Course Category: Free for All-Inclusive Members

Communicating Boundaries with Empathy: A Training for Department Chairs

In a 2021 survey conducted by Academic Impressions, 51% of respondents reported experiencing clinical levels of burnout. These high levels of burnout come on the heels of department chairs being asked to do more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. You likely already know that you need to set boundaries both with your Dean and faculty to better manage the effects of burnout and help yourself regain a sense of well-being. However, it’s not always clear how to effectively communicate those boundaries to others. You might say “yes” or give more of yourself than you should, for fear of making others feel angry, disappointed or rejected. Join us online to learn how to say “no” and communicate your boundaries in a clear and empathetic way – one that builds trust and nurtures your relationships with others. Our expert speaker, Dr. Jackie Leibsohn, is a clinical psychologist who has also served in faculty and leadership positions in higher ed. Through this interactive workshop, you’ll explore and practice a framework that can be used with all stakeholders and that will enable you to: Communicate your boundaries respectfully and compassionately. Validate the needs of others and acknowledge the impact that saying “no” can […]

Recruiting, Training, and Engaging Alumni Volunteers in a Digital Environment

Alumni volunteers are immensely valuable to institutions in both their service and giving power— they tend to give 10 times more than non-volunteers. However, since the pandemic, the script has flipped on how we recruit and engage alumni volunteers through digital channels. In-person volunteer opportunities continue to foster alumni engagement, but with digital opportunities growing increasingly common as well, we must continue to learn best practices from one another to remain successful. In this virtual training, our expert panelists will guide you as you share your own lessons when digitally engaging your alumni volunteers. Together, we will identify emerging best practices regarding volunteer recruitment, training, and engagement that lead to the retention of your most dedicated alumni. You will leave this training with the best current practices to engage your volunteers — during this pandemic, and beyond. In this updated edition, a Q&A with the speakers, Clarybel Peguero and Parks Smith, has been added to the recording.

Infusing Domestic and Global Perspectives into Your DEI Initiatives

Creating and maintaining an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone on a campus is necessary to recruit and retain diverse faculty, students, and staff, as well as to create an environment that promotes Global Citizenship to reflect an increasingly global society. Yet at most institutions, DEI initiatives only focus on domestic diversity and lack a global perspective. By not incorporating global diversity into larger DEI work, we risk short-sighted DEI initiatives and alienating different forms of diversity, including international faculty, students, and staff. We know that research points to an enhanced focus on Global DEI as increasing inclusivity and feelings of belongingness by fostering a welcoming environment for all. This effort, overwhelmingly resulting in positive effects, can only be possible if all faculty, staff, and students (international and domestic) are continuously trained in terms of intercultural competencies. In this training, we’ll therefore focus on how to infuse Global DEI into your overall DEI strategy. We’ll frame how doing so will help you to leverage multicultural perspectives, provide a voice to international and multicultural populations, foster cross-cultural interaction, and provide intercultural education and engagement opportunities.

Leading to Create Healthier Workplaces

Higher education is at its best when faculty and staff have a sense of freedom to be their best selves at work. Common causes of this lack of freedom include a fear of reprisal for sharing feedback or not feeling valued as a whole person. To create healthier workplaces that build confidence and provide a more supportive atmosphere, leaders must understand what causes their team to feel constrained, so that they can accompany them in this co-creative process of change. By applying trauma-informed and liberation psychology approaches, we will discuss how leaders can build healthier working environments that free people to be creative, innovative, and experience a deep sense of belonging. You will leave this two-hour virtual training with a deeper understanding of your own role in cultivating healthier working environments—including what motivates you to work for change and how you might bring about those changes, no matter your leadership role. You will also leave with practices and strategies to continue the self-reflection required to stay the course and walk with others, as collaborators and co-creators of new ways of being and doing.

Higher Education in America: A 4-Day Foundational Course

American higher education includes over 4000 institutions of varying size, structure, and focus, with each serving an increasingly diverse and dwindling number of traditionally college-aged students. But there are still some commonalities in how institutions are governed, financed, organized, and assessed—not to mention the fact that institutions face similar enrollment and retention challenges across the board. This course is designed to give you a broad overview of the American higher education landscape. Our expert instructor, Dr. Kelly Wesener Michael, will walk you through the different types of institutions that exist, how these institutions are typically funded, who is involved in governing both public and private universities, and how institutions set and assess the effectiveness of their mission and goals. Accompanying the course is a workbook designed to help you gain familiarity with the processes and mission of your own institution—how governance works for you, what the demographics of your student body are, where your funding comes from, and how your institution does strategic planning. This course will be highly beneficial to anyone who is new to higher education, either in a first professional role or who is transitioning to higher education from another industry. Additionally, faculty or staff whose experience […]

Evaluating Diversity in the Accreditation Process: Part II – Your Approach in the Classroom

Accreditation can be viewed as the responsibility of Institutional Research when, in fact, their input should take place in the later stages of design. On the front end, faculty have an opportunity to drive and positively impact the process of designing programs for accreditation. By doing so, faculty help to ensure that students are prepared for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and that the programs that their institution offers lead the way when it comes to DEI. This training examines the role that faculty plays in gathering and planning course materials to ensure compliance of DEI accreditation requirements. Our expert instructor will provide both a systematic and practical approach to curriculum design and assessment that enables faculty to contribute to holistic student learning and successful accreditation reporting. This program is the second in a two-part series. The first program, Evaluating Diversity in the Accreditation Process: Part I — The Upfront Design, aims to demystify the process of reviewing, assessing, and including diversity in campus curricula. This follow-up program focuses on how to implement DEI from a pedagogical approach. It is designed specifically for faculty from all disciplines who are interested in intentionally infusing DEI into their curriculum to both […]

Evaluating Diversity in the Accreditation Process: Part I – The Upfront Design

Both university and program-level accrediting organizations are increasingly placing focus on diversity in their requirements, but that criteria can feel ambiguous, and many today are uncertain of how to ensure that their programs comply. This challenge is twofold: first, you must understand the requirements, and second, you must have knowledge of various ways to embed those requirements into curricula. The imperative behind this is not only the increasing potential that students are not legitimately prepared for a changing world and workforce, but that without diversity integrated into the program design upfront, you run the risk of criteria being added later that is not aligned with the curriculum or accurate. This program is the first in a two-part series that will demystify the process of reviewing, assessing, and including diversity in campus curricula. By participating in this event, you will learn how to evaluate opportunities for embedding accreditation requirements into curricula and see a variety of examples and approaches of what this might look like across disciplines and fields of study.

Leveraging Cultural Wealth and Community: A Discussion for Latinx Leaders in Higher Education

Latina, Latino, and Latinx (Latinx/a/o) leaders have unique knowledge, skills, strengths, and experiences to contribute to higher education, but the academy was built with systemic inequities that can undermine advancement and success. Furthermore, as a changing societal landscape puts diversity front and center, many Latinx/a/o leaders find themselves navigating challenges that peers—who do not share their Latinx/a/o identity—do not understand. In this virtual discussion, we will explore the challenges of being a Latinx/a/o leader in higher ed and how your identity impacts how you see and represent yourself. We will draw upon research in community cultural wealth as a framework for you to leverage your strengths and values in leadership positions as you navigate the intersections of the distinct worlds you occupy. This program is the first in a two-part series. While this first program is created intentionally for leaders who identify as Latinx/a/o, the second session is intended for any leader interested in creating systemic change at their institution to better support Latinx/a/o leaders.

Support and Retain Latinx Leaders in Higher Education: A Training for All Leaders

Latina, Latino, and Latinx (Latinx/a/o) leaders have unique knowledge, skills, strengths, and experiences to contribute to higher education, but the academy was built with systemic inequities that can undermine advancement and success. According to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, “Hispanic enrollment in higher education is expected to exceed 4.1 million students by 2026, far surpassing the growth rate of any other racial-ethnic group—by over 10%,” but Latinx/a/o leaders continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles in higher education due to historic and ongoing systemic inequities. In this virtual session, we will discuss steps you and your institution can take to create a more inclusive and equitable environment to support and retain Latinx/a/o faculty and staff. This program is the second in a two-part series. While this second program is intended for any leader interested in creating systemic change at their institution to better support Latinx/a/o leaders, the first program is intentionally for leaders who identify as Latinx/a/o to draw upon community cultural wealth and build connections to advance their leadership.

Encore and Live Q&A: Cultural Humility: A Framework to Mitigate Personal Bias

We all have biases that show up in our interactions and perceptions of others. But these biases can be problematic when they are used unconsciously or consciously to judge, misinterpret, or limit our interactions with others. How often do you pause and reflect on your social interactions and ask yourself “What did I assume about this person that was not accurate”? By reflecting and holding ourselves accountable to how biases show up in our interactions, we not only encourage our own personal growth, but we also create an opportunity to fully understand another person’s lived experience. Join us for a re-airing of the training that took place in March 2021, followed by a live Q&A with the speaker. You will understand the root cause of your biases and develop a practice that helps mitigate bias in your interactions with others. In this training, you will learn how to develop cultural humility as a framework and daily practice that helps you: Suspend judgement and be curious about other people’s perspectives and backgrounds Ask questions to aid you in reflection about your own beliefs and behaviors Interpret your interactions with others You will also explore barriers that might perpetuate your assumptions about […]

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