Ready to challenge the misconceptions of credit mobility and advocate for a more learner-centered approach for transfer students? This webinar, co-hosted by CAEL, AACRAO, Sova, and the Beyond Transfer initiative, part of 2025’s National Student Transfer Week, will equip you with the data, trends, and talking points needed to make the case for credit mobility and credit for prior learning (CPL). We’ll move beyond the myths to explore what's really happening in this landscape, and why it matters to learners and institutions, especially adult learners, now more than ever. This panel discussion, featuring national, institutional, and learner perspectives, will define what is included in credit mobility - with a focus on CPL- and explore the tangible return on investment it has for institutions, including its impact on student success, institutional enrollment, and regional economic development. We'll also address common challenges and barriers, such as the loss of credit during transfer and the lack of trust between institutions. Importantly, we will discuss promising practices and innovative ideas that can help advance this work. You’ll leave with actionable items to take back to your institutions to grow support and adoption of credit mobility.
Presenters:
Juana Sanchez
Project Director, SOVA/Beyond Transfer Initiative
Juana H. Sánchez is a systems thinker skilled at facilitating diverse groups and collaborative processes to increase college attainment and drive inclusive economic growth. She has a decade of experience in public sector consulting and collective impact, where she has supported executive leaders in education, philanthropy, and government. Currently, Sánchez directs the Beyond Transfer initiative on behalf of Sova and facilitates the Learning Evaluation and Recognition for the Next Generation (LEARN) Commission, co-convened by Sova and AACRAO. Previously, Sánchez led regional partnerships to increase college readiness and completion. Under the L.A. Compact, she helped launch CSUN Connections, which won a $1 million higher education innovation award, and co-founded the Foster Youth College Advancement Project with John Burton Advocates to Youth.
A first-generation college graduate, Sánchez earned her B.A. at UCLA and her M.P.P. at Harvard University. She completed further training via the Collective Impact Forum and USC Race Equity Center.
Dr. Wendy Kilgore,
Senior Director of Research, AACRAO
Dr. Wendy Kilgore serves as the Senior Director of Research for AACRAO, where she spearheads the organization's research initiatives. With over 25 years in higher education, Dr. Kilgore's experience includes roles as state dean of enrollment services for the Colorado Community College system, director of admissions and registrar for the Pima County Community College district, and positions at Arizona State University in academic advising and admissions. Prior to her current role, Dr. Kilgore served as a consultant for AACRAO, providing services to a diverse range of higher education institutions, including large public universities, small private colleges, faith-based institutions, for-profit institutions, technical colleges, and community college systems. This consulting work broadened her expertise across various institutional types and challenges in higher education. In her current position at AACRAO, she designs and conducts research projects, analyzes data, and disseminates findings to the higher education community. Her broad-based higher education experience, research expertise, and familiarity with emerging trends make her a respected voice in shaping higher education practices and policies.
Beth Doyle, Ed.D,
Chief of Strategy, CAEL
Dr. Beth Doyle has extensive experience transforming departments into highly driven, results-oriented teams. As a former and forever adult learner, she demonstrates an uncompromised commitment to the mission and holds herself accountable to lead and deliver results. Doyle specializes in approaches to support adult learners in higher education, designing and implementing high-quality credit for prior learning (CPL) programs and marketing strategies targeted to adult populations. Other areas of expertise include stackable credentials, using labor market information for program design, career pathways, upskilling/reskilling, adult learner personas, adult learner barriers/challenges, promoting equity in programs that support adult learners, and supporting veterans and other underserved adult learner populations in postsecondary education.
As Chief of Strategy at CAEL, Doyle oversees a team providing services for workforce and economic developers, postsecondary education institutions, and employers who improve adult learning opportunities. Her team manages large multi-year projects, delivers professional development offerings, and provides technology-enabled tools that scale prior learning assessment and career navigation.
Doyle joined CAEL in 2006. Previously, she was the Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications and Vice President for Higher Education Services at CAEL, working directly with CAEL’s highest-level clients and partners to raise awareness of CAEL’s mission and provide services and training. She has developed alliances and led fundraising initiatives. Doyle also has 20 years of experience in branding, marketing, and public relations, which she began building at a Chicago advertising agency.
Doyle started her learning journey at a community college and earned her bachelor’s degree as a returning adult student at DePaul University. She also completed the Executive Development Program at Michigan State University and earned her Ed.D at Fielding Graduate University. As a former returning adult student, Doyle understands the adult learner journey and is committed to providing others with those learning and career opportunities.
Rose Rojas, Director,
Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation
Rose Rojas, director, center for curriculum and transfer articulation at the Maricopa Community Colleges (Arizona), has established Maricopa as a national leader in student transfer by creating a university partnership model adapted by community college systems across the country. Rose has demonstrated strengths in the coordination, planning and management of academic and student affairs, curriculum development, transfer operations, and prior learning assessment. She is a recognized leader with a record of achievement in program management, partnership cultivation and long-term strategic plans for organizational growth and success.
In previous roles, Rose worked in faculty support, marketing, and financial aid. Rose is a community college graduate, and holds a B.A. in psychology from Arizona state university and an M.A. in education leadership from Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Tony Sheppard,
Professor Emeritus, California State University
Tony retired in June after 28 years as a professor and academic advisor at California State University, Sacramento, where he also served multiple terms as both a department chair and chair of the faculty senate. In 2019, he was honored to present the Annual Faculty Lecture and spoke on the topic of “Jaws, Netflix, and Retention.” He has been an undergraduate and graduate program coordinator, a serial faculty mentor, and has worked on numerous academic policies, curriculum committees, advisory groups, an inter-segmental transfer model curriculum task force, and at least one committee specifically tasked with reducing unintentional administrative barriers to student success. Having consistently worked with transfer students, in recent years his primary focus has been on complex advising for high-unit and returning adult learners across multiple majors, and on issues related to credit for prior learning and credit mobility, including as part of a CAEL working group dedicated to those concerns.
Tony earned his B.Sc. in Special Honours Mathematics from the University of Sheffield, UK, his M.Ed. from the Pennsylvania State University, and his Ph.D. (related to tourism management and marketing) from Clemson University, where he also began his teaching career. He was a Graduate School Fellow at both Penn State and Clemson. He has never worn a cap or a gown and is not very good (yet?) at being retired.