Archives: Courses

The Key to a Chair’s Success: Situational Awareness of Your Department

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

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 […]

Building Communities of Practice: Extended Orientation and Development Programs for Campus Leaders

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

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

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 […]

Maintaining Collaborative Momentum After Securing a Transformational Gift

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

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

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:

Leading Your Research Group with Clear Communication and Intentionality

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.

Cultivating and Stewarding Transformational Donors: A Conversation with Vice Presidents

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. 

Planning and Completing Your Academic Book: A Guide to Process and Motivation

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 […]

Using Mediation Skills to Resolve Conflicts Between Faculty or Staff: A Training for Department Chairs

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

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:

Encore and Live Q&A: Bridging the Process Gap for Major Gifts Between Advancement Services and Frontline Fundraising

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. 

Aligning Your Work with Your Goals as Career Faculty

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.

You Can’t Sit with Us: Exploring the Impact of Mean Girls and Bullying in Higher Education

In 2017, The Workplace Bullying Institute found that women experience the majority of abusive conduct at work. We are sadly all too familiar with the stereotypical sexist discrimination and harassment perpetuated within higher education, but what does it mean when it looks slightly different—when women experience gendered bullying and harassment by other women? In their 2020 work, Navigating the Gendered Labyrinths and Managing the Mean Girls and Queen Bees within the Academy, Locke and Hayes found that women in higher education experience a number of challenges when working with other women, including but not limited to: gaslighting, emotional abuse, withheld support or mentoring, and microaggressions. In this training, our experts will take this research a step further and lead a discussion on the importance of considering intersectional identities in the experience of bullying. Through research, case studies, and the lived experiences of the presenters, attendees will have the opportunity to explore this topic and identify the types of behaviors that could limit or prevent the growth of women who lead in higher education.

Developing and Supporting Identity-Based Alumni Affinity Groups

As student demographics in higher education continue to shift, and as institutions continue to develop new initiatives focused on equity, inclusion, and belonging, it is more important than ever to build a pathway for diverse students to become engaged alumni. Identity-based alumni affinity groups can foster ties between prospective and current students and alumni, strengthen a diverse volunteer pipeline, and increase giving. They can also offer alumni a continued or newfound sense of belonging as well as opportunities for advocacy.   Join us for this virtual training to learn how to develop and support identity-based alumni affinity groups. We will share examples, strategies, and reflection points for starting and sustaining these groups. In this virtual conference, you will consider: Historical legacies of the inclusion/exclusion of diverse students and alumni in higher education and at your own institution. What is communicated by a group name, and how to choose names that best serve your alumni. How to use a phased approach to establish identity-based alumni affinity groups. Ways to support group missions through communication, events, and other engagement.

Public Speaking Bootcamp: A Hands-On Approach to Developing and Delivering Effective Communication

Public Speaking Bootcamp: A Hands-On Approach to Developing and Delivering Effective Communication September 6, 13, 20, & 27, 2023 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET 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 Welcome! Welcome to the Public Speaking Bootcamp: A Hands-On Approach to Developing and Delivering Effective Communication. Our hope is that you will walk away with the ability to confidently develop and deliver content in a public speaking environment. You will know how to prepare, practice, and perform your speech. Plus, you will learn how to create a calming practice to reduce anxiety and think through what to do if things do not go as planned while delivering a speech. This course page serves as your “one-stop shop” for all of the course materials and instructions you will need to guide you through the bootcamp. A couple of important notes to get you started: All course materials can be found in the “Access Course Materials” tab to the left. Any course materials you will need to prepare for the live sessions, including copies of slides, assignments, and assessments, will be […]

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