Your First Year as Department Chair: Building Trust, Communication, and Community

As a new Department Chair, you may realize there are many skills you need to be successful. Practical skills, such as scheduling and budgeting, may come to mind. However, the human development skills – those that foster trust, communication, and community between your faculty – may be the most important, especially if you’re experiencing discord within your department. It is these skills that will carry you through your career trajectory while also supporting the career advancement of your faculty. Join us online and learn how you can begin to build strong relationships with your faculty so that you can transform your department from a group of individuals into a cohesive team. This kind of transformational change doesn’t happen overnight – but if you get it right, it can be your legacy. Through exercises and examples unique to the Chair perspective, you will walk away with tips and strategies for how to: Identify and create investment in shared goals Understand the difference between honesty and transparency and how you can communicate with transparency in mind Evaluate and address problems with your faculty right away, so that you provide the right level of mentoring depending on their experience Invite faculty to participate […]

Developing a Strategic Approach to Generational Wealth

Join us for this webcast to learn strategies for cultivating and soliciting top donor families in a way that can extend personal giving to your institution. Understanding what motivates and compels donors to give and what will, in turn, motivate their families to continue giving is key for any shop. During this unique learning experience, our expert will help you with the significant undertaking of successfully navigating multi-faceted complexities that arise from family dynamics and considering individual priorities as part of a group. You will learn how to: Connect generational giving to impact and connection through your institution Cultivate and solicit donors as a family entity Use best practices for talking across generations

Advocating for Women and Minorities in the Workplace

Instructor Kim PruittAssistant Director of Organizational DevelopmentUniversity of South Carolina Course Highlights 45m of video instruction Downloadable resources Course Details Released 07/2020 Every day, each of us has an opportunity to be an ally to underrepresented colleagues. Whether it’s small actions you take during meetings or significant policy conversations that you lead, there are many ways those with power and privilege can ensure that all voices and perspectives are heard on campus. Join us for this seminar, which will provide you with simple ways you can be an advocate for women and minorities on your campus. You’ll hear tips and strategies for supporting women and minorities in your one-on-one interactions so you can empower them directly to use their voice. You’ll also identify best practices for bolstering underrepresented voices during your team meetings. You will walk away with ideas for how to invite those in power to join you in the conversation around building advocacy into your policies and procedures. We Want to Hear From You! Please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey letting us know about your experience with this course.

Using Segmentation and Social Reasoning to Increase Alumni Social Media Engagement

Social media can be an especially effective tool in engaging alumni, but many struggle to use social platforms in a compelling way. Join us for this webcast where our expert instructor will highlight the importance of tactics such as segmentation and social reasoning. You will gain a better understanding of the platforms your alumni are using, current statistics around social media usage, and what ideas you can implement for engaging your specific donor population. We will work through creative practices for social media engagement during these unprecedented times, covering platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We will also touch on emerging platforms like TikTok and other popular platforms.

Restructure Your Alumni Chapters to Increase Engagement

In a world where social distancing makes it more difficult to stay in touch, it’s more important than ever to ensure your regional chapters are led in a way that best promotes your institution. Are you struggling to keep them on the same page and moving in the same direction? Join us online and hear about a new model to help you more effectively manage your alumni chapters. You will examine how alumni relations professionals at the University of Waterloo are transitioning their fragmented regional alumni chapters into a more centrally managed structure in order to improve communication, leadership, and engagement. You will: Learn how Waterloo is empowering their alumni volunteers to create engaging programming that builds the global institutional brand Walk away with tips for how to begin thinking about implementing this model at your institution

Principles of Budgeting: A Training for Department Chairs

Instructor Dr. Brian ShookDepartment Chair & Associate Professor of MusicLamar University Course Highlights 60m of video instruction Downloadable resources Course Details Released 6/26/2020 OverviewNewly appointed chairs often have little experience in creating and managing department budgets, but it is a key component to the success of their academic programs. Chairs can begin to make sense of this important and sometimes enigmatic task by understanding their role as budget managers, the basic principles behind departmental budgets and how to work within existing systems to manage resources effectively. Join us for a training that will provide you with the core principles you need to understand and manage your department’s budget. Our expert has 4 years of experience managing complex budgets that include operating budgets, fundraising, faculty salaries/raises, and scholarships, and will walk you through considerations related to both people and process: What is expected of me when it comes to the budget, and what is the role of my academic staff? What questions should I ask on the front end to understand the parameters and state of my current budget? How should I organize my budget allocations based on the characteristics and needs of my department? Where can I go to ask […]

Building Resilience with Your Team During Uncertain Times

Leading teams during times of crisis can be an enormous challenge and an unexpected opportunity. Supporting staff to deliver their best possible work means – just like in-person – offering informational, resource, and emotional support. Predictably, there will be some roadblocks, so the question is how can you actively guide your team in building their resilience to bounce back from stress and move forward with renewed energy and agency? Join us online for this two-hour experiential training where you will engage with the four components of resilience to protect and promote your own and your team’s well-being: The ABCS© model is an ideal approach to guide your team through difficult transitions while maintaining a productive mindset.

Making Your Online Course Accessible to All Learners

Implementing accessible teaching practices in the online environment can be daunting. Faculty are often not properly trained in these techniques and feel ill-prepared to apply them. However, there are simple steps instructors can take to make any online course more accessible, compliant with federal laws, and appropriate for students with a range of learning styles and abilities. This webcast will help you take the initial steps needed to create more accessible content, keep accommodations services to a minimum, and minimize the risk for civil rights complaints about inaccessible offerings. You’ll leave with practical ways you can adjust your course design, materials, and instructional methods so as to be more inclusive of all learners.

Implementing Furloughs Thoughtfully: Creating a Strategy for Difficult Decisions

The fallout from COVID-19 has led many colleges and universities to implement furloughs in recent weeks and more are likely to follow. This is a difficult task for even the most seasoned leaders due to the questions and emotions involved, but drawing upon lessons learned from others can help make the process smoother and lead to the best possible outcome for all parties. Join us for a webcast that will help you implement your furloughs strategically and in ways that mitigate negative impacts on both employees and the institution. Curtis Powell, SPHR, Vice President for Human Resources at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will discuss his university’s approach to the following questions and will offer advice for other higher ed leaders who may be faced with the decision to furlough faculty and staff: What criteria should you bear in mind when making furlough decisions? How can you coach managers through the employee furlough process? How can you maintain connection with furloughed employees and facilitate a smooth re-entry to the institution? The fallout from COVID-19 has led many colleges and universities to implement furloughs in recent weeks and more are likely to follow. This is a difficult task for even the most seasoned […]

Managing a Remote Team: How to Motivate, Maintain Morale, and Ensure Accountability

Our new ways of working remotely have presented unique challenges in terms of overseeing teams and projects. Many supervisors find themselves leading remotely for the first time and are looking for ways to motivate, maintain morale, and ensure accountability for their teams. In this webcast, we will look at three possible scenarios of team dynamics and discuss how to best lead within each of these. We will also ask the audience to share lessons learned as they evolve these new ways of working.