Building and Leading a Healthy Academic Department Culture

September 24 – 25, 2026
Denver, CO

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Shape the culture your department needs to succeed.

What You'll Gain

Experience a structured, inclusive exercise that you can immediately use with your own department to define shared values and norms.
Clarify the core elements of a strong department culture and understand your leadership role in sustaining them.
Develop leadership behaviors that build trust in your department.
Manage performance issues and difficult conversations so that they reinforce culture and help your department to be more resilient during change.

Group of attendees doing an activity at an Academic Impressions conference

Overview

Five diverse people attending an Academic Impressions workshop. They are sitting down as a group and having a discussion with their laptops and notebooks out.

Trust is fragile in academic environments, and culture is never neutral—it is always taking shape. The real question for leaders is whether they are shaping it with intention.

This workshop provides department Chairs, Deans, and academic leaders with a practical framework for cultivating healthy unit cultures grounded in transparency, accountability, and psychological safety. You’ll engage in a hands-on culture-building exercise that you can immediately adapt for your own teams while examining the leadership behaviors that most strongly influence norms and expectations.

You’ll also explore the common “enemies of trust”—including inconsistency, avoidance, and perceived favoritism—and leave with concrete strategies to reinforce credibility, fairness, and collaboration. The result is a stronger, more resilient team that’s better equipped to navigate change together.

Session Descriptions

More details about the event schedule can be found by clicking Learn More and Register, but session descriptions for the two days follow below:  

Who Should Attend

Academic leaders who manage a department or divisional culture will benefit most from this workshop. In particular, we encourage Department Heads and Chairs, Program Directors, Deans and Associate Deans, Provosts and Associate Provosts, and those working in faculty development to join us. Past attendees of Managing Difficult Faculty and Staff and Essential Leadership Skills for Deans and Chairs will find this workshop complementary to their previous takeaways.

How You’ll Use This to Move Work Forward

Deans – Establish a healthy culture in your division that allows you to move confidently into the future.
Department Chairs – Reset your department culture with more trust and intention.
Academic Leaders – Support your leaders in building high-performing departments.

Bring a team! Register 3 or more people and save more than $1,000! Discounts will be automatically applied at checkout.

Location

Academic Impressions Office

5299 DTC Blvd, Suite 1400
Greenwood Village, CO 80111

What makes our events different?

Academic Impressions workshops provide the opportunity for quality conversations and relationship-building through both formal and informal networking opportunities in an intimate setting. Our in-depth and hands-on approach to learning provides you with actionable takeaways.

Learn More About the Academic Impressions Workshop Experience ➞

Grow Leadership. Maximize Your Budget.

Empower your team with professional development that pays off. Our Workshop Group Packs help you build leadership capacity while saving money. Discounts are automatically applied at checkout.

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