For years, institutions of higher education have been discussing how students can gain career skills from experiences both inside and outside the classroom. But few have made clear and concrete plans for ensuring that this learning actually occurs – and that it happens for everyone. Career readiness initiatives can also end up siloed in individual areas. Integrative learning that connects co-curricular and curricular learning can feel like a great idea – but also like an abstract notion that can never be achieved. The Co-Curricular Learning Masterplan, a new publication by Academic Impressions, offers practical solutions to these complex problems, offering a framework and structure for creating campus partnerships that bring career learning together for students. Join us for a 75-minute webinar that will introduce you to the key concepts of the Co-Curricular Learning Masterplan. Masterplan co-author, Dr. Adam Peck, will begin by talking through the six foundational flaws with typical co-curricular experiences. Next, we will cover how campus leaders can work together to develop learning outcomes and activities that create truly integrative career-based learning. Adam will further demonstrate how the assessment tools in the book can create direct measures of student learning that help to track students’ improvement over time […]
To keep up with the rapid changes in student demand and employment, colleges and universities need to evaluate and adjust programs more frequently. However, much of the data commonly used to evaluate programs is significantly misleading and error-prone. This webinar will help you understand which data you can rely on, which you need to be careful with, and which analyses you should ignore completely. We will also share new approaches to predicting program size and economics. Finally, we will share concepts that will help you evaluate and manage programs in an environment that is inherently uncertain.
As COVID positivity rates decrease and institutions progress into a semester that, for many, represents the greatest return to normality since March 2020, higher-ed leaders are finally getting the chance to breathe and reflect. In taking stock of the entire experience, many are finding that—due to budget cuts, furloughs, and/or inconsistency in communication and support during the pandemic (whether perceived or actual)—there has been some trust lost between the faculty and administration. As we move forward, the question becomes, how can we rebuild it? Join us alongside your peers across the nation for a free webinar to discuss this issue. Julie Nash, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at UMass Lowell, will facilitate a conversation around the following questions: You’ll leave this webinar with a greater awareness of how other higher-ed leaders are rebuilding trust with their faculty, as well as new ideas for how to move forward.
Developing faculty researchers is both a top-down and bottom-up process. For the administrator helping to develop faculty researchers, maximizing the potential of faculty means preparing and supporting them in the logical progression of a faculty research journey, not just in securing external funding (as vital as that may be). For the faculty researcher, long term strategic planning requires going beyond short-term goals like trying to get through a semester or publishing the next article. It requires intentional decisions that serve as steppingstones for not just the next move, but the larger career plan. Join us for a free webinar to be introduced to the key components and skillsets that set up faculty to be successful researchers. You will have a chance to discuss the following with our panelists and your peers across the nation:
By most accounts, the pandemic has not only accelerated the pace of leadership transitions but has made them considerably more complex. Almost every new senior leader is walking into a situation with significant challenges, including financial and enrollment shortfalls, declining demographics, systemic inequities that need to be addressed and lower faculty and staff morale and engagement. The days when senior leaders could do a year-long listening tour, delay big decisions, and carefully plan out their first 100 days are gone: this is no longer a reality afforded to most incoming senior leaders. The questions now are how do you identify which strategic challenges to address first while simultaneously building — and even enhancing — trust on campus? Join us for an exciting conversation with Maria Thompson and Susan Turell to explore the realities of senior leadership transitions including how to:
Recruiting faculty from historically marginalized groups is a critically important priority for faculty affairs and academic leaders. But the focus cannot remain solely on the front end: once faculty join the institution, the more challenging part—retaining and supporting their success—begins. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but intentionality and an awareness of programs and policies that have worked at other institutions can go a long way. Join us for a free webinar to uncover strategies that go beyond hiring and extend to retaining and advancing faculty from historically marginalized groups. You’ll have a chance to discuss the following with our panelists and your peers across the nation: For each of these topics, we will also address how you can build the requisite trust with your faculty and understand your localized context, as well as how it’s being impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Unveiling and undoing institutional practices, policies, and procedures that perpetuate racial inequity among students, staff, and faculty continues to be a central priority for Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs). However, given the long-standing history that has allowed these practices to develop and thrive in the first place, this is among the most demanding challenges for an institution to overcome. Join us for a free webcast designed to make space for diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders to come together and dialogue about anti-racist initiatives on campus. Through conversation with our experts and your peers, we will explore the following questions:
Academic leaders and faculty members often cite the importance of interpersonal skills when leading an academic unit, managing a research team, or functioning as a productive member of any team or unit in academia. However, emotional intelligence and self-awareness are less commonly mentioned as predictors of success among academic teams. In this video course, department chairs and faculty will discover the connection between emotional intelligence and individual, team, and department results. Through Daniel Goleman’s four pillars of emotional intelligence, you will get ideas for how to: You will learn Daniel Goleman’s four pillars of emotional intelligence and informally assess your skill in each of these pillars. Once you have a greater awareness of how you “show up” for yourself and others, we’ll offer simple suggestions for how you can manage yourself and your relationships more productively.
This training is based on 2020 Title IX regulations and has been retired. Please visit our Title IX Trainings Page to view all current Title IX trainings. On July 20th, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released new guidance clarifying how the OCR interprets institutions’ existing obligations under the 2020 Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment. If you’re like many Title IX professionals, you dove immediately into reading and understanding the new guidance. But what’s missing is a practical conversation about what it means for your daily Title IX-related work. Join us for an engaged discussion about how to apply the new guidance to your day-to-day. Our expert instructor Cara Hardin—attorney and Title IX Deputy Coordinator at Marquette University—will lead a group conversation around the following questions: You’ll hear from peers across the industry about how they are applying the new guidance toward Title IX compliance on their campuses. You will come away with a deeper and more concrete understanding of how to move forward.
Program decisions are critical to your students, your faculty, and your mission. They also directly affect the financial health of the institution. How can you make sure you get it right? Join us online as we describe and demonstrate data, methodologies, and tools, including predictive analytics, that help decision makers identify the best programs to offer and model the impact of changes to the program portfolio on future enrollment and finances. We will lay the groundwork by providing an overview of the market and economic data needed to inform program decisions. We will then discuss data sources for analyzing student demand, employment opportunities, and competition for academic programs. You will leave the webinar equipped with: You will also gain exposure to predictive analytics tools that help decision makers predict how changes to the program portfolio will affect the institution’s enrollment, student body demographics, and financial future.
Engage in this training to learn how you can start developing your alternative voice – your inner coach – in order to become a more effective leader. You’ll learn the neuroscience behind why we all doubt ourselves, and you’ll discover a new technique that will help you think and act in more constructive ways. To help you recognize and develop your inner coach, you’ll learn the following:
Those charged with leading diversity, equity, and inclusion work centrally at their institutions must maintain a delicate balance with their academic partners. On one hand, they must build strong relationships across colleges, schools, and departments that encourage engagement and trust in the programs, services, and resources the central DEI office provides. On the other, they must hold academic units accountable by taking deep-dive conversations into data, metrics, and planning to ensure regular and meaningful progress toward DEI goals. Watch this free discussion-based webcast recording to learn how to best collaborate with deans, department chairs, and faculty in central DEI work. Through this facilitated dialogue with Marsha McGriff, Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence at Ball State University and Kristin Deal, Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Denver, you will gain ideas from our panelists and your peers on how to: You will leave with a deeper understanding of how other central DEI leaders across higher education are navigating the collaboration with unit-level partners.
In our many conversations with chiefs of staff and those who serve in similar roles, we have heard that a primary need for this audience is to connect with others who do similar work and discuss strategies and solutions that help you succeed. This first “unconference” for chiefs of staff is intended to create this type of grassroots connection. We invite you to fill out this optional form if you have a topic in mind. Please also let us know if you would be willing to lead a conversation around your suggested topic. If you don’t have a topic in mind or just want to connect with others, please feel free to simply attend!
Stress and burnout are at an all-time high. As faculty contend with their usual obligations of teaching, research, and service, COVID-19-era challenges have exacerbated issues of work/life balance, family caregiving responsibilities, and mental health strain. In seeking to support faculty well-being, faculty affairs and academic leaders are grappling with how to: Join us for this free webcast recording to examine these and other related questions. Through this facilitated dialogue you will gain valuable ideas and learn how other institutions across higher education are supporting faculty through this difficult period.
Effectively onboarding and supporting first-year faculty — both tenure-track and non-tenure-track — is challenging to get right even under the best of circumstances, and the events of 2020 have made this even more difficult. Between moving orientation programs online, reworking faculty mentorship programs, building community and connection to the university virtually, and helping new faculty manage stress and burnout during the pandemic, academic leaders have accomplished no small feat. Join us for this webcast recording to reflect on what you got right, what lessons you learned, and what takeaways you’ll carry forward into the next semester when it comes to supporting your first-year faculty. Through a facilitated dialogue with Andrea Romero, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs at the University for Arizona, and Gary Meyer, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at Marquette University, you will have the opportunity to gain ideas from other institutions across higher education as to how you might support your first-year faculty more effectively in the new year.
To ensure a fair and contextual evaluation around faculty promotion and tenure during COVID, many colleges and universities adjusted their P&T processes this past year. In many cases — compelled by the ongoing pandemic and the inequities it has brought to light — conversations about further revisions to promotion and tenure criteria are ongoing, centering around questions like: If you are an academic leader who is leading or involved in such conversations at your institution, we invite you to join us for a free recorded webcast to examine these and other related questions. Through a facilitated dialogue with Matt Kinservik, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs at the University of Delaware and Gabe Paquette, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon, you will gain valuable ideas and learn how other institutions across higher education are approaching this process.
To assess physical health, medical professionals mind vital signs such as body temperature or pulse rate to help you course-correct and become healthier. Similarly, what if a fundraising operation could assess its philanthropic health through philanthropic vital signs to cultivate more giving from donors and prospects? Join us online for this free webcast recording to get an overview of the four cornerstones of philanthropic health: appreciation, affiliation, agency, and accountability. You will learn more about Jim Langley’s Vital Signs Philanthropic Health Assessment offered through Academic Impressions and how you can use this for your own philanthropic check-up. You will leave the webcast with sample questions from the assessment that offer a preview of your shop’s overall health.
Today’s higher education environment demands more equitable and inclusive practices, so it is more important than ever that leaders are attentive to their overall campus climate. As a campus leader, you may be asking yourself questions like “How can I change or improve faculty culture?” or “How do we, as a campus community, handle the inequities that show up in our policies and procedures?” These are difficult yet critical questions to consider if you are trying to raise awareness, institute a strategy, or make lasting change to create a more inclusive campus environment. Join us online for a recorded discussion that will help you take a more intentional and anticipatory approach to managing and improving your campus climate. Through practical guidance from our speakers, you will leave this webcast better able to: Our experts, Dr. Myron Anderson and Dr. Kathryn Young recently published their book, Fix Your Climate: A Practical Guide to Reducing Microaggressions, Microbullying, and Bullying in the Academic Workplace. You can purchase it here.
Universities invest considerable funds into recruiting new faculty. For research faculty, the startup package can frequently be in the range of $500,000 to $1,000,000. In addition, new faculty require additional time, mentoring, and support. While rates for achieving tenure vary depending upon disciplines and institutions, success rates for this investment in new faculty can be as low as 10% at some schools and on average about 50% overall. Despite the investment, thousands of higher education faculty members begin a job every year with little or no training. In fact, in most disciplines, Ph.D. training programs provide minimal preparation for academic careers. This disconnect between the training provided and the skills necessary to thrive in most academic careers can lead to frustration and job dissatisfaction. Given the large initial investment and the lack of previous skills training, it is prudent for academic leaders to support first-year faculty beyond orientations, especially when it comes to balancing teaching and research workload. Expert faculty coaches with extensive experience in higher education can provide a safe, supportive environment for faculty to explore challenges and development opportunities that are necessary for their career advancement.
In this free webcast, we’ll share findings from a multi-year, longitudinal study specific to higher education—find out what really matters to employees in terms of career growth and development. Discover: In our study, we found that even in environments with very limited funding for professional development, intentional and structured conversations between supervisors and staff about their development made a significant difference. Today, with an increasingly distributed, disconnected, and diversified workforce, HR leaders in higher education must approach employee satisfaction and engagement differently than in the past.
