Archives

Aligning Your Work with Your Goals as Career Faculty

Strategically choose career opportunities that match your goals as non-tenure-track faculty. Overview Faculty not on the tenure track are seeking career development and leadership opportunities relevant to their unique career paths. While they share similar responsibilities as tenure-track faculty, they also face being overburdened with undervalued academic work, such as administrative and service work, that may not advance their careers and professional goals.   In our video course, Becoming Part of the Great Aspiration: A Career Development Workshop for Alt-ac Faculty, Dr. Gypsy Denzine introduces the idea of “professional equity,” which includes your knowledge and expertise as well as your professional network and reputation. In this live addendum to the course, Dr. Denzine will walk you through how you can build your professional equity as a non-tenure-track faculty member by being strategic about the tasks you choose, so that they align with your values and career goals.   Who Should Attend Whether you have taken the asynchronous course or not, this workshop is ideal for career faculty who are interested in career development and advancement. This course will also be useful to department chairs, associate deans, and faculty affairs leaders who create opportunities for career faculty and want to contribute […]

Developing and Supporting Identity-Based Alumni Affinity Groups

Foster community and empower diverse alumni through more intentional engagement Overview As student demographics in higher education continue to shift, and as institutions continue to develop new initiatives focused on equity, inclusion, and belonging, it is more important than ever to build a pathway for diverse students to become engaged alumni. Identity-based alumni affinity groups can foster ties between prospective and current students and alumni, strengthen a diverse volunteer pipeline, and increase giving. They can also offer alumni a continued or newfound sense of belonging as well as opportunities for advocacy. Join us for this virtual training to learn how to develop and support identity-based alumni affinity groups. We will share examples, strategies, and reflection points for starting and sustaining these groups. In this virtual conference, you will consider: Historical legacies of the inclusion/exclusion of diverse students and alumni in higher education and at your own institution. What is communicated by a group name, and how to choose names that best serve your alumni. How to use a phased approach to establish identity-based alumni affinity groups. Ways to support group missions through communication, events, and other engagement.   Who Should Attend Alumni relations professionals and those in advancement leadership who […]

Maximize Your Public Speaking by Overcoming Your Discomfort

Build your public speaking confidence by understanding the nature of your discomfort. Overview Communication is a critical skill for leaders. And as challenges facing higher education today grow more complex and communication methods more diverse, the need to feel confident in your ability to speak publicly is more essential than ever. Join us for a virtual training uniquely designed to help you understand, and move through, your discomfort with public speaking by exploring these topics in depth: Evaluating what discomfort with public speaking looks like for you Exploring the concept of Communication Apprehension—the fear or anxiety that comes from real or anticipated communication with others, as a framework to understand what is causing your discomfort Discovering a variety of tactics used to create a calming practice Designing your own calming practices to use when preparing for public speaking   Who Should Attend This training is designed for leaders across all levels and functional areas who want to better understand their discomfort with public speaking and identify strategies to build confidence.   Want to Take Your Learning Further?  Interested in learning more and applying the learning from this training? Register for the Public Speaking Bootcamp: A Hands-On Approach to Developing and […]

Celebrating Success as First-Generation Faculty: A Time for Discussion

Celebrate your achievements and share your experiences as a first-generation faculty member. Overview Navigating faculty life and culture can be challenging for anyone, regardless of their background. To be successful, faculty need to understand the subculture of higher education, know how to network and navigate politics on campus and in their discipline, and be able to advocate for themselves and set boundaries effectively. But for first-generation faculty members, there can be additional barriers in confronting the hidden curriculum and trying to successfully manage research, teaching, and service. Not to mention the fact that first-gen faculty members are often best suited to support first-gen students in their journey through college, which can add unofficial service time to their calendars. Join us for a one-hour facilitated discussion about thriving as a first-gen faculty member. You will have the opportunity to: Hear from our speakers about their journey through college, graduate school, and faculty life. Discuss ways to celebrate successes, support students, and maintain the boundaries needed to be successful as faculty. Network with other first-gen faculty members from different institutions. Who Should Attend Faculty members at all levels, including those in academic leadership or other leadership positions (whether or not on the […]

Building Agency in Your Mid-Career as Faculty

Pullquote Overview Institutions offer myriad giving opportunities that donors might choose to support. From the unrestricted gift to the gift supporting a scholarship or program, many institutions offer dozens or even hundreds of ways donors can allocate their gifts. Unfortunately, with decentralized institutions, a multitude of giving options can lead to inconsistencies in the ways that units, programs, divisions, and schools acknowledge their gifts. For instance, some units or programs may have the resources to acknowledge their donors’ generosity promptly, while others may struggle to acknowledge them even within the recommended two-week time period. In still other instances, a gift may languish in a forgotten fund and be overlooked for months—or even forever! These kinds of delays or inconsistencies with gift acknowledgements can diminish the experiences of your donors and negatively impact your retention rate, causing you to lose contact with even your most loyal and generous donors. Join us in this online training to help you prepare to conduct a gift acknowledgement audit at your institution by learning the steps that the University of Chicago took toward ensuring that their donors receive the thanks they deserve.   Who Should Attend This training is for advancement professionals who want to […]

Securing the Gift: Making the Ask with Confidence

Compel your donor to support your institution by learning how to strategically approach the ask. Overview Gift officers can sometimes feel uncomfortable making the ask for a variety of reasons, and the anxiety they can produce may be felt and mirrored by donors, leading to a “no.” However, not making the ask can lead to missed opportunities and a loss of momentum with key prospects. A successful ask comes down to the relationship you’ve built with the donor, being clear about your role and intent, and a strong solicitation strategy that leads up to this moment. This approach requires knowing your prospect well: understanding their giving history, what motivates them to give, and the relationships they’ve built with the different stakeholders at your institution. Join this session to gain insights on how to strategically approach a prospect you have in mind to make the ask. When done right, this moment in a donor relationship should come organically with the assurance that the answer will be a yes—and if it is not, that the relationship will remain on solid ground, and you will get another opportunity to make an ask in the future.   Who Should Attend This training is for […]

Improving Your Donor Pipeline Through Academic Leader and Advancement Collaboration

Identify shared opportunities to strengthen constituent engagement and academic fundraising efforts. Overview Enhancing collaboration among alumni engagement, annual giving, and academic leaders is a strategic priority for many institutions. By engaging deans and academic leaders intentionally and early in the fundraising cycle, advancement professionals can help their academic colleagues see themselves within philanthropic work. Perhaps more importantly, this partnership can also provide alumni and donors with clear opportunities to realize the impact of their relationship investments. In this virtual training, you will learn how to determine what meaningful engagement by academic leaders can look like to support building your pipeline and improve alumni and donor engagement. You will analyze your institutional culture and context to effectively establish a partnership between your advancement shop and academic leaders. Participants will walk away with useful ideas to strategically engage alumni and donors.   Who Should Attend Academic leaders and advancement professionals looking to strategically collaborate and add value to the academic enterprise will benefit from this training. This training is also for academic-based development officers and alumni engagement and annual giving staff focused on building their pipeline to advance the priorities of an academic unit. Additionally, deans and academic leaders such as department chairs […]

Keys to a Successful Relationship Between Deans and Development Officers

Refine your approach as an academic fundraising partnership to achieve your philanthropic goals. Overview Philanthropy is critical to helping institutions meet their academic missions, and at its core, it is all about building and maintaining relationships. Although fundraising is just one of the myriad responsibilities overseen by an academic dean, the development officer is a key partner in assisting the dean in achieving those fundraising goals. To find success in academic fundraising, the relationship between an academic dean and a development officer must be one built on mutual respect, trust, and clear communication. Successful fundraising teams develop complementary skills that, when combined, are more effective than the skills of one individual. Through this three-hour virtual training, you will be able to better prioritize fundraising goals as a dean and development officer team. You will learn how to build trust and set expectations with mutual fundraising goals in mind, establish a process to effectively move donors through your pipeline, and practice essential skills such as making an ask.   Who Should Attend Deans and development officer teams are encouraged to attend together! Resources will be provided for teams to implement key takeaways discussed in the training. This virtual training is designed […]

Leveraging Your Alumni Data for Deeper Engagement

Increase your donor base by using engagement data to identify new volunteers. Overview It wasn’t long ago that gathering alumni engagement data used to be a challenge at many institutions. This is no longer the case today, as alumni engagement data is routinely collected across the industry. However, many advancement shops may not have a full grasp of how best to utilize their data to identify potential volunteers or help steward current volunteers toward philanthropic opportunities. Take your alumni engagement to the next level by developing a data-informed approach to creating strategies to drive your alumni and donor engagement with a focus on both volunteerism and participation. By developing and utilizing metrics that can help to inform and direct your long-term engagement strategy with volunteers, you will not only be able to increase your giving capacity across the gift spectrum, but you will also gain a better understanding of how to approach your alumni events, ensuring that no effort is wasted in the cultivation of your future donor base. Join us at this one-day virtual training to learn how to turn your data into measurable metrics that lead to new volunteers and increased giving opportunities, and which also ensure that […]

Faculty Mentorship: Incorporating Inclusive Practices to Foster Faculty Success

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All-Inclusive Members: To ensure a quality interactive experience, member attendance is limited for the live event. Please only register if you plan to attend and participate for the full program.

Please note: To register someone else please contact us at 720.488.6800 for assistance.