As Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (VPFA), Dr. Totten oversees resources, services and programs to promote faculty success across all career stages, including providing strategic vision and leadership, overseeing critical administrative processes, developing and refining policies related to faculty participation in university decision-making, supporting faculty development initiatives, and collaborating with academic leaders and campus offices to navigate conflict and disciplinary processes. Dr. Totten has held a number of leadership roles throughout his career, including as graduate program director, department chair, and faculty senate chair at North Dakota State University, and department chair at UNLV. He has served on a number of national and international editorial and executive boards in his field. Dr. Totten has a PhD in English, with expertise in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century US literature, multiethnic US literature, travel writing, and critical theory. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, published by Oxford University Press. He has written, edited, and co-edited a number of books, and he has published over forty articles or chapters in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. His most recent edited books include A Companion to Multiethnic Literature of the United States (Wiley, 2024) and Race in the Multiethnic Literature Classroom (U of […]
Whether through conflicts in research groups, having to negotiate boundaries around service, or dealing with academic dishonesty in students, faculty can often be confronted with the need for difficult conversations. But even knowing there is a need, it is all too easy to avoid the hard conversations due to overwhelming emotions, discomfort with conflict, or fear of the situation escalating. Preparing for difficult conversations beforehand can therefore help faculty feel more of a sense of control over the situation as well as helping to manage their internal narrative. Join us for a one-hour training on how to prepare for difficult conversations as faculty. Drawing from Anita Kite’s work in Managing Difficult Conversations as Faculty, we will walk through the four precautions in preparation, including: You will have the chance to reflect on how you would respond to some specific scenarios, and to plan for any difficult conversations you may need to have using helpful tips and strategies.
We understand that global affairs such as the Israel-Palestinian Conflict can feel overwhelming for some and confusing for others. We encourage our members to take care of themselves and their students and colleagues during this time of unsettling events. To learn more about what is happening we encourage you to seek out informative and nonpartisan sources of information, an example of which can be found here – https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict Over the past few weeks, a number of campuses and campus presidents have found themselves in the middle of backlash, turmoil, and/or reduced confidence from their campus community. Attempts to quickly respond to the most recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict led to clumsy or seemingly offensive messages being distributed campus wide. While there may not have been anything wrong with the message, however, the audience just did not agree with the messaging, timing, approach, or in some cases, all of the above. Often, when world issues begin to spark national debate, many of our constituents may not realize the complexity or veracity of the topic and, their expectations for widely circulated messaging is based more on anchor bias – a tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information one receives […]
In a survey of professionals of higher education a few months ago, Academic Impressions found that: If asked to give their institution a letter grade for customer service, most professionals would assign a “C” or lower. There is a growing awareness among managers in higher education that customer service entails more than presenting students or internal clients with a “friendly face,” that it involves responsiveness and collaborative problem-solving. Yet most cite similar challenges to improving customer service in their office: lack of time and uncertainty on how to effectively train it. Two Resources on Training Customer Service Interviewing an array of experts who have made strides in providing customer service training in higher education or in transitioning enrollment or academic support services to a one-stop approach, Academic Impressions offers two complimentary resources: A Complimentary Publication Our recent Monthly Diagnostic, “Improving Customer Service in Higher Education,” we take a close look at the barriers to customer service and interview past and current presidents, vice presidents, and department heads in student services and enrollment management for practical advice in meeting those barriers. A Complimentary Webcast In our January 22, 2013 webcast, “Raising the Bar on Customer Service in Higher Education,” panelists Susan […]
Few academics would characterize themselves as comfortable or skilled in navigating difficult conversations. In fact, many of us go out of our way to avoid conflicts. Avoidance not only prevents problems from being resolved but can hinder opportunities to build interpersonal trust and respect within our departments. Effectively navigating difficult conversations can improve your sense of well-being, collegial relationships, the culture of your department, and your academic brand. The purpose of this video course is to help you develop the strategies and techniques required to resist the urge to avoid or fuel interpersonal conflicts and provide you with tools that will allow you to manage these situations with greater ease and confidence.
As Chief of Staff, you are often faced with implementing changes and initiatives set by the President, Board, and Executive Cabinet. Your role can be challenging especially when it comes to conflicting or disconnected initiatives. As those around you express concerns and ask questions regarding changes, it is your job to address them while also advancing the mission of the University and the goals of the Board and President. Join us for this hour-long virtual session to learn practical negotiation and communication strategies you can utilize to help implement the initiatives of your Board and President. You will leave this training feeling more confident to successfully collaborate with and support them.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with over 100 senior teams and cabinets in higher education. Overall, the experience has been quite positive due to the intelligence, dedication, aspirations, and integrity of those veteran leaders. Unfortunately, about 10% of teams I have worked with just never performed well, despite great effort and talent. This article is an attempt to conduct a “post mortem” on the teams that just didn’t make it. These mistakes go beyond some of the essential elements of stellar team performance, such as having a shared purpose, holding each other accountable, open and trusted communication, and high levels of trust. All these are very important, but the absence of these was not responsible for these talented teams’ failures. The following five “mistakes” may sound like common sense, but they are often overlooked when leaders at colleges and universities are building their teams. For a limited time only: We have opened up our leadership content to registered users. Please login or create a free account to read the full paper. 1. The team leader falls prey to the “comfortable cloning” syndrome. “Comfortable cloning” describes our natural tendency to seek out other team members who are similar to us or who […]
Tracy Wilson-Holden has been with Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU) Office of Research Administration since 2005. She is the Research Integrity Officer and is also responsible for overseeing research education and training. She directs the human subjects and responsible conduct of research training programs and oversees the work of the Conflict of Interests committee. Tracy is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Bioethics, teaching the graduate course “On Being a Professional Scientist”. She serves as a board member for the national organization the Association of Research Integrity Officers. In addition, she was the principal investigator of a federal grant from the Office of Research Integrity and has done peer review and taught workshops for the agency. She holds a BA in Communication Science and Disorders and a MA in Audiology, both from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to working in Research Administration, Tracy spent 11 years working as an intraoperative neurophysiologist in a private practice in Northeast Ohio and at Washington University in St. Louis.
Inclusive leadership requires that today’s leaders think about and understand change differently. Change is no longer a once-in-a-while ‘initiative’ that needs managing but is instead a constantly occurring process. And not everyone sits on a level playing field along the way: inclusive leaders must develop a greater awareness of their own blind spots and attend to the process they follow when leading change. Whose perspectives are being sought and heard, and whose aren’t? Who is the change serving, and who is it impacting? How can you invite and productively navigate through disagreement and conflict as change unfolds? Join us online to explore what managing change looks like in today’s higher education context for inclusive leaders. You will come away with:
Your team is growing more diverse every day; this includes across different generations from across generations. Each generation has its own preferences and values that motivate them, and it’s important to understand those differences in order to build a cohesive and resilient workplace culture that maximizes individual and team performance and minimizes conflict. With almost a quarter of the labor force set to retire in the next decade, it’s crucial to recognize the contributions of all generations of workers. Join us online to learn: Research that highlights the benefits of addressing the needs of your different generations. Strategies for how to motivate and coach your age-diverse team, so that they feel engaged in their work and have the tools to better understand and collaborate creatively and productively with each other. How to respond to and address interpersonal conflict that may arise within your team with an awareness and respect for the different generations. You’ll walk away with greater confidence in knowing how to communicate and engage across generational differences.
