Search Results for: meeting

The 3 Critical Elements to Include in Department Chair Training

Chairs occupy an essential position on our campuses, sitting at the intersection point that connects our faculty to institutional strategy, context, and culture. They also make some of the most impactful decisions that shape the university, overseeing decisions related to hiring, promotion, and curriculum. Yet for most institutions, the support and training available to chairs is minimal.   Most of the training provided to chairs is limited to topics like how to work with HR, budgeting, and promotion & tenure. But what truly separates effective chairs from ineffective chairs are their leadership skills, such as:   Academic Impressions has been trusted to effectively train department chairs across the U.S. and Canada for over ten years. In this free webcast, we’ll discuss the keys to our success, what works and what doesn’t, and create a space for others to share their best practices.   If you need to start or enhance chair development at your own institution, we invite you to join us for this program.  

Deans Summit: Maintaining Strategic Focus Through Financial Challenges

While higher ed is facing waning enrollments and funding paired with increasing expenses and demands, deans must lead the charge in making their colleges, schools, or units more financially viable while remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape. Deans who are best prepared to meet these demands are creating a culture of creative problem-solving, efficiency, and innovation, and we have partnered with three of them to provide a collaborative space where deans can come together and strategize around their toughest challenges. Join your peers in this four-hour summit to: Think creatively about sources of funding Align programs to market demand and workforce changes Better leverage your existing resources and stakeholders Find innovative opportunities for growth Create the conditions for a more sustainable future You will hear from leading experts and explore new approaches to the crises your school or unit is facing. Infused with small group sessions and solutions-focused brainstorming throughout, you will leave this virtual training with short term strategies to survive and long-term strategies to thrive.

Handling Institutional or Program Teach-Outs with Dignity

For students and staff, institution and academic program closures often come with little warning. They can trigger shock and grief. If you’re an institutional leader, these same closures can leave you feeling disoriented and unprepared. How do you shift your focus from retaining students to getting rid of students? For something so complex, how do you ensure optimal outcomes? Join us online and learn how to prepare yourself for the shift in thinking that comes with managing a teach-out. You’ll hear from Dr. Chris Davis, who led a successful teach-out at Western International University (WIU). Upon completion of the teach-out, WIU had retained 97% of its employees and exceeded goals for both revenue and expenses. You’ll leave with tips for: How to communicate with your students and staff to reduce chaos and confusion How to question and manage expenses to meet your financial goals How to keep students and staff engaged with minimal frustration

2 Ways to Move Students Out of Academic Probation

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Moving at-risk students out of academic probation quickly is a worthy challenge—and at Western Michigan University, two recent retention efforts at the Haworth College of Business (HCoB) have seen positive outcomes in this regard. Students who complete HCoB’s Phoenix Success Course as well as mandatory study hours in the University’s new award-winning Bronco Study Zone are retained at a rate of approximately 73%. Compared to students who do not participate in these two efforts, this rate represents a 32% increase in retention. HCoB is one of nine Colleges at Western Michigan University with an enrollment of approximately 3800 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students, and its success in these new initatives provides valuable clues for other institutions. Let’s take a closer look. 1. The Phoenix Student Success Program Launched in 2013, The Phoenix Program is a holistic student success and engagement program implemented to intercept a high dismissal rate for undergraduate students on academic probation, whereby approximately 59% of students on academic probation in HCoB were being dismissed at the end of their first probation semester. The program includes initiatives across several touchpoints throughout students’ academic careers. These initiatives include: One main component of the Phoenix Student Success Program is […]

Adjunct Faculty: A Department Chair’s Guide to Orienting New Instructors

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

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 […]

Optimizing Your Use of Student Information Systems

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

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 […]

Incorporating Trauma-Informed Practices into the Classroom

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study in the nineties taught us the prevalence of traumatic experience in society, as well as how trauma influences lifelong learning, health, and behavior. Researchers have found correlations between high ACEs scores (indicating more traumatic experience) and learning or behavior problems, lower grades, and a higher rate of academic failure. While mental health is not a new issue to higher education, the COVID-19 pandemic and other unprecedented events have significantly impacted college student mental health and stress levels. It has therefore become increasingly vital for faculty to understand the effects of trauma and stress on the minds and behaviors of students so that they can tailor their pedagogical approach to better meet their students’ needs. Join us for a virtual training where our expert speaker Heather Rist will walk you through the effect of trauma, how it presents in the classroom, and how to implement classroom management techniques to reduce the risk of re-traumatization. You will learn to identify the signs and symptoms of trauma, as well as how to calm someone experiencing heightened trauma symptoms and to then connect them with appropriate care and resources on campus.

Giving and Recognition Societies – We Can Do Better!

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

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 […]

Engaging Transfer Students Before They Arrive

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

NSSE’s 2009 annual report cites low participation in high-impact activities (such as study abroad, service learning, internship, undergraduate research, or senior experience) among transfer students as one measure of engagement and likely persistence. The lowest engagement was from vertical transfers (students who enter four-year institutions from community colleges). In the survey, 62% of native seniors had participated in internships, but only 43% of vertical transfers. Only 7% of vertical transfers participated in study abroad, compared with 20% among native students. Given the low numbers on engagement, we asked Kurt Thiede, vice president for enrollment management at Bucknell University, for his tips on engaging vertical transfer students early and fostering affinity for the institution from the first point of contact. Early Engagement The earlier the engagement, the more likely affinity becomes. Early engagement with prospective vertical transfers from two-year colleges can take a number of forms, from a campus visit day to a summer program. But whether you have the funding for a visit day or a summer program, it is critical to think through what to include in that experience. You will want to expose students to all aspects of life at the university — the career offices, financial aid, academic advising, […]

Loading survey...