I engage and empower leaders at all stages with wisdom and tools that instill confidence and focus in order for them to achieve quantifiable success throughout the evolving circumstances of their careers, their organizations, and those they lead. Dr. Marie Hansen is a dean, executive coach, leadership consultant and attorney with over 24 years’ experience in higher education. Her career has included work with higher educational faculty, staff and leaders at all levels. She currently supervises over 100 full and part time faculty and professional staff. She has created leadership training for external and internal constituents (corporate training), worked on several grants, and led strategic planning, corporate partner and mentoring programs. She has taught in the disciplines of business, criminal justice, law and organizational behavior. As a coach, she enjoys helping guide individuals aspiring to leadership roles and those with many years of experience as leaders set career goals and achieve quantifiable success in the higher education environment through application of social and emotional intelligence and leadership principles. As a PCC certified coach who focuses on social and emotional intelligence, Marie helps faculty, staff and leaders broaden their self-awareness to augment their own development. As a coach, she listens, supports and encourages growth in all […]
Why You Need a Stellar Team To build a high performing team is a daunting and noble task, and such teams are as rare as blue diamonds. The silo mentality that often exists on our campuses often limits our collective actions, and creates redundancy and replication. Given shrinking resources and the rapid pace of change, the siloed approach to team building and decision making is neither strategic nor feasible. We must work collaboratively to utilize the collective talents of our campus stakeholders. And learning to build high performing teams is one of the most effective ways we can meet the many challenges that confront us. If a senior leader can build a stellar team, the organizational leverage that can be achieved is powerful and can be a game changer for a campus. In this scenario: We have had the opportunity to work with scores of senior teams in higher education. Almost always, these teams were comprised of highly intelligent, dedicated, honest, and mission-driven individuals. But few of them ever became a first class team. When you witness a high performing senior team being transparent with each other, asking for help, dealing with conflict effectively, and listening carefully to each other, […]
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 […]
Series: Changing How We Understand the MarketIn this series, we analyze current enrollment and demographics data, uncovering stories that challenge how institutions often understand their marketplace—or that shed new light on emerging trends. We want to encourage a deeper look at the implications of today’s marketplace data. We hope that you will share these stories across your institution and use them to start critical conversations to drive not only enrollment strategy but discussions of curricular offerings, student support, and course design. While we’ll highlight findings and stories worthy of closer attention, each article includes an easy-to-use Tableau dashboard that you and your colleagues can use to drill deep in the data yourself.Also in this series:Yield Rates are Declining – Why?Is the International Enrollment Boom a Rising Tide that Lifts All Ships?How Simpson’s Index Can Offer Universities a Different Look at DiversityWhy Measuring Diversity Matters The rise in undergraduate enrollment in the United States has been well documented and much discussed: Between 1980 and 2010, for instance, undergraduate enrollment rose almost 74%, far outstripping the growth (about 2%) in traditional-age college students in the US. There are likely several factors contributing to this surge, including economic growth; population growth; the belief […]
SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded the multi-million dollar First in the World grant to 24 colleges and universities that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. Texas A&M – Corpus Christi already offers face-to-face supplemental instruction (SI) for many barrier STEM classes and has seen it boost retention and graduation. However, the number of students who took advantage of SI remained low in comparison to the number of students in the courses. Students frequently reported they could not attend face-to-face sessions due to schedule conflicts or jobs. Dr. Patricia Spaniol-Mathews, Executive Director for Programs for Academic Student Support, hopes to eliminate that obstacle by piloting an interactive online supplemental instruction program with the $3.3 million First In The World grant. It is an exciting opportunity because the online option will eliminate schedule barriers, increase the number of students who can benefit from supplemental instruction, and hopefully boost STEM retention and completion rates […]
Karen L. Dace is vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Previously, she served as Deputy Chancellor for Diversity, Access & Equity at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Associate Vice President for Diversity at the University of Utah. She holds a tenured faculty appointment in Communication Studies and is an adjunct professor in Africana Studies at IUPUI. Dace had a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Communication and in the Ethnic Studies Program which housed American Indian Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, African American Studies and Chicana/o Studies while at the University of Utah. She served Director of the Ethnic Studies Program with a faculty of 20-25 tenure-track scholars as well as Director of African American Studies at the University of Utah. As the Associate Vice President for Diversity at the University of Utah, the following offices reported to Dr. Dace: Women & Gender Studies Program; Ethnic Studies Program; American Indian Resource Center; Utah Opportunity Scholars; Center for the Study of Empowered Students of Color; Center for Ethnic Student Affairs; LGBT Student Center; and the Utah Math, Engineering and Science Achievement K-20 Consortium. As the campus’ first Chief Diversity Officer at the […]
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.” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
