Archives: Courses

Strategies to Build Your Donor Base: Digital Engagement

As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention.   Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution.   Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table as annual giving professionals. 

Understanding and Clarifying Faculty Mentoring Roles

As faculty navigate mentoring relationships, a number of challenges can arise as a result of expectations and roles not being as clearly defined as possible. Mentors can serve in many different roles for mentees, including coaches, confidants, teachers, guides, advocates, sponsors, and more. Mentors may even move between roles depending on the needs of their mentees. It is important therefore for mentors and mentees alike to have the same understanding of the mentoring relationship in order to avoid challenges like role confusion, role expansion, and role overreach.  Join us for a one-hour discussion focused on how to identify the potential role difficulties in mentoring relationships and how to overcome those difficulties. Drawing on the work of Katharine Stewart in Make the Most of Mentoring: Best Practices and Core Principles for Mentors and Mentees, we will:  

Alumni Relations Discussion Series: Staying Relevant

Alumni relations professionals have experienced numerous significant changes in recent years. Faced with challenges such as communicating value to other areas of the shop, managing talent and volunteers in a hybrid work environment, interpreting new sources of data and metrics, and continuously adapting strategy to forge more meaningful connections with alumni, many need a space to step back, reflect, and exchange ideas with peers.     Join us for an online series to discuss hot topics facing alumni relations professionals just like you. You’ll have space to share pressing concerns, questions, and current practices with others in the field in anticipation of what’s next for the alumni relations profession.   Each session will be facilitated by our expert panel:   Collectively, they bring 30+ years of experience to the table as leaders/supervisors of alumni relations professionals. 

Strategies to Build Your Donor Base: Affinity-Based Giving

As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention.   Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution.   Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table as annual giving professionals.

Managing Student and Employee Complaints

In part one of this discussion series, The Impact of Enhancing Customer Service in Higher Education, learn techniques for managing common student and employee complaints to enhance satisfaction and retention. 

Alumni Relations Discussion Series: Alumni Engagement in an Integrated Advancement Model

hybrid work environment, interpreting new sources of data and metrics, and continuously adapting strategy to forge more meaningful connections with alumni, many need a space to step back, reflect, and exchange ideas with peers.     Join us for an online series to discuss hot topics facing alumni relations professionals just like you. You’ll have space to share pressing concerns, questions, and current practices with others in the field in anticipation of what’s next for the alumni relations profession.   Each session will be facilitated by our expert panel:   Collectively, they bring 30+ years of experience to the table as leaders/supervisors of alumni relations professionals. 

Navigating Parenthood While Thriving as an Academic

For too many academics, whether and when to start a family, and how to balance parenthood as a full-time academic, remain challenging questions often rooted in either/or thinking: that you can thrive as a parent or as a scholar, but not as both. While there is some truth to the belief that parenthood can add a challenging twist to one’s academic career, it is possible to design a successful career as an academic and parent where you thrive rather than merely survive, both personally and professionally. In this free webcast, join Dr. Nicole Pulliam, Professor and Academic Impressions Faculty Coach, as she discusses the common misconceptions about parenting that can limit your faculty life and professional aspirations. Drawing on her own experience as a mother of two, a tenured professor, a former department chair, and her work coaching faculty, Dr. Pulliam will speak to the common challenges she sees parents struggle with and share strategies for integrating your needs and desires as a parent with your professional aspirations and goals.

Strategies to Build Your Donor Base: Year-long Intentional Stewardship

As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention.   Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution.   Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table as annual giving professionals. 

Between Shame and Supremacy: A Model for Healthy White Identity Development 

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts have provoked a tidal wave of fury from a broad swath of Americans, especially some White Americans, who believe such efforts paint all White people as “bad people.” Until we develop a more nuanced understanding of the White racial identity development process that decenters shame and guilt and recenters the damaging effects of structural racism on all of us, we will continue to elicit sharp resistance that stymies social justice struggles.  In this interactive workshop, you will have a chance to further your own self-awareness and understanding by engaging with concepts around the history of Whiteness, White socialization, and the psychology of White racial development in the U.S. today. You will leave the event with: 

Attracting Faculty Talent: A Discussion for Department Chairs

In recent years, you may have noticed that it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to attract faculty talent to your campus. Many institutions are finding that the offer of tenure is not enough. The pandemic made people rethink their priorities. Generational differences are impacting what some people value in their workplace. The social and political climate surrounding your campus also matters—a lot. So if you find that faculty are becoming more selective in where and how they grow their careers, you’re not alone. Join us online for a one-hour discussion where we will explore the current trends impacting faculty recruitment. The conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, but if you’re looking for an opportunity to reflect on how well you’re responding to the changing needs of your incoming faculty, this discussion is for you. Come prepared to engage in dialogue and share insights with other department chairs from across the country.

Self-Awareness as Your Superpower: A Certificate Program for Department Chairs

Self-awareness lies at the heart of effective leadership. A self-aware department chair understands why they lead the way they do because they study their own attitudes, behaviors, and motives. However, the most effective department chairs also practice “other-awareness,” which means that they study the impact of their attitudes, behaviors, and motives on others. And this can be your superpower, because it increases your effectiveness in developing meaningful relationships with your stakeholders, including your dean, faculty, staff, and students.  Join us for a four-week certificate program designed to help you build your self-awareness superpower.  Throughout this course, you’ll explore:    As a final activity, you will create a personalized definition of leadership—something that communicates who you are as a leader—and you’ll discuss with your peers how you can apply it to a current leadership challenge you’re facing now.   

Growing and Supporting Academic Staff: An Imperative for Today’s Academic Leaders

As the keepers of institutional knowledge and day-to-day know-how, academic staff have always been critical to the functioning of Academic Affairs. Yet many of us are currently struggling to hire and retain the academic staff we need, and without more intentional support, these challenges are likely to persist. As academic leaders, how can we be proactive about the experiences of our academic staff, and how can we build our skillsets around managing and developing them further?     Join us for a free webinar to exchange ideas and current practices around this issue with fellow academic leaders across the nation. In a panel-discussion setting, we’ll explore how you can:     

Strategies to Build Your Donor Base: Segmentation

As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention.   Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution.   Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table as annual giving professionals.

Strategies to Build Your Donor Base: Comprehensive Multi-channel Solicitation Calendar

As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention. Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution. Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table as annual giving professionals.

Re-examining Pandemic-Era Assumptions in Faculty Life: A Discussion for Faculty Affairs & Academic Leaders

The fall of 2023 marks three and a half years since the pandemic began. Though daily routines have resumed for many, there are a core set of practices and assumptions that became characteristic of faculty life during pandemic times that have yet to dissipate. As academic leaders charged with supporting the success and well-being of faculty, we must find ways to help our faculty and institutions re-examine these assumptions by answering questions like:     Join us for a free webinar session to discuss these and other related questions. You’ll hear from our panelists, Joanna Brooks, Associate Vice President for Faculty Advancement and Student Success at San Diego State University, and Colleen Ryan, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty & Academic Affairs, as well as your peers in similar positions across the country. You will leave with a better sense of how these conversations are unfolding at other institutions and equipped with new ideas you can use to begin to challenge these assumptions on your own campus. 

Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to Improve Academic Program Evaluation

Natural language processing, artificial Intelligence, and machine learning can help universities to allocate resources, identify areas of high demand, and optimize scheduling. Join us for an interactive discussion to learn how these powerful tools, embedded in a modern program evaluation system (PES), can help you to evaluate and improve academic programs and ensure that your students receive the best education possible.  The modern PES is becoming more powerful as it integrates these three technologies. A PES can now parse job postings, assess employer skill requirements, and analyze the skills taught in each program. It can predict program size, attrition, and margins. Academic leaders and program managers can use a modern PES to identify potential growth and cost-reduction opportunities, and to better align curriculum with job market requirements.