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 […]
The world of work is changing rapidly, creating new pressures and new opportunities for higher education. It’s critical that university leaders act as conveners, assembling representatives of local industry, nonprofits, and community to do the tough work of anticipating the future for their region—both the threats and the opportunities. Some community colleges have been doing this extremely well, and other institutions can learn from their example. The Challenge Before Us The world now sits on the precipice of a fourth industrial revolution, defined by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Technological breakthroughs in processing power, artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and more will fundamentally change the way in which we live, work, and interact. Such technologies are poised to destroy millions of current jobs while creating entirely new ones. The stakes are high: researchers at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute have predicted a 50% chance that machines will be capable of taking over all human jobs in 120 years. The implications for higher education are staggering. Beyond the job losses, millions of new jobs will simultaneously be created. In fact, it’s […]
Many have written, studied, and offered advice on the skills higher education leaders need to be successful, and in the wake of COVID-19, some of the needs have shifted and some have reached a fever pitch. Burnout, enrollment declines, artificial intelligence, and political and cultural polarization are just some of the external factors a leader needs to navigate. Internally, there are staffing and salary freezes, politics, racialized hierarchies, and tenure battles – it’s no wonder many institutions are struggling with recruiting and retaining key faculty and staff1. Although employees have many reasons for leaving their jobs, one stands out. From April 2021 – April 2022, a McKinsey survey2 showed that the top reason for quitting a previous job is a lack of career development opportunities and advancement, outranking inadequate compensation. These results closely mirror those from a Pew Research Center survey3, which found lack of opportunities for advancement tied with inadequate pay as the reasons people quit. So, while there are multiple factors associated with driving employees away, it is telling that lack of growth within the organization ranks so highly. It’s a message that’s beginning to resonate in higher education. Institutions and departments are beginning to recognize the need […]
Higher ed is full of people who never had to learn leadership before they were suddenly doing it. You became department chair because your scholarship was strong. You moved into a VP role because you understood the budget model better than anyone in the room. Then, almost overnight, you were responsible for leading people, and the skills that got you promoted were not the skills the job actually required. That gap is not a personal failing. It is a structural one. Higher education trains people deeply in their discipline and rarely in leading other people. The good news is that leadership is learnable, the same way any complex skill is: through a framework you can build on, and a method you can practice. A Framework That Scaffolds Leadership At Academic Impressions, we organize leadership into four levels, each one building on the one below it. Systems Mastery Teams Mastery Interpersonal Mastery Personal Mastery Personal mastery: self-awareness, knowing your strengths and gaps, and defining what leadership means to you. Interpersonal mastery: communication, collaboration, and working through conflict, the level most people picture when they hear the word “leadership.” Teams mastery: psychological safety and the kind of trust that makes a group […]
We had the opportunity recently to connect with several innovators in career services whom we met through a recent CAPA conference; one of these was Dr. Audrey Murrell, the associate dean of the College of Business Administration and director of the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Business. Audrey Murrell has developed a unique, competency-based career development curriculum at Pitt Business. We asked her about that program — its key components, what other institutions can learn from it, and how it is responding to critical trends in career services. Here is what she shared with us. How Career Development is Changing Academic Impressions. Audrey, thank you for this conversation. First, can you tell us a little about how you see career services changing today? What are the trends that career services professionals need to be paying the most attention to? Audrey Murrell. Previously, universities have tended to take a very centralized approach to career development, where career services functions as a one-stop shop to meet the broad needs of students on campus. What I’ve seen is the need for more specialization. Some schools of business have a separate but complimentary career services office or […]
How Do Successful Higher-Ed Leaders Deal with Adaptive Change? We’re well-equipped, in higher education, to meet technical change head-on. We’re often less well-equipped for adaptive change. This is a distinction Ron Heifetz drew, first in his thought-provoking book Leadership without Easy Answers (1998) and later with Martin Linsky in Leadership on the Line (2002). With technical challenges, situations arise where current knowledge, expertise and resources are enough to deal effectively. A technical problem is not necessarily trivial or simple but its solution lies within the organization’s current repertoire of resources (such as updated technology, takeaways from past experience, or decisions to invest more money or people). With adaptive challenges, there are fewer clear answers. Adaptive challenges demand that we lead differently, because these challenges cannot be solved with current knowledge and expertise, but require experimentation, risk taking, creativity and the ability to use “failures” as learning opportunities. Adaptive leaders – the leaders I would follow – are those who know how to embrace confusion and ambiguity. Those are the leaders I would trust; those are the leaders who are visibly comfortable with ambiguity and who are always learning and moving forward. (I unpack this idea further in my article “Higher Ed is Facing Adaptive Changes.”) This […]
I support faculty and leaders in crafting a clear vision, navigating conflict, and building buy-in. Together we create the clarity and confidence to drive meaningful success on their campuses while honoring the human side of leadership. Kevin has spent more than two decades in higher education at regional universities and public and private R1 institutions. As a director and dean, he led significant enrollment growth at two institutions, opened a $44M performing arts center, and guided teams of more than 100 faculty and staff through new academic programs and accreditation reviews. What energizes him most is partnering with other academic leaders as they navigate their roles, build the skills those roles demand, and accomplish the goals they set for themselves. His background as a classically trained musician shapes how he approaches leadership and change. The skills he honed as an artist, including discipline, collaboration, adaptability, connection, and creative problem-solving, have served him in everything from managing diverse teams to guiding institutions through organizational change. In his coaching, Kevin partners with academic leaders on their most pressing challenges: Clients work with him to uncover roadblocks, embrace new perspectives, and move forward. His process is collaborative and built on self-discovery, so leaders […]
Because your institution’s president is uniquely positioned to scan the horizon and help develop and communicate a vision of the future to prospective donors, his or her role in fundraising entails far more than just making connections and making the ask. In his recent monograph “Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide,” Jim Langley, president and founder of Langley Innovations and past vice president for advancement at Georgetown University, contends that the president’s primary role in fundraising is not to ask for money but to create the conditions that attract significant philanthropic investments. We followed up with Jim Langley this week to learn more. FUNDRAISING FOR PRESIDENTS: A GUIDE Jim Langley’s monograph offers a forward-thinking look at: Slow Persistence, Not Rapid Persuasion We asked Langley for the key thing presidents need to know about philanthropy. In response, Langley noted a fact that is relatively well-known but infrequently (or inconsistently) acted upon. “Fundraising,” he cautions, “is often depicted as a short-term if not transactional phenomenon, while the research on philanthropic patterns suggests that fundraising needs to be long-term in its focus.” Citing research on donor trends and behaviors, Langley notes that: Langley uses this data to issue a reminder to institutional leaders that […]
Quickly establishing a rapport with a new president is of immense importance to an advancement leader. If a shared sense of purpose and a framework of collaboration are established between the two of you in the first month of a new presidency, the institution can soar to new heights. But if this groundwork isn’t established, missteps and misunderstandings can accrue and result in heightened tension, mistrust, and, ultimately, turnover in advancement leadership.Advancement leaders can help establish that rapport by asking their new presidents some very strategic questions. The Right Questions to Ask These questions include: 1. Who were your mentors or the leaders who inspired you? What in particular did you admire most about them? Why this is the right question:The answer will provide you real insight into the president’s leadership style and allow you to mesh your style with his or hers. 2. What information would be most helpful for my staff and I to bring back as we interact with alumni, parents and other key constituents? Are there questions that you would like us to be asking these constituents on your behalf? Why this is the right question:This question will help the new president understand that advancement can be […]
The challenges facing our students and our institutions are more complex than in the past, and no single, siloed office can address these challenges adequately. That’s why some institutions have been forming student affairs innovation hubs to bring together a more diverse crew of creative minds from across campus and put them to work on improving the student experience. One of these institutions is Seattle University, and we recently interviewed Seattle U’s vice president for student development, Michele C. Murray, Ph.D., and Seattle U’s assistant vice president for student development, Monica Nixon, Ed.D. Rethinking Our Work Murray and Nixon suggest that the one-stop shop approach to serving specific student demographics (such as transfer students, for instance) has several flaws. When Seattle University set up an office to serve its transfer students, Murray notes, “the great thing was that we had one full-time staff person completely committed to those transfer students. The downside was that the transfer students felt siloed. They weren’t introduced to the fullness of the student experience, and that issue was replicated across multiple student populations.” “Another unintended consequence of the siloed way of using one-stop shop areas to serve specific student demographics — is that the students feel […]
