Pre-Conference Workshop
Coaching Skills for Academic Leaders: Evolving Roles, Powerful Conversations
by Susan Robison, Psychologist, Author, and Faculty Development Consultant
The interpersonal aspects of academic leadership, e.g., annual reviews, performance evaluations, or other difficult conversations with faculty, can be especially challenging to the inexperienced chair/dean. In this interactive workshop, you will practice several powerful brain-based coaching skills drawn from Improv games to increase your skills and confidence for leadership that matters: transformational coaching conversations that build institutional collegiality, civility, and engagement. Participants will apply a structure for shaping such conversations (ASK – assess client motivation, set agenda, keep success continuous) in dyad practice and then will shape a facilitator/volunteer demonstration of these skills.
Keynote
Emotionally Intelligent Leadership that Empowers, Moves Culture, and Creates Engagement
by David R. Katz III, Professor Emeritus, Leadership Consultant, and (Semi-Retired) Executive Director of Organizational Development at Mohawk Valley Community College
In this multi-dimensional, interactive, experiential, and fun presentation we will learn: leadership is about empowering others, and empowering others requires positive, safe, connected, and affirming relationships; as leaders we have a profound impact upon the emotional state of the people we engage with each day; and the neuroscience confirms that the affective domain powerfully impacts cognition, persistence, motivation, self-efficacy, and performance. We will then practice skills and model behavior that creates positive, equitable, inclusive collaboration. The primary objective is to empower leaders by wrapping skill around these principles in order to become even more transformational leaders.
Plenary Workshop
Leading by Building Positive Relationships through Constructive Mentoring and Compassionate Correction
by David R. Katz III, Professor Emeritus, Leadership Consultant, and (Semi-Retired) Executive Director of Organizational Development at Mohawk Valley Community College
One of the keys to great leadership and a person’s ability to positively influence, inspire, and motivate others, is a leader’s ability to engage in emotionally charged, potentially uncomfortable conversations around behavior and expectations. The goal of this workshop is to understand and apply a practical concrete template for approaching these essential day to day conversations with empathy and emotional intelligence. The end result will be to further develop your ability to have these conversations in a manner that engenders trust and empowers others to grow in a positive manner that is good for them, for your relationship, and for the cohesiveness and effectiveness of the team you lead.
Plenary Sessions
Emotional Labor: Staying Resilient, Working Well
by Susan Robison, Psychologist, Author, and Faculty Development Consultant
In addition to the usual responsibilities of teaching, writing, and serving, faculty are often challenged by emotional labor, the work of supporting colleagues and students who struggle with emotional difficulties that threaten to interfere with work or studies. The Pandemic has magnified those needs which often fall disproportionally on the shoulders of women and BIPOC. This practical workshop will offer models for understanding the origin and function of emotions and a set of strategies to structure emotional labor and increase your own resilience and resistance to burnout. Leaders trained in the concepts of EL can educate and support faculty work.
Moving Toward Happiness: Applying the Research in Positive Psychology and Happiness Studies at Colleges and Universities
by Mark Taylor, Speaker, Consultant, President of Taylor Programs
Personal happiness and positivity have declined precipitously in recent years with record levels of stress, anxiety, depression reported across schools in students, faculty and staff. Research in the fields of positive psychology and happiness studies offer powerful insights into the abilities of people to live happier and more meaningful lives. They also offer implications for helping create a campus climate most conducive to learning and for promoting the positive mental health of the entire community. While these ideas and practices will not totally replace traditional counseling and mental health services, they can augment those approaches and can help many people recover and cope. This session will offer an overview of the research based principles of positive psychology and happiness studies with implications for personal living, healthier interaction, positive leadership and in creating a positive learning and campus environment.
Shifting the Culture: Advancing Student Success Requires Academic Leaders to Center College Success!
by Patricia Gonzalez, Assistant Dean of for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Colorado Boulder, College of Arts & Sciences
Participants will be introduced to a college success framework that invites academic leaders to center the success of students, faculty and staff. Participants will also be introduced to student development theories and examples of how to build inclusive environments to best support student success of students from various intersectional identities and backgrounds. This space is designed as a space to learn from one another and to walk away with adaptable tools and practices that will empower academic leaders to strengthen and support students in a transformational way.
Key Strategies for Developing and Implementing a Purposeful Micro-Credentialing Initiative
by Anne Reed, Director of the Office of Micro-Credentials, University at Buffalo
Micro-credentials are small credentials, both in terms of time to earn, and the granularity of the knowledge and skills they assess and verify. Institutions of higher education, both nationally and internationally, are increasingly offering micro-credentials. At the same time, there is still a good deal of confusion about micro-credentials, in terms of terminology, the purposes they serve, and their benefits. This presentation will introduce you to the current landscape of higher education micro-credentials, through examples of micro-credentials that are currently offered at the University at Buffalo and other institutions across the country. The presentation will also provide an overview of key strategies for implementing micro-credentials at your campus. Topics include Governance, Technology, Key Stakeholders, and Ensuring Quality.
Panel Discussion: What’s Keeping Deans Up at Night?
Panelists:
Monica Adya, Dean of Rutgers School of Business-Camden, Rutgers University
Marcela Kostihova, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Hamline University
Lupita Murillo Tinnen, Dean of Academic Affairs/Workforce, Collin College
Out of all of the academic leaders in higher education, Deans are arguably the ones who are closest to the challenges and potential solutions of higher ed. Some of the most pressing challenges keeping deans up at night include: changing student demographics and the impending demographic cliff, how to ensure academic rigor and accessibility, faculty and staff morale and equity, and waning funding from traditional revenue sources. Hear from a panel of deans representing as they share their perspectives on what is keeping them up at night—as well as the practices they hope will enable their colleges and institutions to be successful in a more equitable and agile higher-ed landscape. Our speakers will discuss and invite peer insights on such topics as: maintaining a vibrant campus culture—and how that challenge has changed in light of the pandemic; recruiting and retaining faculty and staff, considering The Great Exit; meeting the needs of changing student populations while sustaining faculty morale; ensuring the financial sustainability of their schools; you’ll leave this webinar with a greater awareness of how other higher-ed leaders strategize to surmount these issues—as well as how they address them firsthand.