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.  

Fundraising for the Library: Building Shared Purpose

Posted on by Greta Bell

The academic library faces increased demand for services and the increased costs of acquisitions, digitization, and facilities upgrades, even as many institutions are trimming budgets. This has led to a growing awareness that library leaders need to devote more energy to partnering with advancement and academic leaders to raise external funds for the library. Yet because the academic library is a central resource on campus and lacks a direct alumni constituency, fundraising for the needs of the library has often been difficult. We turned to Jeffrey Trzeciak, university librarian at McMaster University, for his tips for success for other university librarians. Trzeciak spoke with us about McMaster University’s unique model that raised more than a quarter-million dollars by involving senior and reunion classes. For this article, we asked him for advice on some of the thinking that needs to underlie such an effort: Here’s what Trzeciak suggests. Partnering with Academic Leaders “We need to focus not just on our own funding needs, but also on playing a role in the fundraising for the institution as a whole — even if it means assisting in bringing in gifts that don’t directly fund the library.” Jeffrey Trzeciak, McMaster University Trzeciak stresses the importance of founding partnerships […]

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, […]

The Dual Role of Faculty Advising in Faculty Leadership and Student Success: A Time for Discussion

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Report: The Skills Future Higher-Ed Leaders Need to Succeed

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

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 […]

It’s Not Really the Dark Side: 5 Tips for Faculty Interested in Administration

Posted on by Brady Stanton

By Manya C. Whitaker, PhDAssociate Professor & Chair of Education, Crown Faculty Center Director, Colorado College When I started graduate school in 2006, I had no interest in becoming a professor or joining academe. I wanted to work at a think tank researching youth development to inform public policy. But in my third year of graduate school, I was a Teaching Assistant (TA) for a developmental psychology class and everything changed. I discovered the joy of teaching and eventually petitioned to teach sections of the course. When I entered the job market, I was certain to apply to small liberal arts colleges where teaching was paramount in the job description. Ten years later, I know I made the right decision. But I also confess that in year 6, teaching started to lose its appeal and I sought new challenges. I asked my chair if I could be the associate chair to ease the workload in the department. He happily agreed, and I had my second professional epiphany—I like administrative work! I’ve always been a person who made lists and found joy in crossing each item off. I have very detailed schedules that tell me what I should be doing almost […]

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