With nearly 17 years’ experience in higher education, Laura’s passion for and commitment to students remains her primary focus. She believes deeply in meeting students where they are and in supporting them fully so that they can get to where they want to be. At CMU English, Laura developed the Major Buddy Program, which connects prospective and newly declared majors with current students in the Department so that they can get an inside perspective on the student experience while meeting peers with similar interests and goals. She also serves as a representative of the CMUSafe Ambassador Program, where she assists the CMU community with emergency preparedness and safety measures. Laura is an active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), and she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, plus Theatre Arts and a Master of Arts degree in English, both from Duquesne University.
Pursuing international markets in online education can bring in new revenue and a more prestigious global image. However, efficiently expanding these programs to reach or meet an international need in education can be difficult. In order to capitalize on your programs’ competitive advantage, specific processes and support structures must be designed to target and align with the potential market. Join us for an online training where our experienced instructors will discuss the expansion of online programs for international audiences. Using a SWOT Analysis approach, we will discuss the competencies needed to find the right fit for your program and the building of an internal support model to meet the distinctive needs of an international audience.
“Creativity takes courage.” This paper by Patrick Sanaghan of The Sanaghan Group shares 7 tested and proven practices that college and university presidents have used to enhance their creativity: Read the paper. Related Resource: Check Out The Presidential Transition Guide
A PROCESS THAT WORKSIf the case study below intrigues you, you can learn the 5-phase Collaborative Strategic Planning process that Anoka Ramsey Community College undertook in Pat Sanaghan’s book Strategic Planning: 5 Tough Questions, 5 Proven Answers.Case Study: Anoka Technical College & Anoka Ramsey Community College by Andrew Aspaas, Patrick Sanaghan, Donald Lewis, and Kent Hanson “Collaborative” Strategic Planning (CSP) has a nice ring to it, sounds a little like mom and apple pie, inclusion, and lots of participation. Who wouldn’t want that? In reality, authentic collaboration is a difficult process for leaders to undertake and do well. The challenges of conducting a collaborative planning process are many: you can get lost in too much process, where seemingly endless loops of engagement become confusing and exhausting for stakeholders; in an attempt to be inclusive, way too many people are informally involved in the planning effort, with no real ownership for the outcomes; the process can lose focus quickly, or people become overwhelmed by all the data that is gathered, and sense making becomes almost impossible. In this informal case study we want to show how you can actually conduct a large group collaborative planning meeting with 200+ faculty and ensure […]
By Amanda Morrow, SHRM-CP, Human Resources Business Partner, Rice Universitywith editing contributions from Melinda English, Rebecca Gould, and Susann Glenn Panic Over one year ago, the isolated whispers of a novel coronavirus grew into a boisterous, full-blown pandemic alarm that reverberated across the globe. As a result, universities and colleges worldwide were suddenly tasked with leading their staff, faculty, and students through unprecedented challenges and unforeseen complications. We, here, at Rice University in Houston, Texas, were no exception. On March 5, 2020, our Crisis Management Team alerted the campus that a staff member who had been under quarantine with a possible case of the coronavirus has tested positive for the disease. While swift action was taken to isolate the affected individual and those with whom they had contact, this news catalyzed sudden and wide-reaching action across campus. As the implications of SARS-CoV-2, a highly contagious, airborne disease, began to take form, the Human Resources (HR) team sprang into action. Our team immediately began supporting efforts to close down the campus to only essential personnel; to provide critical guidance to supervisors as they sent most (if not all) of their employees-home to work fully remote; to redesign how work was being […]
Supervision is much more than informal meetings and annual performance reviews. This online training examines a supervisory model that can help you develop the capacity of your employees. You will learn: Keys to being an effective supervisor Questions to use in creating a meaningful supervisory relationship Methods for establishing trust An effective supervisory structure (when to meet and what to cover) How to discuss areas for learning and improvement Join us online to learn how effective supervision can improve your team’s performance and results.
A COLUMN FROM GETTYSBURG COLLEGE This article is the second in a series by Ashlyn Sowell, Gettysburg’s associate vice president and campaign director. In her previous article, Sowell reviewed 4 lessons about campaign communications and volunteer management that she and her team at Gettysburg learned — from their volunteers. You can read that article here. Today, Sowell, with input from Gettysburg’s director of prospect research, walks through critical steps in reviewing your major gifts portfolio. We hope you will find this article useful and share it with your colleagues. We also recommend these related upcoming trainings: After the winter of 2014, I think everyone is looking forward to spring. And with spring comes that throwing open of the windows, getting rid of clutter, and giving everything a good dusting. It can also be the perfect time to review your major gifts portfolio to usher in new prospects and to let go of the old. I was struck by the news in the VSE reports that just came out recently. Giving in higher education is up and the highest it has been in five years. That’s great news and speaks volumes to the work done by gift officers in partnership with […]
ByAnand R. Marri, Dean and Professor, Teachers College, Ball State University Paaige K. Turner, Dean and Professor, College of Communication, Information, and Media, Ball State University Susana Rivera-Mills, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ball State University While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges for higher education institutions across the world, it also offers an opportunity to reflect upon how this moment can prepare academic leaders for a changing landscape. The lessons we learned at Ball State University are organized into three areas, those that can take higher education forward into the future, those that are applicable for that moment, and those that did not achieve the intended objectives. Ball State University serves over 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students both on campus and through our numerous online programs. Currently, over one-third of our undergraduate students receive Pell Grants and over 25 percent of our undergraduate students are first-generation college students. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a new set of challenges and exacerbated existing challenges across higher education while providing an opportunity to affirm commitments to institutional values. Beneficence is Ball State’s iconic statue that represents the beneficence and tenacity of the Ball Family and our community. Ball State […]
Once upon a time, I lived in a magical fairy tale world where higher education professionals, educated and insightful individuals, knew exactly how to navigate a mentor program and the results were nothing less than charming. Then I woke up. Sadly, the real world presents many obstacles to this “happily ever after,” and a belief in the fairy tale mentorship creates unsuccessful and unsustainable mentor programs. The five fairy tales below highlight five major lessons learned from designing and growing a university-wide mentor program. Before I begin, a caveat: Everyone’s story is different. Yet perhaps you can find relevance to your own institution and inspiration to begin or improve your mentor program. For almost ten years, I have worked with a university leadership development program that cultivates faculty and staff from every area of the university in a series of day-long sessions. Part of this development includes an embedded mentor program. The leadership program was created in 2008 through a cooperation of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to cultivate leaders within the university. The goal is for participants to use these new skills in their current position and to hopefully grow into executive leadership positions. The mentor portion was designed […]
Get practical ideas and advice on the “art” associated with the science of moves management. Gain the knowledge you need to smoothly move prospects through the donor cycle and upgrade them to the next giving level. Throughout this training, you will learn: The right questions to ask and when to ask them Identifying prospects who need to be upgraded or downgraded How to effectively manage donor meetings to ensure outcomes are met Tactics for moving donors through each stage of the solicitation cycle Considerations for using data to guide strategy
