Archives: Courses

Strategies for Successfully Supporting an Interim Leader

Change is the one constant in higher education. And now — in the face of a global pandemic, massive budget cuts, enrollment declines, and hiring freezes — change is more prevalent than ever before. As colleges and universities respond to unprecedented levels of uncertainty and top talent for leadership positions are in high demand across the country, the need to fill positions internally with interim leaders is on the rise. But conceiving of and properly supporting interim positions is not as straightforward as one might imagine. In order to truly set your incoming interim up for success, you must be intentional in how you craft the position, the staffing decisions you make around it, and the way the transition is planned.  Join us for a two-hour virtual training where we will explore how to effectively navigate interim leadership opportunities from an organizational perspective. Through a combination of lecture, discussion, and group activities, we will: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using interim positions as opposed to immediately opening a search or pursuing another avenue to fill a vacancy Learn key considerations to keep in mind and challenges to expect throughout an interim appointment Demonstrate how you can better ensure successful transition at the organizational level and for interim leaders

Emotional Intelligence for Academic Teams: A 5-Day Course

Academic leaders and faculty members often cite the importance of interpersonal skills when leading an academic unit, managing a research team, or functioning as a productive member of any team or unit in academia. However, emotional intelligence and self-awareness are less commonly mentioned as predictors of success among academic teams. In this video course, department chairs and faculty will discover the connection between emotional intelligence and individual, team, and department results. Through Daniel Goleman’s four pillars of emotional intelligence, you will get ideas for how to: You will learn Daniel Goleman’s four pillars of emotional intelligence and informally assess your skill in each of these pillars. Once you have a greater awareness of how you “show up” for yourself and others, we’ll offer simple suggestions for how you can manage yourself and your relationships more productively.

Intentional and Strategic Management of Alumni Volunteers

Intentional and Strategic Management of Alumni Volunteers February 9 – 10, 2021 Better steward volunteers through their lifecycle to foster more engaged and dedicated alumni. 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! DAY 1 DAY 2 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:

Charting Your Course as a Woman Chair

As a woman chair, you are navigating a complex landscape. You’re working within a system that still skews overwhelmingly white and male. You’re trying to support faculty who are often crumbling under the strain of new online teaching demands and other uncertainties. Not to mention, you’re likely shouldering increased responsibilities at home and managing additional personal stressors. If you poured yourself into addressing all these areas fully, you’d quickly burn out. As you approach the spring semester, which of these problem areas should receive your attention, and why? Join us online for this two-hour online workshop to explore how your work as a female chair is influenced by personal, departmental, and larger systemic demands. We will build awareness around the areas that are energizing and challenging you, and you’ll leave with an individual action plan that will include strategies to help move your leadership forward in a sustainable way.

A Model for Infusing Essential Career Skills into Co-Curricular Student Experiences

Educators who work with students outside the classroom know that co-curricular programs like student government or service learning can help students develop the skills employers want. While these experiences offer tremendous opportunity, without intentional design and assessment their impact will be limited. So, when there is little time to do so, how do we build more intentionally designed co-curricular experiences to further student skill development and measure learning? Join us for this virtual training for tangible, ready-made solutions to these challenges outlined in the cutting-edge program model our expert speakers have developed, the Co-Curricular Learning Masterplan (CLM). You will identify essential learning outcomes and leave with an assessment tool to build better co-curricular development experiences and demonstrate their value toward student learning.

Leading and Influencing as a Department Chair Online Bootcamp

Leading and Influencing as a Department Chair Online Bootcamp February 23 – April 8, 2021 Important Links 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 course materials you will need to prepare for the live sessions, including copies of slides, assignments and assessments, will be made available at the beginning of the week.  Additional materials generated during the live sessions will be added by the end of the week. 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, during or after each session.  Please review the syllabus at the beginning and end of every week to ensure you are completing all required work at the right time.  You can find your syllabus under “Access Course Materials.” If you need any further guidance to ensure your success in this program, please contact Lisa Lafflam. This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and […]

Young Alumni: Establishing Lifelong Relationships

Young Alumni: Establishing Lifelong Relationships January 27 – 29, 2021 Prepare students for a lifelong connection with your institution. 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! DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 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:

Comprehensive Student Retention Strategies for Men of Color

Comprehensive Student Retention Strategies for Men of Color January 27 – 28, 2021 Learn practical student retention strategies to better support men of color on your campus. 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! PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP MAIN CONFERENCE DAY 1 Please note the main conference sessions are held in a different Zoom room than the pre-conference workshop. Please join the main conference using the link below.  MAIN CONFERENCE DAY 2 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:

Grounded in Research: Strategies to Support the Physical and Mental Health of Black Men

Daphne Watkins, Professor at the University of Michigan, has focused her research on understanding the social determinants of health that explain generational differences among Black men, developing evidence-based strategies to improve the physical and mental health of Black men, and increasing knowledge about the intersection of culture, ethnicity, age, and gender. She is also the Founder of the Young Black Men (YBMen) Project, an educational and social support network for young Black men. This workshop is designed to ground your support of Black collegiate men in data and research. You will better understand the diverse physical and mental health concerns and needs of Black men during their collegiate experience. Dr. Watkins will provide an overview of her research and offer scalable strategies to incorporate initiatives, services, and practices that can enhance and support the overall development of Black men on your campus. You will have the opportunity to identify new resources and discover underutilized resources on your own campus.

Foster Inclusion in the Classroom Through Formative Assessment

Today’s classrooms are more diverse and complex than ever. As faculty, you know you need to prepare a diverse student population – with varying perspectives and backgrounds. But how do you know if you’re making learning inclusive for all? In what ways can you get feedback from your students to ensure that your instruction resonates with them? If you’re waiting until the end of the semester to evaluate their performance, you’re missing out on so many critical opportunities to engage with your students and include them in observations of their own learning. Join us online and learn about the power of formative assessment as an inclusive practice that builds reflection, engagement, and self-awareness in the classroom. Our expert speaker will introduce you to a variety of formative assessment tools that you can implement right away, online or in person, including knowledge surveys, exam wrappers, and post-mortem reviews. To help you understand what formative assessment looks and feels like, you will be placed into the role of the student so that you can experience formative assessment directly. You will discover ways you can adjust your teaching practice to become more inclusive as we discuss, reflect on, and dissect what student-centered assessment […]

Declined Grant Proposals: Analyze Reviews and Create a Plan for Resubmission

On average, it takes three submissions before a faculty member will get their proposal for funding accepted by a grant agency. To complicate matters, the reviews that accompany the rejection are often complex and contradictory, so it can be difficult to know how to move forward – especially when many faculty get little help interpreting reviews. As such, many faculty members, especially junior faculty, simply give up on the proposal too soon and do not put effort into revising and resubmitting it. When this happens, important research may be left undone, the institution cannot meet its strategic goal of growing research, and faculty find it difficult to publish in top journals and stay on track for promotion and tenure.  Join our expert instructor to learn how to review and analyze your declined grant proposals with a fresh perspective – one that will give you confidence in how to best move forward with your declined proposal, as well as all future proposals. Our expert will guide you through the process that will teach you how to:  Objectively assess your individual reviews   Identify patterns and uncover the most critical feedback  Anticipate hidden weaknesses   Identify both the root causes and underlying conditions preventing an award  Develop a plan for resubmission   If you’re looking to better understand the proposal review process and put yourself in reviewers’ shoes, this webcast is for you! 

Teaching Oral History as a Response to Collective Trauma

Every student in higher education is suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, and for many this communal trauma is compounded by the fight for racial justice. No one will emerge from these experiences unaffected. While the classroom often remains one of the only constants for students facing upheaval from global, national, and regional crises, problems facing them off-campus often impede their learning. Students may experience anxiety, withdrawal, difficulty focusing and engaging, and/or trouble thinking critically. Many faculty are unprepared to respond to these concerns and unequipped to teach in times of disaster, especially when they are simultaneously living through the same catastrophic events. This workshop focuses on some ways in which coursework and campus-wide projects can encourage healing and empowerment by engaging students and other members of campus communities in active learning projects. 

Navigating Work-Life Balance as a Woman Leader in Higher Education

The stresses of the past year have hit women especially hard. From taking on extra work to helping family members and managing the logistics of remote learning for their children, women’s workload — both mental and physical — has dramatically increased during the pandemic. We have heard time and again from women that they are in need of strategies that help set healthy boundaries in their personal and professional lives.   In this 60-minute webcast presented by Melody Blake, Provost and Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs at Wesleyan College, you will learn how to manage a never-ending to-do list by prioritizing, communicating, and delegating what needs to be done. Our time will be divided between setting healthy boundaries at work and at home, as well as managing your time.   

Recruiting, Training, and Engaging Alumni Volunteers in a Digital Environment

Instructors Clarybel Peguero, Ed.D.Senior Director for Volunteer EngagementDuke Alumni Association, Duke University   Parks SmithDirector of Strategic OperationsVirginia Commonwealth University Course Highlights 1hr 41m of video instruction Downloadable resources Course Details Released 01/28/2021 Alumni volunteers are immensely valuable to institutions in both their service and giving power— they tend to give 10 times more than non-volunteers. However, COVID-19 has flipped the script on how we recruit and engage alumni volunteers. For example, in-person offerings are no longer an option. Instead, we’ve been forced into the digital world and have had to adjust in order to remain successful. In this highly interactive virtual training, our experts will guide you as you share with your peers what you have learned since we’ve entered this new reality. Together we will identify emerging best practices in the digital space regarding volunteer recruitment, training, and engagement, in order to better understand how to retain alumni volunteers. You will leave this training with the best current thinking on how to engage your volunteers during the pandemic and beyond. We Want to Hear From You! Please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey letting us know about your experience with this course.

Principles for Leadership in Higher Education (Online Bootcamp)

Principles for Leadership in Higher Education February 17, 2021 – March 17, 2021 Important Links Welcome! Thank you so much for joining us on this learning journey for new and emerging leaders! Over the course of these five weeks, you will learn from our expert instructor as well as from your peers, and you will have opportunities 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 work through the various exercises. Our hope is that you walk away having thoroughly explored and developed your leadership skills through reflection, discussion, and application. View the most recent recording from the March 17 Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/4qpgL01lW5as1JOyCoOiursjPJvhQQTpshDkdps5DUkZJRmGevUdD0l6tYW5jZc.hBru_8PyTIXByJ7Y Access Passcode: fF8X4df. Mark Your Calendars: Module 1: February 17, 2021 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern  Principle 1: Modeling the Way Module 2: February 24, 2021 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Principle 3: Inspiring a Shared Vision and Principle 3: Challenging the Process Module 3: March 3, 2021 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Principle 4: Enabling Others to Act and Principle 5: Encouraging the Heart Module 4: March 10, 2021 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Reflective Workshop Module 5: March 17, 2021 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern Bringing it all together and Next steps This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and […]

Institute for Online Student Retention and Success

Institute for Online Student Retention and Success December 15 – 17, 2020 Learn how to retain and prepare online students for success. 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! DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 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:

Tailoring Advancement Communications to Ages and Life Stages

When you create uniform messages with mass appeal for your donors and alumni, you may actually be pleasing very few people. Have you considered segmenting your communications for a more personalized and focused marketing strategy?    Join us for this virtual training to learn how the life stages of your donors and alumni should inform your medium and your message. You will learn which messages and platforms best appeal to groups of different ages and life stages. You will have the chance to write three tailored messages during the training and discuss your work in small groups with your peers. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to work on a communication plan to support your overall strategy. 

Institute for Annual Giving

Institute for Annual Giving January 21 – 22, 2021 Hear the latest and best thinking for keeping your annual giving strategy competitive, nimble, and relevant to the current times. 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! DAY 1 DAY 2 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:

Title IX Appeal Officers: A Skills Training and Certification

As you navigate the new Title IX appeal process, you might find certain aspects difficult or confusing. Are you prepared to navigate the mandated timelines effectively? What elements of the investigative process should you focus on when reviewing your case? How do you handle situations where the judgment of your colleagues might have been compromised? You likely — and reasonably — feel a lot of responsibility for objectively determining a final decision, both to provide a fair process for the parties and to mitigate the risk of litigation for your institution. Join us online and leave with the knowledge, strategies, and skills you need to feel confident in your role as an appeal officer. During this four-hour training we will cover the required skills and attributes of an effective appeal officer and provide practical opportunities for you to explore the different grounds for appeal, including procedural irregularity, new evidence, and conflict of interest/bias. Whether you are looking to enhance your confidence as a Title IX appeal officer or as a Title IX coordinator responsible for training your appeal officers, this training is for you. Upon completion of this virtual training, you will receive a certificate of completion for your time […]

Department Chairs: Reflect, Refresh, and Plan for the New Year (Virtual Training Only)

Department chairs are under increasing pressure to manage and direct complex situations. In addition to navigating the changing landscape of higher education, you are making difficult budgetary decisions and supporting faculty under extreme duress – all while managing the effects of the pandemic on your own personal life. How can you create a plan to avoid burnout? Join us for this virtual training to get advice for how to balance all the roles of academic chairs/program directors — including that of a leader and colleague — during these challenging times. You will be given space to connect with other chairs and program directors to reignite your passion for academia and shift your focus to restorative practices. You will leave this workshop with practical strategies to help manage your load and ensure sufficient self-care.

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