Archives: Courses

Defining Your Role as Chief of Staff

The role of assistant to the president of any institution varies depending on many factors. You will learn how you can better define your presidential assistant role, decide upon the skill sets that your institution needs, and implement a successful partnership on your campus. You will leave with example models to follow, a plan of what to do during the first month of a new President/Chief of Staff partnership, and an understanding of how to manage the evolution of your role.

Facilitating Culturally Inclusive Meetings

Facilitating Culturally Inclusive Meetings Practice critical communication skills to foster inclusion and collaboration in your meetings. Agenda Our instructor will begin the webcast by helping you discover how your personal identity shapes the meetings you lead.  Then we’ll discuss: How to practice critical communication skills (e.g., deep listening, genuine question probing, and suspending assumptions and judgments) to foster inclusion and collaboration in a group setting How to choose accountability partners who will provide honest feedback about your meetings

Recruiting and Retaining Faculty and Staff Mentors for Minority Students

While many institutions have peer-to-peer mentoring programs in place, more departments are now charged with creating formal mentoring programs for minority students involving faculty and staff. Loyola University Chicago has several such faculty/staff mentoring programs to retain their students of color. Join us online to learn about one of Loyola’s minority mentoring programs – Loyola University Chicago Empowering Sisterhood (LUCES). Our expert presenter will demonstrate how LUCES recruits and retains faculty / staff mentors by: Discussing personal and professional benefits of becoming a mentor Clearly defining roles, applications, and mentor agreements Offering mentor check-ins, brown-bag trainings, and continued support Instituting mid-year assessments and an annual report for ongoing improvement You will leave with advice on how to target a specific demographic to help increase a sense of belonging and persistence.

Building Better Meetings Between Frontline Fundraisers and Prospect Researchers

Building Better Meetings Between Frontline Fundraisers and Prospect Researchers Learn how to help frontline fundraisers communicate more effectively with prospect managers and researchers. Digital Recording Agenda I. Building Your Prospect Management Meeting  We’ll talk through how you can efficiently work with frontline staff to understand what they want and need. We’ll also offer ideas on how to encourage others to keep clean and accurate data. II. Running Your Prospect Management Meeting  We’ll discuss how you can guide conversations surrounding donor strategy to help gift officers move proposals forward. We’ll also offer: Sample meeting agendas Recommendations for meeting timelines III. Following Up Across Functional Areas  We’ll discuss things like: What is working across the collaboration? What would fundraisers/prospect researchers adjust? What pre-work is necessary for these meetings to be successful and why?

Small Events for Donor Cultivation

Small Events for Donor Cultivation Inspire philanthropic involvement and showcase great work at your institution through personalized, intimate events with donors. Agenda The Changing Landscape of Donor Cultivation Developing a Strategy for Small Donor Cultivation Events Setting goals Different types of events & themes Different models to fit your institution’s needs Creating impact during events Resourcing Your Events Roles of staff in cultivation events Event execution & follow-up Getting Started

Focus on Student Belonging to Boost Student Retention and Success

You know that a sense of belonging is an important factor for student success and retention. But it is also difficult to measure. Because this conversation is so new, there are few models to follow. How do you start gathering data and using it to promote a greater sense of student belonging on campus? Join us online and learn how St. Cloud State University is leading the way in measuring student belonging. They’ve designed a survey for all first-year students that assesses social and academic belonging, and they’ve been able to identify how belonging (along with factors like GPA or demographic data) predicts retention. You’ll receive a copy of the survey, and you’ll get advice on how to use survey results to design more targeted interventions involving students, faculty, residence hall directors, and student advisors.

Taking Your Orientation Online to Solve Common Challenges

Taking Your Orientation Online to Solve Common Challenges Hear how one brick-and-mortar institution uses online orientation to meet the needs of modern students. Agenda 1)  The Impact of Utah State’s Online Orientation:  You’ll learn why Utah State switched to an online orientation, what problems is has solved, and the outcomes they’ve seen with it. 2)  The Five Building Blocks of a Phased, Modular Online Orientation: Building Block #1:  Identify the Right Resources – What IT platforms are available and within budget, and how can you start small? Building Block #2:  Identify Stakeholders – Which campus constituents do you need to include, and how do you get their buy-in? Building Block #3:  Design and Customize Your Content – How can you create a narrative for students that helps them understand their opportunities and responsibilities? Building Block #4:  Manage Information Overload – How do you ensure you have ownership of the information presented, and how do you communicate it to students in a concise way? Building Block #5:  Keep the Human Connection – How can you make your students feel like they are part of a community?

Transitional Math: One Model for Developmental Education Reform

Transitional Math: One Model for Developmental Education Reform Are you wondering how transitional math fits into your developmental education reform strategy? Login Instructions Live Webcast: Login on January 28, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET. WEBCAST LINK: http://ai.adobeconnect.com/rd7amft95tdu/ Click the radio button that reads, “Enter as a Guest” In the box that says “Name,” enter your institution name Click the button to enter the meeting as a guest AUDIO: Upon entrance into the webcast meeting room, you will be prompted to either listen by computer or by phone. (To listen by computer, you’ll see a “Listen Only” option in the lower right corner of the audio pop-up window). To ensure an optimal viewing experience, test your setup: https://ai.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm Digital Recording You will be able to view the webcast recording here no later than 10 business days after the live session. Agenda 1) How Transitional Math Fits into the Developmental Education Reform Landscape How transitional math is different than other developmental math reforms, such as co-requisite support and math pathways How co-requisite support, math pathways, and transitional math can fit together into one ecosystem 2) Overcoming the Common Barriers to a Transitional Math Model Cultural differences between high schools and colleges which can disrupt communication and […]

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

Developing Your Parent Giving Strategy

Developing Your Parent Giving Strategy Are you missing opportunities to convert parent enthusiasm into philanthropic engagement? Agenda During the webcast, we will show you how to encourage parent giving by: Examining what parents at your institution care about Identifying obvious and less obvious opportunities Overcoming common objections

Managing Difficult Colleagues

Difficult colleagues come in many forms: A colleague who hijacks a meeting by dominating the conversation A leader who is overly critical of others’ ideas A project team member who leaves the work for you or takes credit for your work Confronting these difficult colleagues can feel overwhelming. How will they react? Will they hold a grudge? How do you manage authority? Join us online and learn how to communicate with and influence your difficult colleagues. You’ll learn how to target specific strategies to seven unique personality types, and you’ll leave with advice on how to respond in the moment and afterwards.

Frequently Asked Questions for Alumni Magazine Professionals

As a professional working to improve your alumni magazine, you don’t have as many choices for professional development. Choices for in-person and online learning that include the sharing of best practices are often very limited. That’s why we’re bringing you a webcast session covering a variety of questions and issues with an expert in the higher education and consumer magazine publishing sector. Sarah Marshall Elliott of Capstone Brand Partners has executed two successful relaunches of alumni magazines. Join us online to connect with other alumni magazine professionals and get tips and examples from our expert ranging from reader research to design tips to digital strategy. You will have the chance to submit your most pressing questions before the session airs.

Helping Students Tackle Complex Problems: An Educational Model at James Madison University

Higher education is working to prepare students to deal with complex problems and unending disruption. But courses with lengthy syllabi and reading lists may do the opposite. How do you develop courses that truly teach students to be innovative? Enter X-Labs at James Madison University, a model of education that offers transdisciplinary, project-based academic courses where students learn design thinking and work directly with client partners in government, industry, and nonprofit organizations to solve real world problems. Students might tackle homelessness with the United Way or foreign policy challenges with the Department of Homeland Security. They prototype a solution in just 15 weeks – experiencing failure and frustration along the way. Join us online in this two-session webcast series to get a taste of an X-Labs course from both the student and faculty perspectives. You will leave with advice on how to implement similar techniques in a single classroom or on a broader institutional level.

Networking Fundamentals for Research Development Professionals

Whether you’re a new research development professional (RDP) or an RDP new to your institution, you need to orient to your institution’s structure and research landscape. Where can you gather tools and intel that will further your institution’s research mission, and how can you share them widely? Join us online to learn the fundamentals of communicating across institutional silos to connect the people and resources needed for high-quality research – especially interdisciplinary research. You will leave with concrete tips on how to gather and share useful information, including: Publications you should read Meetings you should attend Key people you should connect with

Crafting Personalized Stewardship Plans for Top Donors

Learn a process for developing creative and customized stewardship plans for your highest-level donors. How can you learn unique information about your donors and use it to form stewardship plans that create meaningful moments and encourage subsequent gifts? Join us online to get a collection of creative ideas for your top donor stewardship plans – ranging from campus visits to speaking opportunities to meetings with gift beneficiaries. Since not every idea is appropriate for every donor, we’ll help you map the ideas to important donor preferences so that your plans have maximum impact.

Managing Difficult Faculty

If you are in an academic leadership position, you’ve encountered challenging faculty who exhibit unprofessional, unproductive, and even destructive behavior. When faculty decline in productivity, stop attending meetings, or criticize their junior colleagues, how can you deal with these inevitable and uncomfortable situations? In this two-part webcast series, our expert instructor will guide you through a four-stage process for dealing with difficult faculty personalities. You will learn to: Identify and address problematic behaviors early Use appropriate strategies for different behavior types Learn how and when to escalate your intervention Create written agreements that establish conduct expectations and consequences Minimize the impact of problematic behavior in your department

Identifying and Applying Metrics that Matter in Annual Giving (Both Webcasts)

The metrics you gather, track, and report to leadership can differ based on the focus of your annual giving program. Are your shop’s goals focused on donors or dollars? Do you want to explore either option? We’ve created a comprehensive approach in this two-part metrics series that will give your shop the tactics it needs, whether your focus is on increasing alumni participation/donors or dollars. As a result, you will be able to more effectively report your results to leadership. Session 1 is Donor-Focused Session 2 is Dollar-Focused We welcome you to tune in to both parts for the most comprehensive approach to metrics or choose the webcast that best aligns with your program’s most pressing goals.

Webcast 2: Key Metrics for Dollar-Focused Annual Giving

Key Metrics for Dollar-Focused Annual Giving Agenda Learn how to: Understand the key performance indicators that will drive your dollar growth Apply these metrics to pipeline development, direct marketing, and personal solicitation strategy Effectively report your dollar results to leadership

Webcast 1: Key Metrics for Donor-Focused Annual Giving

Key Metrics for Donor-Focused Annual Giving Agenda Learn how to: Understand the key performance indicators that will drive your donor numbers or alumni participation numbers forward Apply these metrics to direct marketing and micro-campaign strategy Effectively report your donor results to leadership

Reengage Your Black Alumni

When black students have negative experiences on campus, even as part of official black affinity groups, they often create their own connections outside of the institution – running their own programming and initiatives apart from the advancement office. Your office needs to be very thoughtful when working to reintegrate these disengaged alums – first by hearing and then recognizing their stories. Join us online and learn how Georgia Southern University (GSU) reincorporated their disengaged black alumni into their existing alumni engagement and giving efforts. You’ll hear how they: grew their black alumni network endowed a scholarship that exceeded their goal for three consecutive years increased engagement and giving from previously disengaged alumni