Course Category: Free for All-Inclusive Members

Design Thinking Certification: A 5-Day Program to Help You Solve Complex Problems Creatively

For 5 days, you will get daily emails Monday through Friday, with bite-sized videos that you can complete in 30 minutes or less each day. If you complete all modules within two weeks, you will have the chance to request a certificate of completion. New cohorts start every Monday.   Don’t miss the opportunity to integrate professional development into your daily routine and establish a solid understanding of design thinking principles in your work.   Recommended Schedule:   Day 1: 20 minutes  Day 2: 20 minutes  Day 3: 20 minutes  Day 4: 20 minutes  Day 5: 30 minutes 

Developing a Foundation for Sustained Philanthropic Support: A Certificate Program for Deans and Academic Leaders

Alumni participation has steadily declined across institutions of higher education in the United States for several decades. And increasingly, donors are taking their philanthropic inclinations to organizations where they can give to specific purposes with targeted outcomes. The most successful deans and academic leaders are attuned to this reality and work in concert with their advancement colleagues to help alumni and donors see how the institution’s capabilities align with alumni and donor passions to make a significant, sustainable difference in society together. Understanding how to facilitate philanthropic engagement from alumni and donors by providing them with portals of purpose to give through your institution, rather than to it, can restore and sustain your student experience and alumni affinity for years to come.   Join us for a five-week certificate program designed to teach you how leadership, collaboration, and philanthropic vital signs can combine into a larger strategy to strengthen donor engagement with your unit. Specifically, you’ll learn:    As a culminating activity, you will create an action plan for the year ahead focused on improving collaboration and the health of your philanthropic vital signs, and you’ll discuss with your peers how to overcome any barriers you may face to implement it. 

Taking a Formative Assessment Approach to Annual Faculty Evaluations

Whether your faculty are standout rock stars, or they are struggling to perform as expected, the annual evaluation is a valuable opportunity to foster engagement with them. It’s a chance to reflect on how the year has gone, express gratitude for their contributions to the campus community, and provide specific and actionable feedback to help them progress towards the next career milestones. But how do you structure your time together so that it’s positive, productive, and supportive for all faculty?  Join us online to learn how you can plan for and guide the faculty evaluation session, so that it’s impactful for all involved. You’ll also learn about a 5-step process that focuses on formative assessment and allows you to co-create a vision for success alongside your faculty. Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share your insights with other department chairs from across the country. 

Actualize Your Purpose, Part 1: Connecting Your Well-Being to Your Work

During this 3-hour workshop, you will assess your well-being through the research-based Resilience @ Work framework. Then, you will explore how you can redefine success in ways that support your values and the impact you want to have in the world. You will conclude the workshop by drafting an initial plan for how you can do this in your everyday work.  

The Art of Faculty Accountability

For many reasons, it can feel challenging to hold faculty accountable for their performance—especially when they’re struggling. The truth is, not holding faculty to expected standards often seeds long-term problems, creates resentment amongst faculty colleagues, and is a disservice to the institution’s students. But how do we do this work in a way that brings out the best in our faculty?  Join us online to discuss ways to inspire faculty to pursue higher levels of performance. You’ll hear from a panel of three academic leaders at various career levels—Department Chair, Dean, and Assistant Provost. Together, they’ll share their experience, tips, and strategies for how to hold faculty at all stages of their career accountable in ways that are supportive and mission-aligned ways. We invite you to come prepared to share your own insights, tips, or questions for the group, so that we can grow our collective wisdom, as well. 

Managing Faculty Workloads: A Discussion for Department Chairs

Faculty bring a range of academic and professional talents to their departments. Because of this, many faculty carry heavy workloads, which can lead to high levels of burnout. Chairs are in the unique position to manage faculty workloads, and consequently, the long-term growth and development of faculty, as well. However, many chairs do not have training or background in talent management.  Join us online for a one-hour discussion in which we’ll talk about how you can develop an intentional talent management strategy for your department. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, the discussion will focus on sharing systematic and evidence-based talent management strategies that will help you to balance the workload for your faculty.  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights with other department chairs from across the country.

Setting Boundaries with Empathy

Balancing the responsibilities of being a faculty member with responding to increasing student needs and life outside the university has only gotten more challenging post-pandemic. Faculty, for instance, are experiencing burnout at higher levels than ever before. But faculty who learn how to set boundaries with their work and maintain a healthy integration are far more likely to continue to enjoy that work and maintain their sense of professional well-being.    In this course, Jackie Leibsohn will walk you through how to identify what’s being added to your plate, how and when to say “No” empathetically to additional work, and what may be standing in your way as you set boundaries. This course will speak to faculty at all levels who want to better learn how to set boundaries kindly with colleagues. For those who are not faculty but who may want to learn more about setting and maintaining boundaries, this course will be useful as well.

Cultivating an Inclusive Academic Environment – Leading Among Colleagues

As a leader in professional development for higher education leaders across the world, Academic Impressions prides itself on delivering quality content that is data informed and rooted in practical application. Over the past year we have had a number of conversations with member institutions who have been seeking out inclusive leadership training for their team but have found that very few workshops speak directly to a faculty audience. In response to requests from our members we have embarked on the development of a training program that will speak directly to our faculty audience, but rather than build it in a vacuum, we have worked with campus leaders from across the country to identify key topics and develop a program structure. This next phase is our attempt to determine if what we built truly does achieve our intended outcomes. 

Leading as Faculty: An Audio Series

Episode #1: Navigating the Mid-Career with Niyati Parekh  In our inaugural episode, Jenna interviews Niyati Parekh, Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Initiatives at New York University, about navigating the mid-career stage. Niyati shares how she fell into leadership, and how she now tries to support faculty in their own career journeys.   Episode #2: Inflection Points with Bill Clements  In this episode, Jenna interviews William “Bill” Clements, former Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Norwich University. After a long career as a full-time administrator, Bill reflects on his career as a faculty leader as he returns to a full-time faculty role. Bill muses upon “inflection points,” where he had to make a choice between continuing his work as a scholar or focusing solely on his administrative duties, as well as discussing the importance of strategically choosing the opportunities that best align with your strengths and passions.  Episode #3: Leading as a Social Worker with Katharine Hill  In this episode, Jenna interviews Katharine Hill, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and Research and Professor of Social Work at the University of St. Thomas. Katharine shares how her training as a social worker prepared her for […]

Demystify the Shared Governance Process to Empower Faculty and Staff:  A Discussion for Department Chairs

In order for faculty and staff to fully engage in shared governance, they must first understand their roles, responsibilities, and impact on the process. They also need to possess certain skills and knowledge to collaborate effectively across the institution. As a department chair, you are uniquely positioned to provide the necessary information, training, and support that faculty and staff may need to fully engage in the process.    Join us online for a one-hour discussion to get tips and strategies for how to effectively train faculty and staff to prepare them for their participation in shared governance. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, we anticipate discussing some of the following themes:  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights that can help you and other department chairs to confidently navigate shared governance.