Donor cultivation is a critical element of sustainable fundraising practices. Academic deans must employ strategies that are aligned with the donor’s personality, values, and philanthropic outlook to meaningfully develop the donor relationship. Without this intentional approach to donor cultivation, less strategic fundraising strategies may cause a dean to fail to build a relationship with a donor that would allow them to contribute through the institution in a way that is aligned with how they want to impact the world. Join us for this one-hour training to learn how to use specific strategies to foster relationships with your donors in individualized ways. You will identify the key principles of donor cultivation, learn what to listen for in donor conversations, and consider different methods of donor engagement while working through real-world donor scenarios.
Within higher education, the debate related to the First Amendment and academic freedom—and whether or not they are a hindrance to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives—continues to be a polarizing topic. During these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever that campus leaders are armed with facts as well as critical perspectives, to assist them in their ability follow the law while also creating meaningful learning environments for faculty, staff, and students. This training aims to remove the assumption that diversity initiatives struggle to coexist within the parameters of free speech and/or academic freedom. During the session, we will explore and explain areas where the priorities of DEI and academic and political leaders overlap, rather than diverge. You will come away with a greater understanding of the interrelationships among the three and of how to offer support when the values of faculty, staff, or students remain in conflict.
Changing demographics in U.S. higher education are leading many of us to increase our understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion to engage with students and colleagues more meaningfully. Racial identity and its intersection with other social identities play a prominent role in how individuals experience higher education as a place of work or learning. This video course is designed to increase your understanding of racial identity, power dynamics, and privilege within the higher ed context. Our expert instructor, Dr. Domonic Rollins, will help you learn the definitions of key terms, reflect on your own identity and its connection to privilege, and power, and apply your racial and cultural literacy to real-world scenarios. Accompanying this course is a workbook designed to help you put your knowledge into action.
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This course is designed for any/all department chairs who want to develop a greater awareness and understanding of their department and its strategic position within their institution. You’ll be introduced to a four-step process called an environmental scan, which allows you to systematically research and assess your department’s history, trends, and strategic position—all of which influence the way others view and engage with you and your department. You’ll further explore how your environmental scan can help you to make better decisions, make a case, communicate effectively with your stakeholders, leverage institutional collaborations, and empower others throughout your department.
Pathways to Success: A Leadership Academy for New and Aspiring Chief Diversity Officers September 21 – November 2, 2023 Individual Session Dates: September 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, & November 2, 2023 Welcome to the course page for your bootcamp! More information will be added as we get closer to your event, so please check back soon. Important Links Contact Moira Killoran to learn more. Welcome! Thank you so much for joining us on this developmental aspect of your leadership journey! Over the course of these 7 weeks, you will learn from our expert instructor as well as from your peers, and you will have the opportunity to apply what you are learning in real time. We have provided various opportunities for you to connect with a small cohort of attendees as you think and work through your vision for your own career path. Our hope is that you walk away having thoroughly explored and developed your leadership skills through reflection, discussion, and application. If you have any questions, please contact Sandra Miles, Head of Practice at Academic Impressions. Pre-Event Assignment For our third session, please be prepared to share your 5 Paths Leadership Assessment Results . Session Dates and Times: Understanding Why You Want to Do This […]
At this time of continued transition in higher education, institutions are regularly welcoming new leaders at all levels. Many institutions do not have well-developed, intentional practices for fully onboarding new leaders in ways that will help them understand the culture, complexity, and wide range of responsibilities and expectations of their position. Additionally, many leaders are relatively isolated in their roles from a wide-ranging support network across their campus community. Developing a program that will impart new leaders with a clear sense of how to be successful in their role and at the institution, share resources that will support their transition, and provide intentional opportunities to build relationships can supplement what any one specific department or area is able to provide to ensure success for the new leaders on campus. Join us to learn how creating extended orientation and development programs can shorten transition periods and set a strong foundation for success. Using the Virginia Tech Academic Leaders Program and New Senior Leader Cohort as models, we will explore essential programmatic elements, learn how to make the case for such a program, and hear about pitfalls to avoid. In this training, we will cover:
Five Paths to Leadership Results Debrief Session Learn more about your self-assessment results, what they mean, and the styles of each path — Critical Thinker, Relator, Visionary, Warrior, and Sage. Login On: June 15, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. ET JOIN ZOOM MEETING Be sure to take the Five Paths to Leadership Self-Assessment before the session and bring your results to the session! Take the Five Paths Assessment 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:
Managing Difficult Faculty & Staff: A Bootcamp for Leaders October 23 – November 13, 2023 Individual Sessions: October 23, 30, November 6, 13, 2023 Welcome to the course page for your bootcamp! More information will be added as we get closer to your event, so please check back soon. Important Links Contact Moira Killoran to learn more. Welcome! This bootcamp will teach you how to intervene and correct problematic performance and behavior within your team. Over the course of four weeks, our expert instructor will walk you through a four step, increasingly authoritative model that is intended to engage, set expectations, communicate consequences, and minimize the ill effect of bad behaviors on others. You will also be able to workshop strategies with your peers and discuss real challenges that you are facing. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Adams, Learning and Development Manager at Academic Impressions. Session Dates and Times: Session 1 | Engagement October 23, 2023 | 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET Session 2 | Management October 30, 2023 | 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET Session 3 | Enforcement November 6, 2023 | 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET Session 4 | Marginalization November 13, 2023 | 2:00 […]
Identifying and cultivating a major donor whose personal beliefs and philanthropic vision align with institutional purpose is no small task, and securing a transformational gift from such a donor is a significant accomplishment for any institution. Not only can such a gift transform the lives of current and future students, but it should also shift the ways in which the advancement shop engages with campus partners, the donors themselves, and alumni and other potential donors. Using her experience with Western Michigan University’s Empowering Futures Gift, Kristen DeVries, Vice President and Executive Director of WMU Foundation, will share how a transformational gift can motivate additional alumni and donor engagement. In this two-hour training, you will consider how to establish clear internal processes and communication methods that will allow you to use momentum from a transformational gift to inspire others to contribute to historic institutional change.
Bridging the Equity Gap in Higher Education July 31 – August 1, 2023 Build equity on your campus by focusing on retention and completion for historically marginalized students. Welcome to your course page for your virtual conference! We’ll be adding links to meeting rooms, schedules, social media, and course materials as they become available. Make sure to check back as it gets closer to your conference! EVENT INFORMATION Check back soon for links! 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
Supervision Certificate Program Learn effective strategies for supervision and gain practical tools to support your team in just 4 weeks. Use the links below to access the weekly trainings. Week 1: Setting up the Supervisory Relationship Week 2: Performance Management Video 1 Week 2: Performance Management Video 2 Week 3: Managing Conflict Week 4: Growing, Motivating, and Retaining Your Staff Click here to download the workbook (to be filled in while watching video trainings) Login for Week 2 & 4 Live Trainings On: June 16, 2023 and June 30, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. ET Live Session #1 (Friday June 16 | 1-2 PM ET) Live Session #2 (Friday June 30 | 1-2 PM ET) Full Event Information VIEW EVENT PAGE Including: Curriculum Overview 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:
As institutions push for more interdisciplinary research both internally and externally, faculty must also manage more complex research teams. While teams may unite around a shared project, without unified expectations for aspects like who will be an author or how to share data, collaboration can be difficult, and the research project may not be successful. Leaders of research groups from labs to interdisciplinary teams working at multiple institutions must therefore learn how to set up shared guidelines and expectations in order to manage the project from start to finish. This course is intended to help leaders of research groups of all sizes learn how to manage research projects with clear communication and intentionality. Our expert speaker will walk you through how to think about the guidelines that should be in place for peer review, authorship disputes, data management, creating a safe research environment, and collaborative research. You will also learn some common pitfalls in each of these areas and be able to use the accompanying workbook to plan out your collaboration and communication with your team.
Identifying key insights from casual but meaningful conversations with transformational donors can lead to strong relationships that provide your institution with the support it needs for generations to come. These conversations don’t always come easy. In fact, they often encompass their own unique challenges, depending on the type of donor you’re speaking to, the campus partners joining the conversation, and how well their donor experience has gone. To overcome the potential challenges within these conversations, there are phases of cultivation and stewardship in which you can become more fluent over time, such as: Join us in this panel conversation with Vice Presidents of Advancement, Dexter Bailey of California Institute of Technology, and Kristen DeVries of Western Michigan University Foundation, alongside Mitchell Spearmen, Founder and Dreamer of Gifts of a Lifetime, to discuss how they have approached conversations with ultra-high-net-worth families. You will have the opportunity to ask questions to help navigate a current phase you’re in or to ask about how to approach a specific scenario.
Bemidji State University & Northwest Technical College Workshop: Innovative Mindset Development May 10 – 11, 2023 ACCESS COURSE MATERIALS
The decision to publish a book, as opposed to articles or other, shorter pieces, is always a complex one for faculty to consider. Whether they are at the mid-career stage and able to establish a new phase of their research arc, an early-career faculty member who is publishing a book for tenure, or any faculty member hoping to share their research more broadly, the process is often opaque and time-consuming. This course is designed to help faculty to begin thinking about and planning the process of writing a book. Our speaker, Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren, has published multiple books with different audiences, ranging from other academics, to clinicians, to the general public. He will walk you through developing an idea, considering different book types and audiences, the steps required for writing, and developing strong writing habits. You will leave this course with a better sense of whether it is the right time for writing your book, how you should manage the process, and what steps you’ll need to take to get started. This course is intended for a wide range of faculty, including tenure-track, career-track, and a wide variety of disciplines. Whether you are required to write a book for […]
Conflict is difficult because it sparks an emotional response in each of us and requires us to navigate the inherent tensions that arise from differences in perspective and expectation. As a department chair, you have the responsibility to manage conflict with grace, so that you can lead by example and create a culture where conflict is viewed as healthy and productive. This is true when you’re managing a conflict you’re directly involved in, but it’s even more important when you’re called upon to help others resolve a conflict because they are finding it difficult to make progress on their own. Join us online to learn how mediation techniques can help you to facilitate productive conversations and seek resolution when faculty and/or staff are in conflict or dispute with each other. You’ll learn how to diffuse the tension that arises during conflict while also focusing on collaborative problem-solving that creates mutually acceptable solutions for all involved. You’ll learn how to:
You Can’t Sit with Us: Exploring the Impact of Mean Girls and Bullying in Higher Education Deter bullying and break down the barriers that limit the growth of women leaders. Login On: June 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:
When your institution receives a major gift, whether in the form of one single gift or through a multi-year pledge, it is important to manage that gift accurately. This includes placing the gift in its appropriate account on campus, ensuring that pledge reminders are sent out and payment secured in a timely manner, and that the donation is used according to donor intent. However, when frontline fundraisers introduce new gifts, the institutional destination and purpose of the gift can get lost in translation as it makes its way to advancement services for processing. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the processes between advancement services and frontline fundraising are sound, and that communication is consistent to prevent circumstances that can lead to loss in revenue, missed pledges, or money spent incorrectly. Join us for this online training to learn how the University of Utah created a new position to specifically address these common problems within advancement. This session will help your shop to identify and scale your current process by adopting some of Utah’s best practices to better streamline communication across these two areas.
Faculty not on the tenure track are seeking career development and leadership opportunities relevant to their unique career paths. While they share similar responsibilities as tenure-track faculty, they also face being overburdened with undervalued academic work, such as administrative and service work, that may not advance their careers and professional goals. In our video course, Becoming Part of the Great Aspiration: A Career Development Workshop for Alt-ac Faculty, Dr. Gypsy Denzine introduces the idea of “professional equity,” which includes your knowledge and expertise as well as your professional network and reputation. In this live addendum to the course, Dr. Denzine will walk you through how you can build your professional equity as a non-tenure-track faculty member by being strategic about the tasks you choose, so that they align with your values and career goals.
