What if one of the most important opportunities to improve student retention has been sitting right in front of us all along?
For years, higher education institutions have invested significant resources in improving student retention. We examine enrollment trends, academic performance, financial aid eligibility, student satisfaction, and countless other measures intended to help students persist toward graduation.
All of these efforts matter.
But there is another consideration that deserves equal attention: the employees who make those student experiences possible.
That relationship is the foundation of my 12-volume professional development workbook series, Engaged Employees, Retained Students.
From Doctoral Research to Practical Institutional Resources
My doctoral research examined the relationships among job satisfaction, work engagement, and counterproductive work behavior among higher education employees.
One of the central conclusions reinforced through that research is that the employee experience matters to organizational effectiveness.
The natural next question became: How can institutions translate those findings into practical approaches that support the people serving students every day?
That question led to the development of Engaged Employees, Retained Students.
Rather than produce another resource that simply tells institutions what they should be doing, I wanted to create something professionals could actually use.
Each workbook provides practical scenarios, reflection questions, worked examples, departmental exercises, and opportunities to evaluate existing practices.
The emphasis is intentionally positive.
This series is not about identifying everything institutions are doing wrong. It is about recognizing what they are already doing well and exploring ways to build upon those strengths.
Twelve Departments, Twelve Perspectives, One Institutional Mission
The series examines employee engagement and student retention across twelve areas of higher education.
The first six volumes address Admissions and Enrollment Management, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs and Faculty, Registrar and Student Records, Student Affairs and Student Services, and Business Office and Student Accounts.
The remaining six volumes, Books 7 through 12, are scheduled to become available today, October 21, 2026, completing the collection.
Book 7, Career Services and Graduate Employment, explores how career readiness, employer partnerships, graduate employment outcomes, and departmental workforce conditions contribute to the student experience.
The remaining volumes continue examining the institutional departments and functions that collectively influence employee engagement, operational effectiveness, and student success.
Although each department has distinct responsibilities, none operates entirely independently.
An enrollment decision can affect Financial Aid. A Financial Aid adjustment can affect Student Accounts. Academic changes can influence student records, advising, and graduation. Career Services depends on information and relationships developed throughout a student's educational journey.
Students experience the institution as a whole, even when employees experience it one department at a time.
That distinction is important.
Individual Workbooks or a Complete Reference Collection?
Every volume has been designed to function as a standalone professional development resource.
A Financial Aid Director may find the Financial Aid volume particularly useful. A Registrar may prefer the Student Records workbook. A Business Office Director may use selected cases during departmental meetings.
Institutions can select the resource most relevant to an immediate operational need.
However, my intention in developing this series is that institutions consider purchasing the complete 12-volume collection as an ongoing reference and training guide.
Why?
Because employee engagement, institutional effectiveness, and student retention do not begin and end within individual departments.
Consider what becomes possible when an institution uses the entire collection:
Department supervisors can incorporate relevant cases into staff development meetings.
Senior administrators can examine recurring organizational themes across different areas.
Newly appointed directors can learn how their departments interact with other institutional functions.
Cross-functional teams can explore communication, role clarity, accountability, and collaborative problem-solving.
Institutional leadership can develop a shared professional development framework while respecting each department's specialized responsibilities.
The collection is intended to remain useful long after an individual training session.
A workbook might help a supervisor facilitate a discussion today, provide a reference during an operational challenge six months from now, or support the onboarding of a new employee next year.
That is the value of a practical reference library.
Practical Experience, Not One-Size-Fits-All Solutions
After more than 25 years in higher education administration, I have learned that institutions frequently encounter similar challenges while operating in very different environments.
What works at a large university may not be feasible at a small specialized college. What works for a department with fifteen employees may require substantial adaptation in an office operated by one person.
Consequently, the workbooks are not written from the perspective that my approach is the only correct one.
Instead, the philosophy is straightforward:
Here is a situation. Here is an approach worth considering. Here are the questions we should ask. How might this work at your institution?
Readers are encouraged to evaluate the examples, apply appropriate strategies, adapt operational methods, and share what they discover.
Naturally, mandatory federal, state, accreditation, and institutional requirements must be distinguished from flexible operational practices.
The intention is to promote thoughtful professional judgment, not replace it.
Professional Development Should Be Accessible
Another motivation behind this series is the financial reality confronting many higher education institutions.
Not every institution has the resources to engage an outside consulting firm for a comprehensive organizational assessment.
Not every department can send its entire staff to conferences or expensive professional development programs.
Sometimes what an administrator needs most is a practical example, a discussion framework, or a resource to consult while navigating an unfamiliar situation.
These workbooks are intended to help fill that gap.
They do not replace comprehensive consulting engagements, legal guidance, or institution-specific regulatory expertise.
They provide an accessible starting point for professional learning, thoughtful discussion, and operational improvement.
The Rosenboom Workforce Institute is also exploring future self-paced online training opportunities based on these materials, including individual and departmental subscription options.
Those programs remain in development.
Completing the Series—and Continuing the Conversation
With the scheduled release of Books 7 through 12 today, the Engaged Employees, Retained Students collection represents a significant milestone for the Rosenboom Workforce Institute.
But publication is not the end of the conversation.
I hope readers will use these workbooks, challenge the examples, adapt the exercises, and share the approaches that prove helpful within their own institutions.
Most importantly, I hope the collection encourages higher education leaders to consider employee engagement not simply as a human resources concern, but as an institutional priority connected to the student experience.
When we invest in the employees who serve students, we strengthen the conditions that help those students succeed.
And when we approach that work collectively, across departments rather than within isolated silos, we create opportunities for more meaningful and sustainable institutional improvement.
The individual volumes and the developing complete collection can be explored through the Rosenboom Workforce Institute.
Explore the series: Rosenboom Workforce Institute
Browse published workbooks: Dr. Matthew Rosenboom on Lulu
Dr. Matthew Rosenboom is a higher education administrator, researcher, author, and founder of the Rosenboom Workforce Institute. His work focuses on employee engagement, institutional effectiveness, Title IV financial aid administration, and practical approaches to organizational improvement in higher education.