Strengthening Your Relationship with Your Dean

You can’t support your dean in effectively managing their relationships with others if you don’t have a solid relationship with them yourself. In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to identify the strengths and opportunities for improvement within your relationship with your dean, including how you work together to approach donor visits.

Leading and Influencing as a Department Chair

Leading as an academic Chair is difficult under the best of circumstances. You need to balance the competing interests of faculty and administration and stretch limited resources—all while maintaining your own scholarship and teaching loads. Add to this the uncertainty and complexity of leading through an ever-changing higher ed landscape, and it becomes clear that the current environment can test even the most seasoned leaders.  Join us online for this six-week leadership bootcamp designed specifically for department chairs to discover or reconnect with the most effective ways to lead in a variety of situations and circumstances. We’ll explore your leadership style and how it changes under stress, as well as how you can more effectively communicate and collaborate with colleagues, resolve conflict with faculty and staff, and grow your influence. You will leave this bootcamp with a set of proven strategies and tactics for leading in a changing academic context.   Optional Executive Coaching: For those who choose to add on our Executive Coaching package, you will receive 6 sessions of executive coaching and will be paired with one of our speakers, or with another executive coach, all with extensive experience in higher education as well as coaching credentials.   

Supervision Certificate Program – November 6 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.

Developing Staff and Shaping Team Culture: A Summit for Advancement Talent Development Leaders

As the world of work and employee needs and expectations evolves, the need for strategic talent management in Advancement has continued to grow. Developing staff and carving out intentional pathways for their growth is a priority for many, as well as shaping values and culture to create an environment of trust, psychological safety, and belonging where employees can thrive across the shop.   Join your peers across the nation for Academic Impressions’ inaugural Advancement Talent Management Summit to discuss the ins and outs of leadership development, career pathing, and creating an intentional culture. You’ll leave with an expanded network of other talent management leaders working in Advancement and a toolkit of the best current thinking plus tangible ideas you can apply to your own work. 

Empower Faculty and Staff to Contribute Meaningfully to Shared Governance:  A Discussion for Department Chairs

Shared governance allows faculty and staff to contribute their opinions, insights, and best ideas for the benefit of the campus community. Shared governance also demands that faculty and staff collaborate in a way that is respectful to others, appreciates diversity of thought, and builds consensus. This requires you, as department chair, to create an environment that encourages a safe space for all participants.    Join us online for a one-hour discussion to better understand how you can create an environment that encourages faculty and staff to contribute meaningfully to the shared governance process. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, we anticipate discussing some of the following key questions:  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights that can help you and other department chairs to confidently navigate shared governance. 

Demystify the Shared Governance Process to Empower Faculty and Staff:  A Discussion for Department Chairs 

In order for faculty and staff to fully engage in shared governance, they must first understand their roles, responsibilities, and impact on the process. They also need to possess certain skills and knowledge to collaborate effectively across the institution. As a department chair, you are uniquely positioned to provide the necessary information, training, and support that faculty and staff may need to fully engage in the process.    Join us online for a one-hour discussion to get tips and strategies for how to effectively train faculty and staff to prepare them for their participation in shared governance. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, we anticipate discussing some of the following themes:  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights that can help you and other department chairs to confidently navigate shared governance. 

A Values-Based Approach to Leading Through Shared Governance:  A Discussion for Department Chairs 

Your personal core values guide the decisions you make, the way you communicate, and how you lead and inspire others. Given this, it’s wise to examine how your values may support or hinder shared governance, so that you understand how your leadership can inspire faculty and staff to engage in the process.  Join us for a one-hour discussion where we will explore how your values influence the way you lead within shared governance. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, we anticipate discussing some of the following themes:  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights that can help you and other department chairs confidently navigate shared governance. 

Five Paths to Leadership℠ Results Debrief Session (October 27, 2023)

Now included in membership! Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership℠ Assessment has been leveraged in our leadership programs for years. Thousands of leaders in higher ed have benefited from this dynamic model that explores and reveals how one’s leadership styles manifest under normal circumstances—and how they change under stress. Having a deeper understanding of your own leadership styles in varying situations increases your self-awareness, enhances your emotional quotient, and allows you to more effectively plan, communicate, strategize, and, ultimately, lead. Join us to learn what your own leadership styles are, how they might change under stress, and how this can apply to your team. During the workshop, we’ll walk through:

Managing Faculty Workloads: A Discussion for Department Chairs

Faculty bring a range of academic and professional talents to their departments. Because of this, many faculty carry heavy workloads, which can lead to high levels of burnout. Chairs are in the unique position to manage faculty workloads, and consequently, the long-term growth and development of faculty, as well. However, many chairs do not have training or background in talent management.  Join us online for a one-hour discussion in which we’ll talk about how you can develop an intentional talent management strategy for your department. Although the conversation will be responsive to the questions asked by the attendees, the discussion will focus on sharing systematic and evidence-based talent management strategies that will help you to balance the workload for your faculty.  Come prepared to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and share insights with other department chairs from across the country.

Building and Sustaining Key Relationships: A Conversation with Executive Women Leaders 

As you navigate more complex leadership roles, you will also navigate more contentious issues and conflicts. This makes the relationships you form with your colleagues not only “nice to have,” but essential: there is very little that cannot be accomplished when relationships are strong and built on a foundation of trust and mutual respect.  During this discussion, you’ll learn how a President and a CFO built a relationship that propelled the success of their teams, the institution, and helped them both to thrive individually. Carmen Twillie Ambar, President of Oberlin College, and Audra Hoffman Kahr, Executive Vice President of Finance & Administration at Lafayette College, will share how they met, how their relationship evolved, and a few lessons they’ve learned along the way as women leaders in higher education.