Recognizing and Celebrating Faculty and Staff:  A Panel Conversation

Faculty and staff morale is at an all-time low across most institutions in higher education, and this puts your department or unit at risk of increasing levels of burnout, decreased productivity and, ultimately, higher turnover. One way you can start to make a difference is by fostering a work environment where praise, appreciation, and gratitude are front and center. Join a panel of academic leaders and discover tips, strategies, and new methods for how you can provide praise and recognition that is meaningful, authentic, and consistent. We recognize that the needs of faculty and staff vary across disciplines and career levels, and we know that your team is likely working in a hybrid environment, so we’ll make sure you walk away with a variety of ways for you to better celebrate the accomplishments, effort, and energy of your faculty and staff.

Feedback as a Faculty (Re)Engagement Strategy 

Both affirmative and constructive one-on-one feedback are critical to faculty talent development.  Feedback that is appropriate for the career level (assistant, associate, professor) provides clarity, direction, goal alignment and motivation, all of which are required to successfully navigate today’s higher education landscape filled with complexity and uncertainty. Feedback, when delivered effectively, can promote creativity, productivity, learning and growth, job satisfaction, and, ultimately, retention through faculty career stages. However, with quitting (both quiet and loud) so prevalent—and current faculty morale so low—providing feedback to faculty can feel high-risk. You don’t want to alienate faculty any further.    Join us online for a two-hour workshop in which we’ll practice the art of providing feedback to faculty in an effort to both develop their talent and re-engage them. We’ll begin the workshop with a short lesson on the most critical components of effective feedback (i.e., timing and consistency, as well as delivery method, mode, and tone) and how they may be influenced by generational differences. You’ll then have time with your peers to practice giving feedback using your new skills. If you’re looking to grow your skills and comfort in giving feedback, this workshop is for you! 

Innovative Strategies for Developing New Academic Programs

It is essential for leaders to understand the impact of creating new academic programs as important parts of growing enrollment, maintaining relevance in the curriculum, and differentiating institutions. Too often, proposals lack rigor, are too ambitious or expensive, and lean too far into traditions as an approach for new program development.   Learn the art and science of growing academic programs in a way that maximizes your institution’s chance for success. You will walk through a set of criteria to consider when deciding whether to move forward with a new academic program or initiative. With the help of our expert speakers, you will consider ways to start small, think creatively, and build programs organically. We will dive deep into how you can assess a potential program and its: 

Optimize Your Fundraising Efforts Through Generative Artificial Intelligence

What would you do with an extra 4 hours in your work week?  In recent years, large for-profit businesses have been using artificial intelligence to win over consumer interest, despite a highly competitive market. Given the rise of more competitor “noise” in the eyes and ears of your alumni or donors, you may have been wondering how artificial intelligence can improve or enhance your own fundraising efforts. Or perhaps you have already experimented with artificial intelligence tools but are curious to learn about additional opportunities—or maybe you’d like to discuss and address barriers that you have faced when using these kinds of programs yourself.  Whether you are new to artificial intelligence or a seasoned user, we invite you to join us online to learn the difference between predictive versus generative artificial intelligence, and how these tools can be easily incorporated into your current fundraising strategy. You will learn the added value that these tools can bring to your daily work in advancement, including how they can help to free up your time so that you can spend it in high-quality, interactive conversations, instead. This two-hour session is intentionally designed to provide both a lecture on artificial intelligence, as well as […]

A 5-Step Framework for Women Navigating Life Transitions

Maternity leave. Job reorganization or restructuring. A role or career change. Experiencing a loss. Retirement. Each of these transitions, whether personal or professional, comes with its own unique set of challenges—challenges that can upend the way you move through your daily life as a woman leader. Learning how to navigate these kinds of changes in your personal and professional life can create a work environment where empathy is extended to both you and to others.   During this session, you’ll be introduced to the SNAP to Impact framework developed by our speaker, Dr. Krista Klein. This framework will weave together the following five key steps to help you learn strategies for navigating personal and professional transitions in community with other women higher educational professionals: 

Leading High Performing and Inclusive Teams

In the aftermath of the “Great Resignation,” maintaining and supporting intact teams has become more difficult than ever before. Furthermore, dwindling budgets and decreased confidence about the viability of campuses of all sizes can make the willingness and ability of campus leaders to continue to motivate and manage teams feel daunting.  This conference is designed to provide leaders with a toolkit they can use with their teams to enhance psychological safety and improve outcomes among teams at all levels. With a focus on building trust, enhancing communication, understanding intersectionality and utilizing Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment, participants will have the opportunity to: 

Supervision Certificate Program – April 1 Cohort

All too often in higher education, individuals move into a supervisory role without the necessary tools and skills to be successful. Particularly in today’s challenging environments, effective supervision is key to building an equally effective culture where each individual can contribute to team success. Join us online for a four-week bootcamp specifically designed for higher education supervisors who are new to their roles or looking to deepen their skills.

Supervision Certificate Program – June 3 Cohort

Often in higher education, individuals move into a supervisory role without the necessary tools and skills to be successful. Particularly in today’s challenging environments, effective supervision is key to building an effective culture where each individual can contribute to team success. Join us online for a four-week cohort based program leveraging both asynchronous and synchronous learning specifically designed for higher education supervisors who are new to their roles, looking to deepen their skills, or for those who aspire to supervisor roles.

Creating Classroom Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy to Elevate Student Learning: A Panel Discussion

As institutions begin to write policy for the classroom around the use of generative artificial intelligence, academic misconduct is at the forefront of the conversation. But generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT and Midjourney are here to stay, and it is already impacting what students want from their academic and career experiences. Join us to consider such questions as:  Through a facilitated dialogue, you will gain valuable ideas and learn how other institutions are addressing responsible AI use and AI literacy on their campuses. 

Managing Difficult Faculty & Staff: A Bootcamp for Leaders

Join us online for a four-week bootcamp where you will learn how to intervene and correct the most problematic performances and behaviors within your team. Within the bootcamp, you will be introduced to the “EM & EM” model, which includes four increasingly authoritative steps intended to engage, set expectations for behavioral change, communicate consequences for non-compliance, and minimize the ill effects of bad behaviors on others. We will also address the unique aspects of higher education culture that complicate employee oversight, including tenure, union contracts, and ill-defined leadership structures. Further, we’ll examine the impact of intersectionality on both the giver and receiver of clear and direct messages, and we’ll also offer tools to mitigate the potential harmful effects of implicit and explicit bias.  This bootcamp will provide multiple opportunities for you to both apply this model to your unique context and practice these difficult conversations with other leaders experiencing similar challenges. You’ll be encouraged to bring your most difficult personnel scenarios to the group for practice and valuable feedback. Throughout the bootcamp, you’ll also develop an intervention plan specifically tailored to challenging people you’re managing, and it will also document how the EM & EM model can help you to […]