Shifts in higher education are happening faster and in increasingly unpredictable ways. Each day as leaders, we are challenged by increasingly politicized environments, the need to manage across silos, and the requirement to be as efficient as possible with scarce resources. These complex conditions cannot be managed away; they require instead that we lead through them. But this can be difficult to do as we juggle competing priorities, students and staff seeking increased flexibility, and a rapidly changing workforce. Join us for this two-day conference to learn how to increase your effectiveness as a leader and improve your personal satisfaction by focusing on three key themes: During the conference, you will gain tangible tools to increase your self-awareness and develop a common language of leadership to use within multi-functional teams. We will also introduce a four-step framework that will help you to recognize when and how various leadership tensions show up in your everyday practice, how they work together, and how to adjust your mindset to lead through them effectively. Gain Insight into Your Unique Leadership Style As a participant in this conference, you will have the chance to take Academic Impressions’ The Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment, which provides […]
Holistic corporate engagement is a key component of institutional strategy and long-term competitiveness for your institution. To ensure successful engagement with potential and current corporate partners, you need a holistic strategy that facilitates internal campus stakeholders to speak externally with one clear voice, ensuring a clear value proposition of how and why a company should invest in your institution. Join us at this highly interactive in-person conference to help align your campus stakeholders around your institution’s corporate strategy. We will cover: Individual Consulting Time You and your team will have the opportunity to receive a 20-minute consultation with one of our experts as part of your registration at the end of either day of this conference. You and your team can also address challenges and questions specific to your institutional context. Can’t attend the conference? Buy the binder.
While women make up nearly half of the higher education workforce, they continue to be underrepresented—and underpaid—in organizational leadership roles. The goal of this conference is to bring current and aspiring executive leaders in higher education together to co-create knowledge and deepen your leadership skillset. This program is intentionally built upon Academic Impressions’ leadership model, which takes a holistic approach to leadership across four key dimensions: self-awareness and personal development, interpersonal leadership skills, team development, and leading at the organizational level. If you identify as a woman, are leading at a strategic level in higher education, are looking to deepen your leadership skillset in community with other women leaders, or you have already participated in our foundational Women’s Leadership Success in Higher Education Conference, this experience is for you. Highlights of the conference include:
Within higher education, the debate related to the First Amendment and academic freedom—and whether or not they are a hindrance to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives—continues to be a polarizing topic. During these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever that campus leaders are armed with facts as well as critical perspectives, to assist them in their ability follow the law while also creating meaningful learning environments for faculty, staff, and students. This training aims to remove the assumption that diversity initiatives struggle to coexist within the parameters of free speech and/or academic freedom. During the session, we will explore and explain areas where the priorities of DEI and academic and political leaders overlap, rather than diverge. You will come away with a greater understanding of the interrelationships among the three and of how to offer support when the values of faculty, staff, or students remain in conflict.
Connecting your everyday work with your life’s purpose to find greater well-being contributes to improved professional satisfaction and productivity, but it requires continued reflection and iteration. Join us for a 1-hour discussion where we will further explore themes from Actualize Your Purpose: A Workshop on Improving Your Well-Being.
Conflict is difficult because it sparks an emotional response in each of us and requires us to navigate the inherent tensions that arise from differences in perspective and expectation. As a department chair, you have the responsibility to manage conflict with grace, so that you can lead by example and create a culture where conflict is viewed as healthy and productive. This is true when you’re managing a conflict you’re directly involved in, but it’s even more important when you’re called upon to help others resolve a conflict because they are finding it difficult to make progress on their own. Join us online to learn how mediation techniques can help you to facilitate productive conversations and seek resolution when faculty and/or staff are in conflict or dispute with each other. You’ll learn how to diffuse the tension that arises during conflict while also focusing on collaborative problem-solving that creates mutually acceptable solutions for all involved. You’ll learn how to:
Donor cultivation is a critical element of sustainable fundraising practices. Academic deans must employ strategies that are aligned with the donor’s personality, values, and philanthropic outlook to meaningfully develop the donor relationship. Without this intentional approach to donor cultivation, less strategic fundraising strategies may cause a dean to fail to build a relationship with a donor that would allow them to contribute through the institution in a way that is aligned with how they want to impact the world. Join us for this one-hour training to learn how to use specific strategies to foster relationships with your donors in individualized ways. You will identify the key principles of donor cultivation, learn what to listen for in donor conversations, and consider different methods of donor engagement while working through real-world donor scenarios.
Students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students typically encounter the most barriers to retention and graduation at institutions. Research shows that low-income students are less likely to return to campus after the summer, that first-generation students are less likely to graduate on time, and that Black and Latinx students are more likely to enroll part-time in college or take time away from their degrees. As universities navigate increased diversity in admissions, faculty and staff must focus on new efforts to retain and graduate undergraduate students from historically marginalized populations. Unfortunately, equity gaps in retention and completion often show that current practices are not enough to create an environment of support for historically marginalized and first-generation students. Join us for this two-day virtual conference to discuss best practices for closing the equity gap in higher education. You will have the opportunity to hear from experts on how to break down siloes, how to use pre-college programs, and how to educate faculty and staff across campus to drive student success. You will also be able to network and plan with other faculty and staff who are initiating or continuing efforts to retain and complete students from historically marginalized groups on their […]
Identifying key insights from casual but meaningful conversations with transformational donors can lead to strong relationships that provide your institution with the support it needs for generations to come. These conversations don’t always come easy. In fact, they often encompass their own unique challenges, depending on the type of donor you’re speaking to, the campus partners joining the conversation, and how well their donor experience has gone. To overcome the potential challenges within these conversations, there are phases of cultivation and stewardship in which you can become more fluent over time, such as: Join us in this panel conversation with Vice Presidents of Advancement, Dexter Bailey of California Institute of Technology, and Kristen DeVries of Western Michigan University Foundation, alongside Mitchell Spearmen, Founder and Dreamer of Gifts of a Lifetime, to discuss how they have approached conversations with ultra-high-net-worth families. You will have the opportunity to ask questions to help navigate a current phase you’re in or to ask about how to approach a specific scenario.
Leading in higher education is a difficult task under the best of circumstances. Shared governance, structural barriers to change, and limited discretionary funding are just a few of the many reasons why making a meaningful impact can be hard to do. But it can be done, and current and future challenges demand that we have leaders who can make substantive—not incremental—change. Join us for a one-of-a-kind program that will help you to lead for the impact you desire. We’ll examine your leadership at a personal level, share strategies for building high-performing teams, and equip you with tools that you can use to align large groups around a new direction or vision. 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 a coach who has extensive experience in higher education.
