Since this program focuses on leadership effectiveness and not just on the nuts and bolts of running your college, we invite academic Deans of all experience levels to attend. If you’re looking to grow both your relationships and your influence across your college or institution, this conference is for you.

Ensure That Your Deans are Set up for Success

This conference is part of our carefully curated Deans Success Program, which is designed to set your Deans up for success. You can upgrade your experience at a steeply discounted rate ($7995 for members and $9995 for non-members) and get this conference—in addition to much more—when you purchase the Deans Success Program.

With a comprehensive blend of conferences, coaching, and training, your new Deans will deepen their leadership skills, navigate conflict, build high-performing teams, and more. Valued at $15,000, this program can be completed in either 6 or 12 months. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to invest in the success of your new Deans! Purchase your spot before August 31, 2024.

Are you already a participant in the Deans Success Program? If you have already purchased the Deans Success Program and want to ensure that your new Dean gets registered for this event, please contact your designated account manager.
 

Your registration fee includes full access to all conference sessions and materials, breakfast, lunch, and access to the networking reception on Wednesday, breakfast and lunch on Thursday, as well as refreshments and snacks throughout the conference.
 

DAY ONE: Monday, November 18, 2024
8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. MT (Local time in Denver, CO)
 

Registration and Continental Breakfast (included with registration)
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.

Welcome and Introductions 
9:00 – 9:15 a.m.

Understanding Your Leadership Approach: The “Five Paths” Self-Assessment
9:15 – 10:45 a.m.
Self-awareness is at the heart of effective leadership. This session guides you through a leadership assessment called The Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment, which allows you to understand your strengths and natural tendencies when it comes to your leadership. The assessment can be helpful in deepening self-awareness, as well as in helping you to adapt your style to meet the needs of others, including faculty, chairs, and provosts.

Morning Break 
10:45 – 11:00 a.m. 

Using the “Five Paths” to Create Effective Collaborations and Meetings
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Top-down leadership doesn’t work in the academy. Leaders must have a collaborative stance to be effective, but collaboration isn’t simply bringing people together and hoping that good things happen. In this session, we’ll explore the specific principles and strategies that effective leaders follow to ensure that all voices are heard, and that the work moves forward.

Lunch 
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.  

Navigating Conflict: Getting to Win-Win Outcomes
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Resolving conflict within your unit can be tricky. Your unit’s leadership team, faculty, and staff often have competing interests. The issues may feel personal and high stakes for all involved. It’s not always clear how to move forward in a way that allows all parties to feel heard and respected.

Afternoon Break 
2:30 – 2:45 p.m.  

Building Connections with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®: an Experiential Process for Reflective Dialogue
2:45 – 4:00 p.m.
The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® activity is an experiential process designed for use with adults to prompt dialogue and encourage reflection. To help you to get creative and expand your mindset using the approachable medium of play, our facilitator will lead you through a series of structured exercises.

Q&A and Day One Wrap-Up
4:00 – 4:30 p.m.  
Here, you will have the opportunity to ask any questions related to the topics covered on Day One.

Networking Reception
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.  
This informal reception is your chance to decompress, have some refreshments on us, and expand your network of connections. Our programs are intentionally designed for smaller groups, so this is a great time to catch up with attendees and speakers whom you may not have connected with yet.

DAY TWO: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. MT (Local time in Denver, CO)
 

Continental Breakfast  
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. 

Recap of Day One’s Lessons Learned
9:00 – 9:15 a.m.  
We’ll begin Day Two with a quick reflection and recap of the key takeaways from the first day.

Leading Change through Collaboration
9:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  
This session will explore the benefits of collaborative leadership and how it can be used to enhance decision making, problem solving, and innovation. Specifically, we’ll explore the role of collaborative leadership in leading change, building effective communication, and strengthening trust and teamwork. A 15-minute break will be built into this session.

Lunch  
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. 

Empowering Your Department Chairs: What They Want You to Know
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Your charge as Dean is to build a productive and happy work culture. But you can’t do that alone. Your department chairs play a vital role in realizing this goal, so it’s important that you empower them to do this work effectively. And it’s also important that you create the conditions to allow them to be successful. In this session, we’ll highlight some of the common feedback and insights we’ve learned from working with thousands of department chairs. If you’re interested in learning what department chairs want, and you need to feel supported and empowered, this session is for you.

Afternoon Break 
2:30 – 2:45 p.m.  

Bringing It All Together
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. 
As we bring the two-day program to a close, we’ll recap key insights gained during the conference, and you’ll identify specific actions you can apply to your everyday leadership choices when you return to campus. 

Evaluation & Closing Remarks 
3:45 – 4:00 p.m. 
 

Academic Impressions Office
5299 DTC Blvd, Suite 1400
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
 

Nearby hotel suggestions:

Hyatt Place Denver Tech Center – 3-star hotel
8300 E Crescent Pkwy, Greenwood Village, CO 80111
303-804-0700
Distance from office: 0.5 miles if driving, 0.3 miles if walking

A room rate of $114/night is available if you book your room using this link.

A room rate of $154/night is available if you book your room using this link.

This reduced rate and room availability are subject to general hotel availability and not guaranteed. So, we recommend booking as soon as possible!

Denver Marriott Tech Center – 4-star hotel
4900 S Syracuse St, Denver, CO 80237
303-779-1100
Distance from office: 0.9-1.2 miles, depending on route

A 10% discount is available if you book your room using this link.

This discount is subject to general hotel availability and not guaranteed. So, we recommend booking as soon as possible!