Archives: Courses

Mindful Leadership for Chairs

When separated from its contemplative framework, mindfulness boils down to three core principles that are essential to effective leadership: gaining perspective, making intentional decisions, and setting clear boundaries with others. Department Chairs need all of these skills to be successful in their roles, yet amid today’s chaotic environment, the space and time to develop them can be hard to come by. Join us for an online training designed to help you lead with a clearer mind and sense of intention. We’ll break the concept of mindful leadership down into practical, approachable terms and offer tools to help you navigate the daily challenges of leading as a Chair, such as: Clarifying issues with your faculty, diffusing emotions around them, and holding the line. Drawing clear boundaries around your role and what is and is not possible. Recognizing complex organizational challenges and putting them into perspective. Understanding the tensions inherent within your decisions.

Setting up the Supervisory Relationship: Understanding and Adapting Your Supervisory Style

Developing a strong supervisory relationship with each staff member goes a long way in ensuring future success for both the individual and the team. In order to accomplish this, you must understand and be able to articulate your own supervisory style—and learn how to adapt it to the styles and work preferences of your team. Having this shared understanding of styles on both sides will help to anchor the supervisory relationship and fortify it in the face of the challenges that naturally occur in our day-to-day work. You will leave this two-hour virtual training with a deeper understanding of your preferred supervisory style, of how and why you might adapt it for individual staff members, and how to engage in productive conversations with new or existing direct reports to build a strong supervisory relationship. You will also complete a useful pre-event exercise to better understand yourself as a supervisor to ground the work of the training. We will explore key questions like the following: How do you identify and articulate your own supervisory style? How can you come to understand the work styles of your direct reports? How do you have a productive conversation with a new (or existing) direct […]

Advancement Roundtable: A Cohort-Based Series for Development Leaders

Advancement Roundtable: A Cohort-Based Series for Development Leaders September 16 – October 28, 2022 Individual Dates: September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2022 Login starting on September 16, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET 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:

Imposter Syndrome in Higher Ed: Examining the Self, the System, and Opportunities for Change

Too often, imposter syndrome is regarded as a deficiency of the person experiencing it. Rarely do we examine the system that created it and that allows it to thrive. For faculty, being in academia can seem like a never-ending quest for “more,” to prove you are “enough,” or that you are “worthy” of the accolades you achieve. For faculty who represent diverse and historically marginalized groups, the burden of imposter syndrome is especially heavy and inconducive to well-being and career success. This video course examines the experience of imposter syndrome in higher education from three angles: the self, the system, and opportunities for change. Our experts will help you to reflect on how you may experience imposter syndrome, understand its root causes, and enable you to change that narrative by understanding those elements of your career and well-being that you have control over. This video course has been designed specifically for faculty of all disciplines, both tenure-track and term faculty, although anyone who wants to better understand imposter syndrome and how it presents in higher education will also find value in this video course.

Faculty Affairs Roundtable for Unit-Level Leaders: A Cohort-Based Series

Faculty Affairs Roundtable for Unit-Level Leaders: A Cohort-Based Series August 25 – September 29, 2022 Individual Dates: August 25, September 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2022 Login On Starting: August 25, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. ET 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:

Discovering Self and Developing Essential Skills: A Bootcamp for New Supervisors

Discovering Self and Developing Essential Skills: A Bootcamp for New Supervisors September 13 – November 1, 2022 Individual Dates: September 13, 27, October 4, 18, 25, November 1, 2022 Please scroll down to view your pre-work videos for sessions 2, 3, 4, and 5! Welcome! Welcome to Discovering Self and Developing Essential Skills: A Bootcamp for New Supervisors. We invite you to join our community as new or developing supervisors seeking to better understand the skills and self-awareness essential to your success. In preparation, mark your calendars for the following dates and times: Starting September 13th, the bootcamp meets weekly on Tuesdays from 1:00-2:30 PM ET for Sessions 2, 3 ,4, 5 and from 1:00-4:00 PM ET for Sessions 1 and 6: Session 1 – 9/13 1:00-4:00 PM ET Session 2 – 9/27 1:00-2:30 PM ET Session 3 – 10/4 1:00-2:30 PM ET Session 4 – 10/18 1:00-2:30 PM ET Session 5 – 10/25 1:00-2:30 PM ET Session 6 – 11/1 1:00-4:00 PM ET Please note, during the weeks of September 21 and November 14 you will have the opportunity to schedule a one-on-one coaching session with Dr. Therese Lask, facilitator of the bootcamp. To deepen your learning and create […]

Developing a Comprehensive System of Support for First-Generation Students

Developing a Comprehensive System of Support for First-Generation Students October 19 – 21, 2022 Strategize ways to engage and support your first-generation undergraduates. EVENT INFORMATION 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

Developing an Advancement Intern Program

Providing a pathway for talent development can help ease the staffing constraints that advancement shops are currently facing. With a shortage of talent available due to competitive salaries and aggressive recruiting, one solution you can implement now is developing an undergraduate internship program for your shop. Your institution likely has many students interested in joining the non-profit sector upon graduation. There’s no better place to introduce them to non-profit operations such as fundraising, donor engagement, and data analytics than in your institutional advancement shop. Introducing interns to this work connects the student intern’s career aspirations to a non-profit culture, while also providing techniques for cultivating relationships and managing projects. Join us for this highly valuable program to learn how Trajan Dubiel, Director of Development, leads and continues to grow the Advance-U Internship Program at Michigan State University.

Provost Roundtable: A Cohort-Based Series for Academic Leaders (September 23 – December 16, 2022)

Provost Roundtable: A Cohort-Based Series for Academic Leaders September 23 – December 16, 2022 Login Starting On: September 23 at 10:00 a.m. ET 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:

Customer Service Skills Training: Certification for Higher Education Professionals

Customer Service Skills Training: Certification for Higher Education Professionals November 16 – 18, 2022 Gain the knowledge and skills you need to provide high-quality customer service in the higher education environment. EVENT INFORMATION 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

Beyond Salary: An Uncommon Strategy to Recruit and Retain Advancement Professionals

Good development professionals are hard to find—and even harder to retain. This challenge becomes greater if you’re at a smaller institution with a tighter budget that is competing against larger institutions, as well as the non-profit sector, for top fundraising talent. To improve your results in recruiting and retaining the fundraising talent you want, and, on a budget, you may want to consider a non-traditional strategy and approach to identifying new talent. To retain your new development team members for at least three years, you’ll need to adopt a thoughtful six-month onboarding strategy that inspires ownership, autonomy, and recognition. In order to do this well, you must first lean into these individuals’ specific personality traits, from internal drive to problem-solving, professionalism, and accountability. Join us in this webcast to learn how Nichole Fannin, Executive Director of Development and Annual Giving at the University of West Georgia, leads their department’s efforts in a high return-on-talent-investment for their recruitment and retention efforts.

Selecting a Vendor to Augment Your Student Success Efforts

As institutions increasingly use data and technology to drive decision-making, it is important to have ways to efficiently collect, store, and parse that data. But with so much information to store and manage, institutions often need good partners and solutions to aid in managing their data. Many institutions have therefore turned to working with outside software vendors to help manage student retention and engagement. Institutions often have more than one of these outside vendors and work with campus IT professionals to integrate those software tools into their daily work. But how do institutions decide which vendors will help them to be the most successful? Join us for a 90-minute virtual training where you’ll learn the considerations that go into selecting and communicating with a new vendor for student success. Our expert Joseph Connell will discuss what questions you should ask of potential vendors and your on-campus staff to help you decide what the best support looks like for you. You will also learn to create a timeline for onboarding a new vendor for your institution.

Optimize Your Success as an External Dean

As an externally appointed dean, you are expected to hit the ground running, making quick and impactful decisions from Day One. Leading through this change can be tricky, as you will often need to navigate conflicting perspectives from the administration and faculty on which direction to go, as you also define your role in shared governance, identify trusted allies, and make decisions even with incomplete information. Join us for a 90-minute discussion that will provide you with insights and lessons learned from other external deans. Our instructor panel includes two different speakers — one who has served in a variety of external leadership roles at multiple institutions — and the other who just completed her first semester as external dean. If you’ve been asking any of the following questions, this training is for you: How do I research and understand the issues, challenges and opportunities within my college? How do I determine my role in shared governance? Who should I trust, and how do I figure that out as early as possible? Where should I invest my time, and how do I balance listening and learning with getting important work done? What are some of the considerations I need to […]

Engaging in Anti-Racist Conversations in Advancement

In the wake of multiple ongoing pandemics that occurred simultaneously with several high-profile events exacerbating racial tensions in the U.S., many institutions have attempted to commit to better addressing racial injustices. To be successful in this work, professionals across all areas of an institution must be capable of having difficult conversations about race and racism. Advancement professionals in particular play an important role in demonstrating an institution’s commitment to addressing racial inequities, through relationships maintained in their wide networks of alumni, external constituents, and donors. Through this virtual training, you will gain a better understanding of why it is imperative to have discussions around race with external constituents for better philanthropic outcomes, examine your own comfort level with talking about race and racism, and practice skills that will translate into an action plan for engaging those stakeholders around these topics.

Retaining Black Men: Strategies for Before, During, and After College

While enrollment and retention have dropped during COVID-19 overall, Black men in particular have faced barriers to college entry and completion that have only been further exacerbated by the pandemic. Enrollment for Black men dropped 14.3% in the spring of 2021 compared to the spring semester of 2020, and retention rates for Black men remain among the lowest in higher education overall. Developing a system of support that follows the journey of Black men from pre-enrollment through completion to alumni status can help to close this equity gap. Join us for an invaluable virtual training on how to set up systems of support for Black men before, during, and after college. Our expert Dr. Vincent Windrow will share insights from his challenges and successes at Middle Tennessee State University, as he discusses how to create a meaningful college experience for Black men all the way through their educational journey. Although Vincent will focus specifically on Black men, his recommendations are useful and applicable for many groups of students. You’ll also work together to create an action plan of steps you can take at each stage to better facilitate and support your Black male students’ time in college.

Setting Up Your Institution for a Community Partnership

As institutions intentionally diversify their student body and deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can seem like there are not enough resources to go around. Students from historically marginalized or first-generation backgrounds may feel lost on campus without appropriate resources, and faculty and staff may also find themselves at a loss on how to provide those resources with fewer people. Working with community partners can enhance an institution’s existing resources, and can also create further capacity for professional development around key issues by bringing in additional experts. But how do you establish a strong community partner relationship? Join us for an online training on how you can get ready to successfully work with community partners as a campus. Our expert speaker Joe Saucedo will guide you through some of the different types of community partner organizations and what to consider in working with them. Additionally, you will learn what you’ll need to develop on campus before reaching out to set up a new partnership. Finally, you’ll have time to think through the next steps for your campus to build on your success.

Maintaining Momentum, Productivity, and Purpose: A Program for Mid-Career Faculty 

Maintaining Momentum, Productivity, and Purpose: A Program for Mid-Career Faculty  This event has been canceled. Please contact operations@academicimpressions.com with any questions 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! Welcome to Maintaining Momentum, Productivity, and Purpose: A Program for Mid-Career Faculty. We invite you to join our community of mid-career faculty seeking to intentionally and proactively plan their mid-career path. In preparation, mark your calendars for the following dates and times: The bootcamp meets weekly on Tuesdays from 1-3 p.m. ET Session 1 – 10/18 Session 2 – 10/25 Session 3 – 11/1 Session 4 – 11/18 As we get closer to the start date, you can expect to receive emails from jenna@academicimpressions.com with additional details about how the program will be facilitated. 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

Leading With an Equity-Mindset as Department Chair

Leading With an Equity-Mindset as a Department Chair September 30, 2022 – January 20, 2023 Individual Dates: September 30, October 7, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18, 2022 and January 20, 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 is your “one-stop shop” for all course materials and instructions you will need to guide you through the bootcamp. A couple important notes to get you started: All course materials can be found in the “Access Course Materials” tab to the left. Any/all course materials you will need to prepare for the live sessions will be made available before the live session. You will also be alerted by email when they are available. Additional materials generated during the live sessions or intended as reflection after the live session will be added after the live session. Your Course Syllabus will be updated and posted weekly as you progress through the program. The Syllabus will contain specific instructions for what needs to be completed before and after each session. Please review the syllabus at the […]