Course Category: Webcast Recording

Building the Capacity of Your Advancement Team

Retention and career mapping are critically important within Advancement. These topics have been long-standing conversations within our field, and the pandemic and new ways of working have continued to keep them top-of-mind. Turnover within advancement teams is high, and those who remain have to juggle supervision and fundraising responsibilities; therefore, it is essential we train our teams and building their capacity as leaders. This will allow them to better empower their team and show the impact of their work. Join us online for a discussion related to investing in and retaining advancement professionals at your institution. We will explore this conversation by talking through questions of:

How Community Colleges Are Pivoting This Fall to Meet the Needs of Students

The pandemic coupled with economic hardship has created an enrollment shortfall for many community colleges. In many cases, those who were planning on attending this fall find themselves out of work, working additional hours, and/or grappling with childcare/homeschooling challenges. During this two-hour recorded discussion, you will hear about some of the barriers students are experiencing and how community colleges are pivoting to meet their needs.

Emerging From the Pandemic: Lessons Learned for Higher Education

In the last two years we have seen tremendous ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovation as higher education adapted to the changing realities of the global pandemic. As our campuses resume operations, it’s critical to reflect on the lessons learned—both in terms of the changes made to operations as well as the lessons on leadership—to prepare for future potential disruptions while also responding to changes already impacting higher education. Join us for a unique online event where we’ll gather leaders from across the country for a national “After-Action Review” as we identify and discuss the most important lessons from the last two years. We’ll explore such questions as:

Understanding the Impact of Stress on Your Leadership Style

Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership® Assessment has been leveraged in our leadership programs for years; thousands of leaders in higher ed have benefited from this dynamic model exploring how one’s leadership styles manifest under normal circumstances and how they change under stress. Having a deeper understanding of your own leadership styles in varying situations increases your self-awareness, enhances your emotional quotient, allows you to more effectively plan, communicate, strategize, and ultimately, lead. Join us to learn what your own leadership styles are, how they might change under stress, and how this can apply to your team. Registrants will be given access to take the assessment ahead of the live workshop. During the workshop, we’ll walk through:

Responding to Burnout and Attrition in Higher Education

There is an urgent need right now to talk about the experiences of employees in higher education. Faculty, staff and administrators — at all levels — are experiencing meaningful levels of burnout and are leaving the academy at unprecedented rates. Join us online to explore key insights gleaned from Academic Impressions’ national study on professional development — the only one of its kind in higher education. We will discuss the issues of burnout and attrition, and also look at: Format We’ll share the most important findings from our survey, including how the data compares to the data pre-COVID. We will then create the space for participants to discuss and share with their peers how these issues are impacting their campuses — and what they’re doing about it.

Staying Competitive in Advancement: A Conversation on Talent Development

Advancement shops have traditionally competed within higher ed to recruit and retain top talent in fundraising. Over the past couple of years, institutions and other non-profits have become even more aggressive in what they’re able to offer candidates to join, stay, and grow in their roles. However, not all institutions have been able to keep up. With higher salaries and more permanent remote options, shops that are unable to compete with these latest trends are seeing a dearth of qualified candidates for their open positions, resulting in greater workloads for those who want to remain at their institution. These trends are not sustainable, and professional development has become an important strategy to increase retention among those who choose to stay at their respective institution. From the talent development perspective, join us to discuss these topics and trends, as well as the type of professional development advancement needs to focus on over the next 3-5 years to stay competitive. We will explore answers to such questions as: You’ll leave this discussion with a greater understanding of what talent development in advancement is facing, as well as with new ideas and connections to improve upon the work you’re doing to recruit, retain, […]

The Dual Role of Faculty Advising in Faculty Leadership and Student Success: A Time for Discussion

As Carol Moore notes in her article, “Advising: Meeting Student Needs?”, “only 22% of colleges have the advising function staffed by professional advisors.” At schools with professional advisors, students often encounter a well-oiled machine of advising that transitions them from their first years of college with a general advisor to more focused work with a major-specific faculty member or advisor. Students at institutions without professional advisors need that same kind of support and guidance in navigating their academic careers, and if they do not receive it, they may struggle to retain at the institution. At the majority of institutions, meanwhile, undergraduate students are too often left with faculty advisors who are neither trained nor given the time to provide appropriate advising. Join us for a one-hour facilitated discussion on the challenges of faculty advising and how to equip faculty with the skills to be successful advisors. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss how your institution prepares faculty for advising, as well as what changes you’d need to make to incorporate advising as service into promotion and tenure portfolios. The author, Carol Moore, will be present to answer your questions and share her thoughts about the changes needed to ensure student […]

Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle: A Discussion for Higher Ed Leaders

Boosting retention and graduation successfully requires a whole-campus approach coordinated across enrollment management, student affairs, and academic affairs. But what often stands as a barrier to a more a coordinated whole-campus approach is that institutions typically compartmentalize the stages of the student life cycle, encouraging different divisions or offices to manage things like recruitment, curricular experience, co-curricular experience, and student development on their own. As institutions today compete more fiercely than ever to enroll and retain students, it’s paramount to develop an overall student life cycle management strategy. Join us for a discussion stemming from Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle: A Handbook for Higher Ed, to focus on questions like: Through a facilitated dialogue with Paul Marthers (Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, Co-Executive Director of the Undergraduate Project at Emory University, and author of Managing the Student Life Cycle: A Handbook for Higher Ed), Christy England (Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the State University System of Florida Board of Governors), and David V. Rosowsky (Vice President for Research at Kansas State University), you will gain valuable insights into how institutional leaders are shaping an overall student success strategy.

Impact of Inflation on Higher Education

While the news has been largely positive about the state of finances in higher ed, the damaging effects of raging inflation present another darkening cloud that higher ed leaders will need to navigate. Two reports from Moody’s Investment Services project that wage inflation, labor shortages, and a nationwide hiring push will send institutional expenses skyrocketing this academic year. Meanwhile, the strong labor market matched with rising inflation will have an additional negative impact on college enrollment and revenues. Join us along with your peers from across the nation for a free webinar to discuss this issue and explore the following questions: You’ll leave this webinar with a greater awareness of how other higher ed leaders are handling inflation on their campuses, as well as new ideas for how to respond on your own campus.

Rethinking the Role of Service in Promotion & Tenure: Defining It, Measuring It, and Addressing Inequities: A Podcast Series

Service is often a significant part of faculty members’ contributions to the institution and overall workload. Yet, it remains hard to define both what counts as service and how to measure it as part of personnel reviews (e.g., promotion and tenure, post-tenure reviews, merit reviews, term faculty reviews, etc.), and promotion and tenure progress, and reviews. Research has shown that certain faculty, including women and BIPOC faculty, face an additional service burden that can delay their career progression and negatively impact their earning potential. Despite what seem like more challenges than solutions, many institutions are beginning to think about service differently and are actively seeking to implement changes. The central questions—how to reward service, and how to ensure that the faculty performing service are valued and rewarded—are driving new thinking and approaches to service in promotion and tenure. This podcast series will bring together examples of innovative and evolving thinking and practices around service as it relates to promotion and tenure, both at the unit and central levels, with the aim of helping to transform existing structures and policies. We’ll center the discussion on practical ways to address: