Search Results for: conflict

Do Your Living-Learning Communities Offer a Comprehensive Immersion Experience?

Posted on by greta@academicimpressions.com

August 4, 2011. Living-learning communities offer high potential for boosting the academic success and the education of the whole student, but they also present your campus with unique challenges because of the coordination they require between academic affairs and student services at your institution. The National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP) has begun documenting how living-learning programs influence the academic, social, and developmental outcomes for college students, as well as what characteristics are shared by those programs that show the greatest impact. This week, we interviewed two chief researchers from the NSLLP — Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Karen Inkelas, associate professor and director for the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Virginia. Brower and Inkelas suggest that while many institutions have organized living-learning programs, few offer a truly integrated, comprehensive, and immersive learning experience for the students. Here is their advice. Intentionality is Key “Depending on the goals you have set for the program, you really have to do the hard work (and the fun work) of thinking through how those goals play out in every interaction within the residential learning community.” […]

Checklist: Preparing Adjunct Faculty to Teach Online

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Department chairs and program directors are busy people, and orienting adjunct faculty may not be top of mind. But adjuncts who are teaching online for the first time need support and information to hit the ground running. Here is a quick checklist of items to cover with first-time online instructors. by Teresa Focarile, Boise State University(who also wrote: “Adjunct Faculty: A Department Chair’s Guide to Orienting New Instructors“) Many institutions are expanding their online course offerings, and using adjunct faculty to do so. While these faculty members are often teaching from a master course and therefore are not responsible for developing the class, there is still important information about teaching online that needs to be shared with these new instructors in order for them to be effective online teachers, and to ensure they understand the expectations for teaching in your program (Larcara, 2011). Checklist Some items on this checklist might already be in place. For example, most institutions have a team that can get adjunct faculty up to speed on the functionality of the Learning Management System (LMS). In addition, many institutions have developed trainings (sometimes mandatory) for faculty who teach online. But if your institution does not have those kinds […]

Finding the Leaders We Don’t Know We Have

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

To meet the challenges facing higher education, we need to start finding leaders who don’t fit the charismatic stereotype. A recent program developed in the for-profit sector may provide a model for finding our colleagues who have enormous potential for leadership but who frequently remain invisible to us. Patrick Sanaghan explains. Several years ago, a corporate client with whom I had a long working relationship contacted me with an unusual request. He said, “I want you to find the leaders in my organization that we don’t know we have.” I was immediately drawn in by this counter-intuitive notion. This leader had built a robust and successful organization over twenty years and was smart enough to know that leadership didn’t reside only at the senior levels of his company. He had invested his money, time, and attention to developing distributed leadership throughout the organization, but he wanted to dig deeper. He told me, “I know we have really good leaders here, but they aren’t enough. We need more and better ones if we are going to stay competitive. I want you to help me find those leaders who are hidden from us.” Finding the “Stylistic Invisibles” I agreed to help with […]

Deans Success Program 

Invest in Your Deans’ Success Support Your Deans’ Growth with a Cohesive, Comprehensive Program See Pricing The work you do to ensure the success of your Deans is one of the most impactful investments you can make in your institution. Turnover among Deans is already at record levels, and each loss in this key role comes at exceptional financial and cultural cost. Academic Impressions’ Deans Success Program offers a unified, intentional, and personalized approach to help your Deans – new and experienced – navigate the complex demands of their roles, develop their leadership capacity, and drive institutional success. Why Choose the Deans Success Program? Deans face immense challenges in today’s academic environment. From navigating complex team dynamics to balancing internal responsibilities with external expectations like fundraising, the demands are high. The Deans Success Program is specifically designed to tackle these challenges head-on by equipping your Deans with the tools to: Foster psychological safety and improve team dynamics. Manage conflict effectively while maintaining team engagement. Lead change with confidence and build an appetite for innovation. Strategically align their leadership to institutional goals. With a comprehensive approach, this program ensures your Deans not only address their immediate challenges but also build the […]

Creating a Pipeline for Innovation Within Your College or University

Creating a Pipeline for Innovation within Your College or University offers a unique, tested roadmap that will prepare higher-ed leaders to provide systemic and sustained support for real innovation at every level within their institution. Creating a Pipeline for Innovation Within Your College or University: Order 10+ copies and receive a $25 discount on every copy you purchase.

Books are shipped within 7 days of receipt of payment. For immediate receipt of book, order PDF copy.

Tailoring the RCM Model to What Works For You

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

In an era of public scrutiny and requests for increased financial accountability, higher-ed leaders are looking for ways to show the public that they are addressing the issue of rising college costs. Many have turned to responsibility-centered management (RCM) as a way to reduce costs and encourage financial responsibility within individual academic departments. While many institutional leaders see RCM as a way of decentralizing financial decision-making, allowing vice presidents and deans to take responsibility for their own budgets, they may not realize that certain principles of this financial structure can be tailored to fit the distinct culture of their campus, even without wholesale adoption of an RCM model. The University of Notre Dame recognized how they could adopt some principles from RCM to meet their institutional needs and goals. Here is what they did, and what you can learn from it. Adopting Elements of RCM – Not the Whole Model Linda Kroll, associate vice president for finance at the University of Notre Dame, states that when their institution looked at some of the fundamental elements of the RCM model, university leaders liked that the model allowed for: Distribution of responsibility to unit leaders Creation of a culture that rewards lowering […]

Strategies to Promote Student Resiliency: What to Do When Students Blame Faculty for their Lack of Success

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

This article is an excerpt from Sue Ohrablo’s acclaimed book High-Impact Advising: A Guide for Academic Advisors, which you can find here. When working with students, advisors are likely to encounter students who blame others for the academic challenges they experience. It is the responsibility of the advisor to provide a sympathetic ear and refrain from judgment while creating a non-threatening environment.  The advising session should be a safe place for students to express their concerns without fear of retribution or rejection. In such an environment, students are apt to be more candid in their assessments about faculty and peers. Scenario: The Hard Professor Advisors know the reputations of many faculty members, especially those who are considered “hard” or “demanding” by students. Although, in the back of our minds, it might be tempting to think, “Yeah, he’s a real hard-nose,” buying into that characterization of the faculty member does not provide the student any assistance. Instead, the advisor can add value by providing strategies to the student. For instance, a faculty member may be known to criticize students’ academic abilities by using what is interpreted to be a condescending tone when communicating with students. The faculty member may point out deficiencies […]

Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching with Academic Impressions “Using and engaging an executive coach is not a symptom of weakness or insecurity, but rather a tool for the development of your own leadership.” – Dr. Carol Christ, Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley Overview Our Approach Our Coaches Executive coaching can help you gain clarity in your career, increase your level of self-awareness, hone your skill set, and reach your full potential within the context of higher education. We work with a panel of carefully vetted coaches who each have extensive experience in a diverse range of universities and colleges. Whether you are considering a move to administration, taking the next step to a deanship or presidency, or wanting to more effectively lead your team of fundraisers, our team of coaches can help higher ed leaders at all levels. Reach out to us via the form to have someone from our coaching team contact you and learn more about your interests and needs.   Executive Coaching Designed Specifically for Higher Education Our team at Academic Impressions is uniquely positioned to support your leadership development in higher education with coaching. We have designed thousands of leadership trainings and connected with leaders from colleges and universities […]

4 Strategies for Closing the Coaching Gap for Mid-Level Academic Leaders

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

While executive and administrative leaders have had a longer history of working with coaches, there is growing awareness of the benefit to middle managers in higher education, as well. Mid-level academic leaders are often promoted to leadership positions with limited management experience and without the benefit of training and professional leadership development. Yet mid-level leaders face significant barriers to the use of coaching. To build leadership capacity at the mid level, it’s critical that senior leaders take action to address this coaching gap. To learn more, we turned to David Kiel, who worked for 15 years as a faculty leadership developer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is now a consultant to leadership development programs in higher education. Dr. Kiel has conducted extensive research on coaching in higher education, and the article that follows adapts and reworks material from an article the author published in the Journal of Excellence in College Teaching’s special issue “Coaching and Leadership in Academia,” James Sibley and Susan Robison, Editors, that came out in February 2018. The title of the original article is “In Search of Good Coaching for Mid-Level Faculty Leaders” (The full citation can be found in the reference section at the end of […]

Empowered: Leadership Development for Higher Education

Get C. Clinton Sidle’s new 360-page developmental guide to four leadership masteries. The only book of its kind, Empowered is designed as a text for in-house leadership development programs in higher education, packed with tools, techniques, and activities for developing leaders.

Order 10 or more copies for the participants in your leadership development program and receive a $25 discount on every copy you purchase:

1 copy = $95
10+ copies = $70 each

You can also add the optional The Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment to your order to deepen the impact for your leadership team or cohort.

Want to order copies of the text for an undergraduate leadership development course? Contact us to inquire about our student rate.

Books are shipped within 7 days of receipt of payment. For immediate receipt of book, order PDF copy.