Archives: Courses

Adapt Your In-Person Peer Mentor Program for a Virtual Environment

We know that one of the challenges of student retention and success in today’s socially distant and remote environment is how to foster student engagement while keeping students safe. Our research participants unanimously agreed that peer mentor programs are more important than ever—but there are major challenges to making them work. Though peer mentor programs have been tried and true student success interventions to keep students connected, most were designed to facilitate face-to-face interaction between students. Learn how one institution’s peer mentor program—which led to an 11% increase in retention pre-pandemic—was positioned for continued success in a remote learning environment. Our expert speaker will share steps you can take today to pivot your peer mentor program and provide seamless support for students whether learning is in-person, remote, or anywhere in between.

Strategies for Developing Workforce-Aligned Learning

Whether you’re a community college or a 4-year institution, you want to make your curriculum more relevant to the workforce. Community colleges have led the field in workforce development, and traditional 4-year universities are promoting entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Regardless of your institutional type, have you paused to ensure that your workforce development initiatives check all the boxes? Join us for a one-hour webcast where you’ll learn the key tasks you need to undertake at the community, administrative, and individual classroom levels to align your curriculum with the needs of the workforce. Our internationally recognized speaker will offer you a panoramic view of the work needed to spearhead workforce development at your institution so that you can distinguish yourself from your competitors, increase student engagement, and bolster career preparedness.

Transform Your Alumni Board Members Into Donors

Serving as a bridge between your alumni base and your advancement shop, your alumni board members are your best ambassadors. They can help you create a culture of philanthropy that not only engages your graduates but also transforms that engagement into giving. To do this, however, your board members should set an example by giving while also bringing new prospects into the fold. Join us online to learn how to cultivate your alumni board from prospects into donors and ambassadors who can positively impact your strategic fundraising initiatives. You will learn tips for engaging your alumni board in meaningful ways that inspire them to serve as examples for others. You will also hear best practices for training your board to assist with alumni volunteer recruitment, peer-to-peer solicitation, and stewardship so that they can add value at all stages of your fundraising efforts.

Integrating Social Media into Your Solicitation Communications Plan

Now more than ever, it’s imperative to incorporate social media into your annual giving solicitation communications plans to meet donors where they are every day – online. Join us for a webcast that will walk you through how to successfully integrate social media into annual giving and curate a seamless donor experience across solicitation channels. Our expert instructor, Karalee Harhaji, will come ready to share her experiences across two institutions, Georgetown University and Catholic University, each with varying budgets and knowledge in making the move to social media. Regardless of what your current practices are, you will have the chance to visualize how you can craft an improved plan moving forward.

Engaging in Empathy: Balance the Emotional Demands

As a leader, you likely know that empathy is a behavior that can help you build connections and trust with others on your team. Due to the uncertainty and rapid change we have been navigating through this past year, you may have found yourself exercising empathy with colleagues more often and at greater depths than you’ve ever had to before. Empathy fatigue may be settling in and you might be noticing that exercising empathy gets more difficult the more tired and worn out you become. Join us online for a 2.5-hour virtual training and discussion to learn how you can utilize your emotional intelligence to recognize the signals of fatigue and continue to embrace empathy when it’s most needed. Your instructor will introduce a toolkit of skills you can use to engage in empathy and use it effectively. You will have the opportunity to discuss how empathy shows up in your relationships and how you can begin to use the toolkit to foster meaningful connections with others.

Align Your Title IX Policy and Procedures to the New Law (Virtual Conference)

Align Your Title IX Policy and Procedures to the New Law September 29 – 30, 2020  Apply a 7-step process to identify gaps in your Title IX policy before they cost you time and money to fix. 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

6 Strategies for Uniting Student Activists and Campus Administrators (Virtual Conference)

6 Strategies for Uniting Student Activists and Campus Administrators September 23 – 24, 2020 Student activists are more passionate than ever. Learn how to empower yourself and your student activists to come together. 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 Check back soon for links! Troubleshooting Tips & FAQs Downloading and Testing Adobe Connect Downloading and Testing Adobe Connect Test your setup in advance: https://ai.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm Please click the Run Diagnostic Test option on this website to see if you need to update or download anything like Flash or the Adobe Connect app. If you have any issues, another option is to switch the internet browser you are using. Once you have completed necessary steps, you can test again. You’ll know it is working if the Adobe window in your browser launches the Adobe Connect app to log you in.   Accessing the Meeting Room The meeting link for each day of the conference can be found on the course page above. Follow the meeting link, […]

Foundations of Auditing Endowed Funds

Knowing and communicating the financial health of your endowed funds will show your donors that their gift remains in good hands, which increases the potential for further giving. Now is the perfect time to review your endowed funds to ensure they remain: Legal: In compliance with rules and regulations Possible: To be rewarded according to fund criteria Practical: Able to be administered within reasonable limits Join us for a three-hour virtual training to develop a plan of action for your next endowed funds audit. You will learn a step-by-step process to help you confirm whether your endowed funds are meeting both institutional compliance and donor intent. You will also identify potential risks and communication strategies for donors whose funds have been misspent, unspent, or are underwater. You’ll walk away with clearly defined next steps that will help you move your endowed fund audit forward.

Improving Faculty of Color Retention Efforts in Your Department

Many faculty members of color report bullying, harassment, invalidation, and exclusion by their colleagues and supervisors. To further perpetuate the toxicity, their personal experiences are often ignored or explained away, preventing meaningful change. As a result, faculty of color are often forced to leave their institutions to seek their own change, which can, in turn, negatively impact the sense of belonging for your students of color. With recruitment efforts halted due to budget cuts, you cannot afford this attrition. Now is the time to focus and improve your retention practices. Join us online for this three-hour workshop where you will learn how to take a proactive approach to your retention practices aimed at faculty of color. Our expert speakers will present the latest research explaining why retention efforts for faculty of color fall short. In addition, they will share best practices for utilizing and influencing your relationships, processes, and policies to your advantage to improve and sustain your efforts across the institution. You will spend time examining your own institutional data to understand systemic or department-level issues causing higher levels of attrition for your faculty of color.

The Value of Relevance During Cross-Examination in Title IX Hearings

The new Title IX regulations bring about two changes related to the live Title IX hearing process: Join us online for a four-hour virtual training designed to increase your comfort level with the cross-examination process. Our expert faculty will first provide context for the new rule and help you review your own process so that you can determine how well aligned you are with the new regulations. You will then learn cross-examination questioning techniques, allowing you to better develop your own set of questions related to witness credibility. Since relevancy can be tricky, you will practice the art and science of it through a case study, using a fact pattern designed to help you identify if questions are relevant or not. Our instructor will also guide you through a discussion of rape shield questions, which are now permitted in two limited ways during a live hearing.

Engaging International Alumni in a Virtual World

Institutions have seen a significant increase in their engagement with international alumni since the beginning of COVID-19. This increase can be attributed to programming that was adapted from primarily in-person to exclusively digital and alumni’s desire to connect over their shared experience of the pandemic. Now more than ever, institutions need to accelerate the development of their virtual programming, global brand ambassadors, and discovery visits to ensure international alumni can continue to be meaningfully engaged. How have recent changes impacted your international alumni engagement strategy? Are you leveraging the best thinking out there to maximize the contributions of this important alumni group? In this discussion-based virtual training guided by two experts, you will share with your peers and learn from their successes and lessons learned. Together, we will identify the emerging best practices in: Digital programing for international alumni Brand ambassador development Discovery visits

Taking Large-Scale Recruitment Events Online

As we face declining enrollments and a pandemic that limits in-person events, many enrollment and admissions professionals are struggling to adjust the traditional tactics they have used to recruit more students. Though most institutions rely on face-to-face recruitment events, the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging us to strategically shift to hosting virtual events instead. This program will prepare you for the specific challenges you are likely to face when you move your large-scale recruitment and yield events online. Our program will highlight the work of Barbara Loftus, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Rutgers University – New Brunswick, who had 24 days to convert an Admitted Student Open House that had approximately 19,000 attendees last year to an online format. Join us for this two-hour virtual training that will enable you to: Shift your planning processes for the online environment Craft or solidify plans for your own upcoming virtual recruitment events Gain ideas from your peers across the country

Introducing Blended Gifts Into Donor Conversations

Are donors and prospects in your portfolio stalled because of downturns in stocks or other liquid assets? Have you considered incorporating blended or planned giving into your donor conversations? Join us online to learn how you can introduce planned giving options into more donor conversations, which can help you re-engage donors in difficult economic times. We will share proven strategies for cultivating blended gifts and educating prospects on how these gifts can help them create their legacies. You will leave with tactics for making a multi-gift ask that you can apply to common donor situations.

Creating Equitable and Inclusive Meetings

Your personal identity likely shapes the meetings you lead. In order to foster open spaces where people can test ideas and practice inclusion, you should reflect on how your identity impacts your meetings. Join us for this online training to engage in self-reflection and to begin practicing communication skills that will positively impact group dynamics. You will hone your skills around listening, modeling, and question-asking. You’ll also receive guidance on how to choose an accountability partner who will help you preserve a culturally inclusive meeting environment. The information provided in this training can be applied to in-person and virtual meetings alike.

Building Resilience During and After the Pandemic

Overview Our current working conditions mean we are juggling rapidly changing directives from work while also trying to manage a new normal at home. How do you maintain your professional resilience when faced with surmounting challenges or, even worse, layoffs? How do we keep these setbacks from becoming defeating messages we internalize? These 90-minute virtual sessions will give you an opportunity to delve deeper into the content and workshop ways to integrate what you’re learning into your practice. Session 1: Creating an Inner Coach Stronger than Your Inner Critic Join us online to learn how you can start developing your alternative voice – your inner coach – in order to silence your inner critic and become a more effective leader. You will learn the multiple origins of the inner critic, learn techniques for counteracting its effect and how to shift from negative thought patterns to thoughts of greater self-support, resilience and self-confidence.” Session 2: Professional Resilience Resilience is not something you’re born with; it’s a skill you can build. Join us virtually to discover how to break negative patterns of behavior and reset the way you respond to roadblocks. Our expert will introduce you to the three-step ABC Model, which […]

Leading a Successful Esports Program in Higher Education

To be a successful esports coach, you must extend your traditional leadership skills into a new competitive space. The games and personalities are different, but you must manage young people and their frustrations, recruit talent, and ensure everyone graduates and contributes to the university – all within traditional and digital spaces. Join us for a one-hour webcast with the National Esports Coach of the Year, Chris “Doc” Haskell, to learn how to create a culture of success in your esports program. Our speaker will teach you the keys to leading across the esports landscape, recruiting players, and assuring student success in your role as coach. You’ll leave with a competitive vision that assures that winning is only one indicator of your program’s success.

Authentic Fundraising in a Virtual World (Virtual Workshop)

As a frontline fundraiser, you have likely honed your “fundraising voice” over time. You have learned to embody crucial tenets such as integrity, listening, and humility in ways that feel authentic and purposeful. As you continue adapting to a virtual workflow, have you considered whether your fundraising voice is deeply rooted in handshakes or face-to-face meetings? Have you felt less “yourself” while fundraising virtually? Join us online for an in-depth virtual training where our experts will help you adapt your fundraising practices to the online environment and become more successful. Our panel will help you determine key tenets of your own unique voice as a frontline fundraiser. Through small group roleplays, you will learn how to leverage these characteristics, and you’ll leave the training with clear next steps for fundraising more authentically in a virtual world.

A Process-Oriented Approach to Working with Your Board and President as Chief of Staff

As Chief of Staff, you are often faced with implementing changes and initiatives set by the President, Board, and Executive Cabinet. Your role can be challenging especially when it comes to conflicting or disconnected initiatives. As those around you express concerns and ask questions regarding changes, it is your job to address them while also advancing the mission of the University and the goals of the Board and President. Join us for this hour-long virtual session to learn practical negotiation and communication strategies you can utilize to help implement the initiatives of your Board and President. You will leave this training feeling more confident to successfully collaborate with and support them.

Managing Presidential Transitions as Chief of Staff

As Chief of Staff, you will often be looked to for providing calm consistency during presidential transitions. The incoming President will likely rely on you as they acclimate to a new environment while your colleagues will count on you to convey the new President’s priorities. Join us for this webcast to learn how you can best serve in your role during these times of change. In this session, our expert will discuss the following considerations: Understanding your role during the transition Planning for the outgoing President Learning the incoming President’s plan Your to-do list

Starting Courageous Conversations to Foster Diversity and Difference

Perhaps you’re working to ensure your staff reflects the diversity of your institution – or maybe you’re witnessing unfair treatment of a colleague because of race, age, or gender. No matter the situation, conversations about these issues can feel tough. With so much to be mindful of and so much at stake, you may not always feel as comfortable as you could when leading this dialogue around difference. Join us online to gain confidence in leading your next courageous conversation – dialogue that promotes inclusion and understanding of people’s differences. You will learn how to overcome obstacles to these conversations so that you can build relationships and engage more effectively with diverse groups inside and outside your institution.

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