Course Category: Virtual Training Recording

Strategic Planning as a Dean: Enhance Your Unit’s Success from Start to Finish

Strategic plans typically take several months to develop and are designed to be implemented over a three- to five-year window. In contrast, the average tenure for a dean is often about three years—less than the time it takes to realize most strategic plans. Layered with the additional complexity of continual leadership transitions throughout the organization, it’s no wonder that the strategic plan of the unit often lacks momentum during development, fails to get implemented, and/or fizzles out during execution. Given the increased competitive pressure many institutions are facing, failure to realize a strategic plan can result in a large opportunity cost for the unit and/or reduce institutional credibility with external stakeholders—both of which can impede the unit’s longer-term growth and success. Join us online for a workshop that will explore how you and your unit can more effectively approach the planning, implementation, and execution of a strategic plan. You’ll discuss tips and strategies for avoiding common pitfalls that lead to the downfall of a strategic plan, and you’ll also learn how to identify the warning signs that signal that your strategic plan is struggling. More importantly, you’ll walk away with tips and strategies to help you increase the engagement and […]

A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Leadership Approach to Research Cluster Initiatives

Research clusters help institutions strengthen research activity by promoting innovative and multidisciplinary research, attracting top research talent, garnering external funding, and promoting institutional identity. Further, by taking part in these initiatives, faculty and academic leaders of various levels gain exposure to strategic planning and leadership development. In this training, we’ll leverage one institution’s blend of a “top-down” and “bottom-up” leadership approach that successfully aligned multiple components of institutional strategy and generated campus wide buy-in. Join us for this interactive session, where Dr. Warren Burggren of the University of North Texas will walk you through three key aspects of a successful research cluster initiative: Institutional alignment and strategy Collaborative leadership across roles and responsibilities Evaluation of short-term and long-term success This training will emphasize the roles of both faculty and administrators in leading an initiative that resulted in a multi-year, institution-wide research cluster initiative that created targeted faculty hires and generated a major increase in external funding.

A Toolkit to Reengaging and Reconnecting with Students Post-COVID

As institutions have moved back to in-person or hybrid operations from a largely virtual COVID-19 response, student engagement and disconnection is at an all-time high. While the beginning of this trend predated the pandemic, it has now been compounded by increasing enrollment and retention challenges in the aftermath. We know that students who do not feel they belong at their institution are much less likely to persist and graduate from that institution, and a central hurdle to mitigating this challenge is that higher ed faculty and staff do not feel equipped to reconnect and reengage students. Join us for this one-day virtual conference to learn more about how to rebuild the connection between your institution and the students who attend. Our expert speakers, Glenn Davis and Vickie Cook, will share practical tips for understanding the nuances of student success today, as well as how to address student needs. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss engagement both in and out of the classroom, the adverse impact of intersectionality on some students’ experiences, and best practices to move forward.

Working with Institutional Data for Student Retention

Data can be a powerful tool for understanding attrition and creating student success programs. Student affairs and enrollment professionals often yearn for access to data, but when they do have access, they may struggle with distilling the data they acquire, using that data effectively, and working with others to ask the right questions. This virtual workshop is strongly recommended to retention planning professionals outside of Institutional Research who would like to learn how to: Recognize data points that can be used to measure factors associated with retention. Examine patterns in retention data. Create research questions that better communicate your data needs and program outcomes with institutional partners, leadership, and other stakeholders.

Setting and Maintaining Boundaries as Faculty to Develop Professional Well-being and Success

In Academic Impressions’ 2021 survey of higher ed faculty, staff, and administrators to understand the current state of professional development, 51% of respondents reported experiencing clinical levels of burnout. Faculty burnout comes on the heels of their being asked to do more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the additional challenges of meeting the needs of students that resulted. But faculty who learn how to set boundaries with their work and maintain a healthy integration are far more likely to continue to enjoy their work and maintain their sense of professional well-being. Join us for an interactive session on how to better develop and maintain boundaries with your work as faculty. Our expert speaker Dr. Jackie Leibsohn has served in faculty positions and leadership at all levels. She will walk you through identifying what is being added to faculty’s plates, how and when to say no to additional work, and how to survive a changing faculty environment. We will also provide resources for you to continue to practice professional well-being in your faculty role.

Improving Your Gift-In-Kind Evaluation Process

Gifts-in-kind, or non-cash gifts, are unique. Most are appreciated assets that offer donors the ability to give an asset, receive a tax deduction for the value, and, depending on the donor, avoid capital gains tax. Yet, there are many gifts-in-kind that aren’t so easy to accept. This may be due to unverifiable value, such as with art collections, gifts of used equipment that may prove to be hard to place or to find a means to value, illiquid privately-held securities, or non-fungible tokens that pose issues in determining both ownership and value, as examples. Donors need to be responsible for providing bona fide appraisals and bearing those costs; but the institution also needs to be able to validate the value as well as many other aspects of a non-cash gift prior to acceptance. Whatever the non-cash gift, the viability of the value and its benefit to the institution must be analyzed before accepting. To better answer the question of whether a gift-in-kind has the value the donor claims, you must have a thorough review process in place and access to the right experts who can verify both the value and its benefit. Either way, gifts-in-kind must be analyzed on a […]

Encore: Building Confidence as a New Leader: Overcoming Internal Barriers

Encore: Building Confidence as a New Leader: Overcoming Internal Barriers Build your confidence in your leadership ability by overcoming self-doubt. Login On: December 7, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET Unable to attend this live training? Stay registered to receive the recording of the training after the live event. JOIN ZOOM MEETING Full Event Information VIEW EVENT PAGE Including: Agenda Overview Speaker Bios Prepare for the Workshop This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and engagement. We advise the following in order to participate fully:

Preparing Frontline Fundraisers to Support Academic Leaders for Campaign Success

Academic leaders require the expertise and perspective of knowledgeable major gifts fundraisers to be successful in their campaign fundraising efforts. Without this support, deans may be uncomfortable with the fundraising process and struggle with donor strategy and campaign messaging—especially if they haven’t had success with fundraising attempts in the past. To improve the fundraising capacity of your academic leaders, and the overall success of the campaign, major gift fundraisers need to know how to communicate effectively and share best practices on topics such as engaging strategically with prospects, adhering to campaign messaging, and aligning funding priorities with institutional goals. Campaigns are marathons, and your dean will require your coaching!

Developing a Strategy for Equity-Based Fundraising

Unconscious resistance is the thing that continues to prevent shops from advancing and implementing a more equity-based fundraising strategy that engages the diversity of their alumni base. With the changing demographics in student bodies and young alumni in higher education today, implementing a sound strategy will deepen engagement and increase philanthropic giving from alumni who bring new and unique lived experiences to their philanthropic choices. To improve your engagement and fundraising results from a more diverse alumni pool, a culture and infrastructure built upon equally diverse voices and input must be created. Whether you’re planning to launch a listening tour to speak to your different populations, honing in on how data is gathered, or rethinking how prospects are screened, there are many different approaches you can take to advance equity-based fundraising at your institution. Join us in this training to lean into the commitment to continue advancing equity-based fundraising by defining the problem you want to solve and leaving with a concrete next-step to progress toward your goal.

Campus-Wide Equity & Diverse Faculty Pathways: A Discussion About the Future of Higher Ed

Campus-Wide Equity & Diverse Faculty Pathways: A Discussion About the Future of Higher Ed Inspiring partnerships that yield more campus-wide support on equity and inclusion and implementing diverse faculty pathways are the future of higher ed, so join fellow faculty affairs leaders and chief diversity officers, including those leading in the academic space, for an open dialogue. Login On: April 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. ET Unable to attend this live training? Stay registered to receive the recording of the training after the live event. JOIN ZOOM MEETING Full Event Information VIEW EVENT PAGE Including: Agenda Overview Speaker Bios Prepare for the Workshop This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and engagement. We advise the following in order to participate fully:

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