Department chairs are busy people, and hiring and onboarding adjunct faculty is just one of many tasks on their plate (sometimes right before the start of a new semester). To make it easier, here is a checklist of essential information that chairs should share with new adjunct faculty when hiring them, including course syllabi, textbooks, learning outcomes, encouraged pedagogical approaches, grading philosophy, and where adjunct faculty can go on campus for other resources. by Teresa Focarile, Boise State University As a department chair you have a lot of responsibilities, and hiring and onboarding adjunct faculty is just one of them. Introducing these new instructors to their courses, as well as to department and university culture and resources, can be a big task, particularly if your institution does not have a robust new adjunct faculty orientation program. Adding to the challenge is the fact that adjunct faculty don’t all have the same level of experience in the classroom, or the same history with your institution, so it’s not always possible to have a one-size-fits-all process for getting them ready to teach. That said, there are a few key points that are important to cover in an orientation session that will be […]
READ THE WHOLE SERIES:Developing a High-Performing and Productive Advising Department In the first two installments in the series, “Developing a High-Performing and Productive Advising Department,” I’ve discussed strategies for identifying, assessing, and meeting student, staff, and advisors’ needs. In this installment, I will discuss best practices to successfully implement some of the key strategies identified in this series by maximizing the use of technology through creative use of student information systems (ERPs). Understand Your Student Information System / ERP I encourage advising administrators to learn, in as much detail as possible, their student database system. While we commonly rely on experts in our IT departments or super users within our departments to provide us the data we need, advising administrators are the only ones who can effectively articulate the needs of their constituents to the programmers who are to retrieve data. When there is a gap between the end user (academic advising department) and the programmers (who may be experts in the use of software but know little about the needs of the advising department), data is often inaccurate and unusable. Understanding how to “speak the language” of the ERP system the institution uses allows advising administrator to creatively solve […]
I frequently say to my friends in donor relations that I would like to find the person who invented giving societies and give them a swift punch or two. I am of the opinion that great donor recognition does not hinge on giving societies. I am also of the probably unpopular opinion that most donors are not motivated by their membership in a giving society. I have never seen statistical or empirical evidence in a single study that shows the ROI of a giving society or that the presence of recognition based giving societies moves giving upward. If someone has one, I’d pay to see it. So what am I talking about here? Let’s share some common definitions… Developing giving and recognition levels, associated benefits, and administering these benefits can be a cumbersome task. Many donor relations shops are overburdened by these ineffective practices. The multiple levels within societies create confusion and chaos for staff and donors alike. A great many of these constructs are artificial and not useful in engaging and recognizing donors. Many giving societies do not have distinct benefits and tangible value, especially in the light of quid pro quo violations and other such IRS fun. So what do […]
As a frontline fundraiser, you have likely honed your “fundraising voice” over time. You have learned to embody crucial tenets such as integrity, listening, and humility in ways that feel authentic and purposeful. As you continue adapting to a virtual workflow, have you considered whether your fundraising voice is deeply rooted in handshakes or face-to-face meetings? Have you felt less “yourself” while fundraising virtually? Join us online for an in-depth virtual training where our experts will help you adapt your fundraising practices to the online environment and become more successful. Our panel will help you determine key tenets of your own unique voice as a frontline fundraiser. Through small group roleplays, you will learn how to leverage these characteristics, and you’ll leave the training with clear next steps for fundraising more authentically in a virtual world.
This webcast will show you how you can use a Net Promoter® question on your alumni surveys to determine which investments bring your alumni closer to and more connected with your university. By adding one question to your existing alumni surveys, you can: Move beyond measuring engagement by attendance Resource programming that meets the needs of both your alumni and university Focus efforts on the segments of your alumni population that are “promoters” Make a distinction between satisfied and intensely loyal alumni Identify the elements of your programs that really matter Our expert instructor, Jennifer Lynham Cunningham, will demonstrate how she was able to incorporate a Net Promoter® question on her institution’s post-event and alumni attitudinal surveys. Jennifer will also share how to collect and analyze this data with easy-to-use and inexpensive tools.
In this role, Lindsay develops and drives strategy for direct faculty-to-alumni engagement by applying a volunteer management model to faculty. Working closely with development directors, engagement officers, and college leadership, Lindsay facilitates quality faculty-to-alumni connections through various virtual and in-person programs and events. These programs include live video webinars with faculty speakers, research presentations, a virtual book club, lifelong learning programs, and faculty-to-alumni meet-ups around the world. Prior to her transition into higher education, Lindsay was an event producer for eight years at a sponsorship marketing agency, working with a variety of Fortune 500 clients on creating and executing world-class hospitality events.
Giving every student an assessment and 50-minute counseling session is no longer sustainable given the high volume of students needing mental health services. You are likely looking for new ways of delivering quality care to meet your students’ needs and manage your resources. Join us online to learn how the Stepped Care 2.0 Model may be one possible solution for your counseling center. Dr. Peter Cornish, a leader in the model, will debunk common myths and provide an overview of the key components of the model, including how to: Preserve your existing care network Train your providers Monitor outcomes Message and market new services
How do you lead when there is no map? When the territory is unknown? The swift pace of change and the complexity of the challenges facing our colleges and universities is immense, and is testing the abilities of our institutions’ leaders. The playbook of the past does not offer a sustainable path forward for all institutions. Continually finding new revenue sources, discounting tuition to increase enrollment or improve the academic profile of the student body, investing in new facilities to attract faculty and students, etc.—these will not be enough. Given the prevalence of adaptive challenges facing our institutions, we need a different kind of leader in higher education—leaders who can build bridges from the past to the future, taking the best of our industry and making it more relevant, competitive, and sustainable. The past and current leadership model that prizes vision, academic reputation and track record, communication and charisma, and fundraising expertise is no longer enough to meet our current and future challenges. In the “permanent whitewater” of higher education, we will need leaders who are: Drawing on extensive research and conversations with leaders across higher-ed, this 30-page paper is meant to open the conversation. We invite you to read […]
As Carol Moore notes in her article, “Advising: Meeting Student Needs?”, “only 22% of colleges have the advising function staffed by professional advisors.” At schools with professional advisors, students often encounter a well-oiled machine of advising that transitions them from their first years of college with a general advisor to more focused work with a major-specific faculty member or advisor. Students at institutions without professional advisors need that same kind of support and guidance in navigating their academic careers, and if they do not receive it, they may struggle to retain at the institution. At the majority of institutions, meanwhile, undergraduate students are too often left with faculty advisors who are neither trained nor given the time to provide appropriate advising. Join us for a one-hour facilitated discussion on the challenges of faculty advising and how to equip faculty with the skills to be successful advisors. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss how your institution prepares faculty for advising, as well as what changes you’d need to make to incorporate advising as service into promotion and tenure portfolios. The author, Carol Moore, will be present to answer your questions and share her thoughts about the changes needed to ensure student […]
Why, you might ask, should academic deans add this concern about students’ career preparation to their already unmanageably long list of responsibilities? As leaders of the faculty, deans need to serve as the programmatic agents of implementing a holistic undergraduate education. And deans provide the essential perspective of someone who observes the connections on a daily basis between how the university works and how students learn. Students best engage in their learning when they know how that learning fits into their lives. I do not mean to imply that students are selfish or myopic. Quite the opposite. Students implicitly, although naively, understand higher education as important to their whole lives. Our role as deans is to cross the bureaucratic barriers between academic and student services in order to teach students and how to apply these to growing personally and professionally. This has been a major focus of my work over the past 25 years as a department chair and academic dean: to connect academic learning with career development. Here are four practical strategies I have learned: four opportunities for academic deans to partner with career services: 1. Attend national career services and academic organizations with a cross-division team. Offer to attend local, regional or […]
