & Prof Admissions The Ohio State University, Ohio, United States
Mr. Brent Hernandez, MA (he/him/his)

Director of Graduate Student Services
University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, Maryland, United States

Overview: The challenges of the last five years underscores the importance of benchmarking and the ability to connect with colleagues at other institutions in a timely manner. However, developing relationships with colleagues at other institutions and conducting research on peer institutions requires additional time and effort, all while we face decreasing resources. The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) represents a network of graduate enrollment management professionals who meet on a monthly basis to ask questions, compare strategies, share resources and news, and collect benchmarking data.

This session will present how the BTAA Graduate Admissions community of practice started two years ago, how it's maintained, and an selection of discussion topics and projects that have come out of this group. We want to highlight the value of having a space to meet with peers from other similar institution types, and walk participants through some preliminary steps to creating their own communities of practice, starting with the people at the tables today.