Design Faculty of Color Affinity Spaces to Improve Retention

Building affinity spaces for your faculty of color is one way you can improve retention efforts. These spaces not only connect underrepresented faculty to each other, they increase faculty productivity and institutional loyalty. However, it’s not enough to simply offer these affinity spaces – you must also organize them with clear structure and intention, so that faculty of color know their voices and concerns will be heard and responded to by upper administration. Join us online and learn how to create a structure for your affinity spaces that engages both faculty of color and administration. Our expert instructor will guide you through an 8-step process for formalizing the design, budgeting, policies, and procedures of your affinity spaces so that collaboration between faculty of color and upper administration is made easy and your faculty of color feel supported.

Develop a Race-Based Education Program for Your White Students

Despite being outnumbered at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), students, staff, and faculty of color feel burdened by the responsibility of having to educate their white peers regarding racism and racial justice. When conversations about racial injustice arise at PWIs, cultural centers, ethnic studies departments, and student ethnic identity groups are often tasked with offering solutions and taking care of those harmed by racism. Unfortunately, at PWIs, rarely do race-based programs directly invite the majority racial group to engage in racial justice work and address the exclusionary racial climate. Join us online and learn how Loyola University Chicago flipped the script and created a space to have courageous conversations about white privilege. Through their Ramblers Analyzing Whiteness (R.A.W.) program, self-identified white or multiracial students engaged in dialogue and action regarding their own racial identity, and they have performed the critical self-work required to understand racism and to understand how they can meaningfully engage in racial justice work. In this webcast, you will learn how Loyola: Overcame initial opposition to the program, including negative media coverage Inspired and recruited students to participate Developed and managed the day-to-day logistics of the program, including the workshop curriculum

Cultivating Creativity by Building Trust Within Your Team

Innovation and creativity are what higher ed needs right now to push past the challenges of 2020. Creativity requires your team to share ideas, challenge each other’s ideas, admit mistakes, and move past them. It requires risk-taking and an entrepreneurial spirit to try new things. To support a culture of creativity, you, as their leader, must create a secure and psychologically safe environment where your team feels empowered to be vulnerable. Join us online and learn how to create a culture of trust within your team that encourages them to be their most creative selves in order to solve problems. During this webcast, you will learn how to create the necessary conditions to foster a safe environment for your team to be creative. Get tips on how to: Encourage curiosity and vulnerability Normalize failure Assign credit when and where credit is due Back up your team when things go awry

Designing Creative Solutions for Your Toughest Challenges

In the current landscape of higher education, there are complex challenges that need to be solved – whether it be curriculum revisions, overcoming the enrollment cliff, or finding new ways of fundraising. In order to respond successfully to these challenges, you will need to dream what has not yet been imagined. However, this cannot be done alone. How do you ensure you have the right people and processes in place to elicit the required creativity? Join us online and learn how to effectively build and manage problem-solving groups that will allow you to harness creative ideas at a time when they are most needed. Our expert instructor will introduce you to a 3-step process that provides an effective structure for releasing and actualizing creativity. You will walk away with tips and strategies for how to: Identify the problems and issues that should be addressed through the problem-solving groups Invite the right people to participate at the right time in the process Establish a culture of respect and trust that cultivates creativity Navigate the tensions that emerge from differences in risk tolerance, supporting diverse strengths within the team, and selective implementation of ideas

Navigating Your Relationship With Your Dean: A Training for Department Chairs

As a Department Chair, one of the most important relationships you have to forge is the one with your Dean. Ideally, this relationship is built on mutual trust, healthy communication, and a shared understanding of what the department-and by extension, the College-is trying to achieve. But such a relationship takes work, and the onus is on you as the Chair to understand how to best manage up and work with your Dean to accomplish these goals. Join us for a webcast where our speaker will teach you how to effectively set up a positive relationship with your Dean. Our expert, who has served as a Department Chair for over a decade under four different Deans, will review the three key building blocks of an effective Dean-Chair working relationship and offer example-based strategies from his own experience to help you get there.

Implementing Shared Services at Your Institution

As higher education faces tighter budgets and declining enrollments, many institutions are exploring a shared services model to lower costs, make services more efficient, and reduce redundancies across campus. By making operations like finance, HR, IT, and pre- and post-award services leaner, institutions can free up resources and invest in what will distinguish their institution-academic programs and research. Despite these benefits, not everyone welcomes giving up control over their school, unit, or department, so implementation can be tricky to navigate through pushback. Join us to learn what to expect in the process of transitioning to a centralized shared services model. Ronn Kobalsh, Associate Vice President of Shared Services at University of Chicago, will steer you through the five phases of implementation and share tips on the most challenging aspects, such as: Gathering data to build your case to leadership Anticipating pushback and gaining buy-in across campus Making key decisions that will best serve your unique culture and circumstances

Building a Culture of Inclusion in Your Advancement Shop

We know that many advancement shops are looking to better engage underrepresented alumni populations, but it can be difficult to know what initial steps you should take toward incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts into your strategy. Join us to learn the best approaches to collecting qualitative information and measuring quantitative data from your alumni in order to more effectively make cultural inclusion a part of your shop’s identity. Our expert instructor will ensure that you leave the session knowing small, immediate steps you can take to impact diverse alumni engagement in your operation.

Finding the Right Career Fit as a Woman in Higher Education

Managing your career in higher education takes focus, confidence, and a willingness to work through the unique barriers we face as women. Join us for this webcast to learn: How to assess current and future opportunities to see if they are a fit for your career goals How to negotiate What steps to take if you are aspiring to a promotion We will first look at conditions in the workplace that lead to career growth to help you assess what’s working and where you might advocate for more support. Next, we will discuss how to negotiate for what you need in ways that not only benefit your career but the organization as well. Finally, we will dive into how you can best position yourself for future opportunities by tying your accomplishments to the goals of the organization.

Test-Optional Admission: A Case Study from the University of Denver

Many institutions temporarily adopted test-optional admission processes in response to COVID-19, while others are still considering implementing it or making the switch permanent. Although the benefits of going test-optional are widely acknowledged, the process of moving to test-optional when internal stakeholders are accustomed to the traditional model can be tricky to navigate. Join us for this webcast as we hear from the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment, Todd Rinehart, about the University of Denver’s journey to become permanently test-optional. Learn the benefits of this type of admission approach, the challenges of implementation, and lessons learned-what you should anticipate and pitfalls to avoid-based on the University of Denver’s firsthand experience with a test-optional admission process.

Recognize Student Distress in a Virtual Environment

Mental health challenges for students will continue as classes go online. Though they may be more difficult to identify in a virtual setting, there are warning signs that faculty and staff should be aware of throughout the semester. Faculty and staff who regularly interact with students are often best positioned to see these signs of student distress and connect students with mental health providers when appropriate. In this webcast, our expert will offer guidance on identifying these signs and offer recommendations for connecting students to resources. We will specifically tackle the following objectives: Learn the risk factors and warning signs of distress, which include signs of depression, anxiety, behavior changes, and suicidal thoughts. Understand how to best intervene to support someone. Learn tips for starting the conversation, recognizing cultural considerations, and managing boundaries. Know your role and when to refer. Learn how to check your comfort and limitations and know where and when to refer on campus.