Integrating Academic Program Prioritization into Your Current Shared Governance Structure

As a result of the pandemic, academic leaders are being forced to identify which programs are sustainable and those that are not. Program prioritization is not new; but given the pandemic, the changing social perceptions of higher education, the changing student demographics, and the context in which program prioritization is currently happening brings to light new challenges. With faculty today more burned out and disengaged than ever, it is crucial to identify ways to integrate program prioritization into the present shared governance system on your campus, so that faculty members feel empowered to lead the prioritization process, understand the decisions being made, and align their decisions with the mission of the institution. Join us online for an interactive training which combines a panel of instructors from four institutions, and includes a wide variety of case studies and role-plays. Through useful and illuminating group dialogue opportunities, you’ll discuss ways you can make program prioritization an ongoing and sustained part of your shared governance system on campus by addressing how to: Define the integrated role of program prioritization within shared governance. Collect and use qualitative and quantitative data to make decisions. Assess what’s working, what’s not working, and unintended consequences.

Managing Change as an Inclusive Leader

Inclusive leadership requires that today’s leaders think about and understand change differently. Change is no longer a once-in-a-while ‘initiative’ that needs managing but is instead a constantly occurring process. And not everyone sits on a level playing field along the way: inclusive leaders must develop a greater awareness of their own blind spots and attend to the process they follow when leading change. Whose perspectives are being sought and heard, and whose aren’t? Who is the change serving, and who is it impacting? How can you invite and productively navigate through disagreement and conflict as change unfolds? Join us online to explore what managing change looks like in today’s higher education context for inclusive leaders. You will come away with:

Mindful Leadership for Chairs

When separated from its contemplative framework, mindfulness boils down to three core principles that are essential to effective leadership: gaining perspective, making intentional decisions, and setting clear boundaries with others. Department Chairs need all of these skills to be successful in their roles, yet amid today’s chaotic environment, the space and time to develop them can be hard to come by. Join us for an online training designed to help you lead with a clearer mind and sense of intention. We’ll break the concept of mindful leadership down into practical, approachable terms and offer tools to help you navigate the daily challenges of leading as a Chair, such as: Clarifying issues with your faculty, diffusing emotions around them, and holding the line. Drawing clear boundaries around your role and what is and is not possible. Recognizing complex organizational challenges and putting them into perspective. Understanding the tensions inherent within your decisions.

Setting up the Supervisory Relationship: Understanding and Adapting Your Supervisory Style

Developing a strong supervisory relationship with each staff member goes a long way in ensuring future success for both the individual and the team. In order to accomplish this, you must understand and be able to articulate your own supervisory style—and learn how to adapt it to the styles and work preferences of your team. Having this shared understanding of styles on both sides will help to anchor the supervisory relationship and fortify it in the face of the challenges that naturally occur in our day-to-day work. You will leave this two-hour virtual training with a deeper understanding of your preferred supervisory style, of how and why you might adapt it for individual staff members, and how to engage in productive conversations with new or existing direct reports to build a strong supervisory relationship. You will also complete a useful pre-event exercise to better understand yourself as a supervisor to ground the work of the training. We will explore key questions like the following: How do you identify and articulate your own supervisory style? How can you come to understand the work styles of your direct reports? How do you have a productive conversation with a new (or existing) direct […]

Imposter Syndrome in Higher Ed: Examining the Self, the System, and Opportunities for Change

Too often, imposter syndrome is regarded as a deficiency of the person experiencing it. Rarely do we examine the system that created it and that allows it to thrive. For faculty, being in academia can seem like a never-ending quest for “more,” to prove you are “enough,” or that you are “worthy” of the accolades you achieve. For faculty who represent diverse and historically marginalized groups, the burden of imposter syndrome is especially heavy and inconducive to well-being and career success. This video course examines the experience of imposter syndrome in higher education from three angles: the self, the system, and opportunities for change. Our experts will help you to reflect on how you may experience imposter syndrome, understand its root causes, and enable you to change that narrative by understanding those elements of your career and well-being that you have control over. This video course has been designed specifically for faculty of all disciplines, both tenure-track and term faculty, although anyone who wants to better understand imposter syndrome and how it presents in higher education will also find value in this video course.

Developing a Comprehensive System of Support for First-Generation Students

Developing a Comprehensive System of Support for First-Generation Students October 19 – 21, 2022 Strategize ways to engage and support your first-generation undergraduates. EVENT INFORMATION ENSURE YOUR TECHNOLOGY IS READY This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and engagement. We advise the following in order to participate fully: Audio & Visual Needs

Developing an Advancement Intern Program

Providing a pathway for talent development can help ease the staffing constraints that advancement shops are currently facing. With a shortage of talent available due to competitive salaries and aggressive recruiting, one solution you can implement now is developing an undergraduate internship program for your shop. Your institution likely has many students interested in joining the non-profit sector upon graduation. There’s no better place to introduce them to non-profit operations such as fundraising, donor engagement, and data analytics than in your institutional advancement shop. Introducing interns to this work connects the student intern’s career aspirations to a non-profit culture, while also providing techniques for cultivating relationships and managing projects. Join us for this highly valuable program to learn how Trajan Dubiel, Director of Development, leads and continues to grow the Advance-U Internship Program at Michigan State University.

Customer Service Skills Training: Certification for Higher Education Professionals

Customer Service Skills Training: Certification for Higher Education Professionals November 16 – 18, 2022 Gain the knowledge and skills you need to provide high-quality customer service in the higher education environment. EVENT INFORMATION ENSURE YOUR TECHNOLOGY IS READY This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and engagement. We advise the following in order to participate fully: Audio & Visual Needs

Beyond Salary: An Uncommon Strategy to Recruit and Retain Advancement Professionals

Good development professionals are hard to find—and even harder to retain. This challenge becomes greater if you’re at a smaller institution with a tighter budget that is competing against larger institutions, as well as the non-profit sector, for top fundraising talent. To improve your results in recruiting and retaining the fundraising talent you want, and, on a budget, you may want to consider a non-traditional strategy and approach to identifying new talent. To retain your new development team members for at least three years, you’ll need to adopt a thoughtful six-month onboarding strategy that inspires ownership, autonomy, and recognition. In order to do this well, you must first lean into these individuals’ specific personality traits, from internal drive to problem-solving, professionalism, and accountability. Join us in this webcast to learn how Nichole Fannin, Executive Director of Development and Annual Giving at the University of West Georgia, leads their department’s efforts in a high return-on-talent-investment for their recruitment and retention efforts.

Selecting a Vendor to Augment Your Student Success Efforts

As institutions increasingly use data and technology to drive decision-making, it is important to have ways to efficiently collect, store, and parse that data. But with so much information to store and manage, institutions often need good partners and solutions to aid in managing their data. Many institutions have therefore turned to working with outside software vendors to help manage student retention and engagement. Institutions often have more than one of these outside vendors and work with campus IT professionals to integrate those software tools into their daily work. But how do institutions decide which vendors will help them to be the most successful? Join us for a 90-minute virtual training where you’ll learn the considerations that go into selecting and communicating with a new vendor for student success. Our expert Joseph Connell will discuss what questions you should ask of potential vendors and your on-campus staff to help you decide what the best support looks like for you. You will also learn to create a timeline for onboarding a new vendor for your institution.