This comprehensive virtual leadership series for department chairs will kick off with strategy workshops to identify shared challenges, followed by six seminars focusing on national trends in higher education; the higher education business model; faculty diversity; enrollment and retention; innovations in teaching and learning. The series will round out with implementation workshops to take the concrete knowledge gained from the preceding weeks’ events to produce individualized development plans for the year ahead.

All-Access Program Package

For Department Chairs

• Access to two virtual workshops (four hours of interactive coaching)
• Access to six virtual seminars, plus post-event recordings
• Tailored individual development plan
• The Chronicle’s Guide to Departmental Leadership, a comprehensive manual of critical data, advice, and analysis.
• A digital copy of The Chronicle’s report, Building a Faculty That Flourishes
• A digital copy of The Chronicle’s Trends Report
• A physical copy How to Chair a Department by Kevin Dettmar

All-access program package for department chairs: $1,795
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Discounted rates and custom programming are available for groups of 10 or more department chairs. Contact workshops@chronicle.com to reserve space for your group of 10 or more department chairs.

For Aspiring Chairs and Other Faculty

• Access to four virtual seminars, plus post-event recordings
• A digital copy of The Chronicle’s Trends Report
• A digital copy of Academe’s Great Disengagement

All-access roundtable package: $395 ($99 per seminar)
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Meet the Program Leaders

AGENDA

WORKSHOP | Strategic Assessment

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This two-hour session, facilitated by George Justice or Carolyn Dever, will help department chairs think strategically about how to succeed in their role, learn from and collaborate with their peers, and lay the groundwork for developing innovative solutions to the most pressing problems facing department chairs.

Who should attend: Department chairs

Select from:
Tuesday, August 2 | Implementation workshop times follow suit on Tuesday, August 16

• Group 1: 10 a.m. ET
• Group 2: 1 p.m. ET

Wednesday, August 3 | Implementation workshop times follow suit on Wednesday, August 17

• Group 3: 12 p.m. ET
• Group 4: 3 p.m. ET

Thursday, August 4 | Implementation workshop times follow suit on Thursday, August 18

• Group 5: 10 a.m. ET
• Group 6: 1 p.m. ET

Friday, August 5 | Implementation workshop times follow suit on Friday, August 19

• Group 7: 12 p.m. ET
• Group 8: 3 p.m. ET

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SEMINAR | The Chairs’ Role in Enrollment, Retention, and Student Success

In the face of declining enrollment and increased expectations around completion from policymakers and the public, colleges and universities have increasingly tasked department chairs with recruiting new students and working toward the retention of students who were already at their institutions. Chairs have always scheduled classes and managed faculty: What else was there to do? A lot, it turns out. This 75-minute seminar will explore how and why department chairs should recruit students and put in place systems that support them to remain enrolled and on track, and to complete their degrees.

In this session, you will learn:

• Strategies to lead departments to student-friendly curriculum and scheduling
• Ways to create a departmental culture and shared practices supporting student success among faculty, staff, and the students themselves
• Opportunities to leverage campus resources to help departments take care of their communities of students, staff, and faculty

Speakers

August 9, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., ET
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SEMINAR | Innovations in Teaching and Learning

Some faculty track every new strategy shared by the Center for Teaching and Learning, and have been experimenting with online learning for years; others have been using the same lecture notes for years. Most are somewhere in between. How can you as a chair meet your faculty where they are, while charting a teaching and learning strategy for your department? And why is it important to do so?

Join us for this 75-minute session to discuss the why and how of promoting and supporting effective teaching and learning in your department.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to stay aware of developments in teaching and learning research and practice, in your field and in general.
• Strategies for engaging faculty in studying and improving their own curriculum design and teaching.
• How to take a department-wide approach to teaching and learning, including the use of technology in instruction.
• How to take advantage of the teaching and learning resources available at your institution, system, disciplinary association, and more.

Speakers

August 9, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m. ET
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SEMINAR | National Trends in Higher Education

Even before the pandemic hit, higher education was in the midst of significant changes to its demographics, finances, and competitive context. Covid-19 has accelerated some of those trends and altered others. Staying informed about this shifting environment is critical to understanding your institution’s strategy, and to making strategic decisions for your department.

Join us for this 75-minute session to discuss key trends in higher education and its economic and policy context, moderated by a current department chair.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to address and adapt to a shifting enrollment and budgetary landscape.
• Strategies for equitably serving the emerging majority of students who are older, working, have earned credits elsewhere, or are from minority or lower-income backgrounds.
• What the boom in non-degree credentials means for department chairs.
• How a chair can engage with new developments in curriculum design, teaching and learning, and student supports.

Speakers

August 10 - 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. ET
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SEMINAR | Understanding the Higher Ed Business Model

What is a discount rate? Where does most of a college’s revenue come from? What is its greatest expense? For many faculty members, the financial realities of their campus – and the sustainability of its operations -- are not often on their radar. Arguably, they should be. And for chairs, understanding the mounting financial pressures facing campuses, whether falling enrollment, decreased public funding, and constraints on tuition increases, is increasingly important. As colleges explore different strategies to achieve a sustainable future, it’s essential for chairs to have the essential financial knowledge of how their institutions operate.

In this session, you will learn:

• The financial fundamentals of different kinds of institutions
• How external pressures are reshaping colleges’ finances
• The most common financial strategies colleges pursue and how they affect academic departments

Speakers

August 10, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m. ET
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SEMINAR | Advancing Faculty Diversity

For years, institutions have made commitments to diversify their faculties, but at many institutions, change has been slow and efforts have fallen short of their promises. As student diversity continues to grow, colleges are under pressure to have faculties that more closely resemble their student bodies. In this 75-minute session, explore the complex undertaking of increasing diversity in faculty ranks, and how it requires an assessment and restructuring of the hiring process at your institution.

In this session, you will learn:

• Ways to break down and eliminate barriers to hiring diverse faculty members.
• Strategies for ensuring diverse faculty members have the resources and support they need to thrive.
• How other institutions have made progress in their efforts to increase faculty diversity.

Speakers

August 11, 11 a.m - 12:15 p.m. ET
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SEMINAR | How to Chair a Department: Book Talk with Kevin Dettmar

Kevin Dettmar, author of How to Chair a Department, has served as department chair at several colleges and universities over many years. Join this 75-minute, candid discussion of the department chair’s role on campus, including the educational and leadership values Kevin believes chairs are poised to advance. This seminar will feature Kevin’s perspective on the role of department chair, while also offering program participants the chance to pose their own questions in turn–to him and to one another.

In this session, you will learn:

• A veteran chair’s take on the challenges and opportunities of the role.
• Wisdom about such hot issues as conflict, equity, and money.
• A new way of thinking about “service.”
• A holistic view of leadership from the person who wrote the book–literally.

Speakers

August 11, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m. ET
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WORKSHOP | Implementation

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Department chairs will reconvene after the roundtable sessions to take the concrete knowledge and strategies from the first three days and create an individual development plan, specific to the needs of their school, program, and students. These plans will focus strategic vision on achievable outcomes and provide structure and accountability for the months to come.

Tuesday, August 16

• Group 1: 10 a.m. ET
• Group 2: 1 p.m. ET

Wednesday, August 17

• Group 3: 12 p.m. ET
• Group 4: 3 p.m. ET

Thursday, August 18

• Group 5: 10 a.m. ET
• Group 6: 1 p.m. ET

Friday, August 19

• Group 7: 12 p.m. ET
• Group 8: 3 p.m. ET

Register for the full program