AAC&U 2020 Annual Meeting: Four Faculty-Focused Tracks Through the Agenda

COACHE research on the professoriate is shaping the future of higher education leadership, so we are eager to attend next week’s annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, “Shaping the Future of Higher Education: An Invitation to Lead.” While the program is characteristically overflowing with opportunities to learn and to network, we have identified four tracks through the January 22-25 schedule where we expect to find most of our partners:

• Leading Faculty

• Faculty Governance & Leadership Development

• Diverse & Inclusive Leadership

• Presidential & Board Leadership

• Reception for COACHE Partners

 

The sessions we are most excited to attend are listed below; sessions where COACHE institutional partners are represented have been highlighted.

 

Leading Faculty

Academic Freedom and the Challenge of Diversity

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm | Union Station (Level M3)

Academic freedom and free speech have become flash points of controversy, with faculty members threatened for their expression on social media, external funders demanding inappropriate control, and students protesting controversial speakers. These challenges occur as colleges and universities must adapt to a more diverse student body. This panel brings faculty and university leaders together to grapple with these issues.

 

HENRY REICHMAN, Chair, American Association of University Professors Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure; PATRICIA MCGUIRE, President, Trinity Washington University; FREDERICK LAWRENCE, Secretary and CEO, Phi Beta Kappa; EMILY HOUH, Gustavus Henry Wald Professor of the Law and Contracts, University of Cincinnati; JUAN GONZALEZ, Richard D. Heffner Professor of Communications and Public Policy and Professor of Professional Practice in Journalism and Media, Rutgers University

 

Integrating Assessment and Faculty Development to Promote Evidence-Informed Teaching and Learning

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 2:15 - 3:30 pm | Archives (Level M4)

Assessment and faculty development have historically operated in isolation from each other on many campuses. But that is starting to change as leaders in both fields look for ways to collaborate and connect around institutional agendas for more equitable, high-quality teaching and learning. In this session, participants will review trends in both arenas that can help foster such connections, and then hear from a diverse set of campuses (two- and four-year, public and private) that have moved in this direction: the challenges they face, the models and approaches they have found most promising, and what benefits and outcomes result. Our plan is to hear briefly from each of the campuses and then move to facilitated table discussions where participants can share their own challenges and successes in (and perhaps reservations about) connecting assessment and faculty development to promote evidence-based institutional change.

 

JILLIAN KINZIE, Associate Director, Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University-Bloomington; MARY DEANE SORCINELLI, Senior Fellow, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Massachusetts Amherst; PAT HUTCHINGS, Senior Scholar, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment; Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas; KATHLEEN LANDY, Associate Director, Center for Teaching Innovation, Cornell University; MICHAEL REDER, Director, Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning, Connecticut College; DAN SHAPIRO, Interim Associate Vice president for Academic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, California State University Monterey Bay

 

Promoting Adjunct Excellence with the New Student Majority

Friday, Jan. 24 | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm | Monument (Level M4)

The faculty members least well positioned to learn about effective and inclusive teaching represent a growing percentage of the overall faculty charged with advancing academic skills and success among New Majority students. These are our adjunct faculty colleagues, who spend the least time outside the classroom with students, are least likely to be familiar with campus resources, and are least able to drink deeply from the well of faculty development. We explore efforts at a variety of institutions to support adjunct faculty in meeting challenges of liberal education with New Majority students. In particular, we focus on efforts to prepare adjunct faculty to better understand starting positions of disadvantaged students and varied hurdles they face; their needs relative to support, guidance, and experience in and out of the classroom; and promises of cultural and social exploration for building identities as successful students and advancing liberal education for all.

 

SAUL FISHER, Associate Provost for Research, Grants, and Academic Initiatives, and Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, Mercy College; VICTORIA MONDELLI, Founding Director, Teaching For Learning Center, University of Missouri; REZA FAKHARI, Vice President, Internationalization and Strategic Initiatives, St. Francis College; MADHAVAN NARAYANAN, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Mercy College; LOIS WIMS, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Worcester State University

 

Powerful Partnerships in Institutional Change: Successes and Challenges in Cocreating Environments for Academic Excellence

Friday, Jan. 24 | 2:00 - 3:00 pm | Independence Salon G/H (Level M4)

Recognizing that faculty are core to implementing change on our campuses, how do we encourage, motivate, and amplify meaningful, lasting collaborations with them from our positions as administrators within our institutions? What models, practices, or theories serve as core to our work with faculty partners, particularly during a time in higher education when attention to full participation and equity are paramount? And how do we position our “invitations to lead” in ways that elevate faculty members’ disciplinary prowess while also providing for rich, varied professional development opportunities

within complex educational ecosystems? Join us in a vibrant discussion with campus leaders from diverse institutions cross academic and student affairs as we delve into the strategies, challenges, and opportunities for cocreating institutional change. Panelists will share institution-specific examples where faculty and staff are critical and central partners to progress including mobilizing for communitybased learning, curricular reform, and aligning institutional priorities with practice.

 

CARA MEIXNER, Executive Director, Center for Faculty Innovation, James Madison University; BECCA BERKEY, Director of Service Learning, Northeastern University; MICHELE MEYER, Lord Family Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs & Community, Rollins College; DONNA LEE, Vice President of Student Affairs, Macalester College

 

Faculty Governance & Leadership Development

 

Collaborative, Problem-Based Development of Institutional Leaders at Liberal Arts Colleges

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 2:15 - 3:30 pm | Judiciary Square (Level M3)

This session introduces a leadership development program planned by the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC). Member institutions share a common mission, face similar challenges, and have similar institution-level visions and priorities. Plans call for the consortium to bring emerging leaders together to work in teams in a problem-based workshop curriculum, with member institutions posing challenges that are particularly difficult and urgent. Team-based collaboration will likely lead to follow-up cross-campus, short-term residencies, with projects for the workshop solicited from member institutions. Universities will nominate participants who will be matched to projects based on interest, and the knowledge and skills that they bring and aspire to gain and improve. This model is applicable to other higher education contexts. Presenters will discuss their own histories, lessons learned, and implications for the design of COPLAC’s program. Attendees will be invited to draw on insights from their own careers, institutions, and experiences with other leadership programs.

 

COLE WOODCOX, Executive Director, Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, University of North Carolina Asheville; SCOTT BEARD, Provost, Shepherd University; ALLEN BERGER, Professor of Anthropology and former Chief Executive Officer, University of Alberta Augustana; JANET GOOCH, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Truman State University; KAREN MORANSKI, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Sonoma State University

 

A Dialogue on Long Service to an Institution, Leaving a Legacy, and Professional Advancement in the Academy: Reflecting on Your Career and Supporting Others

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm | Liberty Salon N/O (Level M4)

Leading institutions of higher education, and units within them, is difficult and complex, but the health of our institutions depends on the identification, cultivation, and support of effective leaders. There are too many examples of colleges and universities paralyzed by a series of leadership mismatches that takes a toll on institutional morale and momentum. Much important work in the academy can be described as “long plays”— initiatives that can take years to take root and bloom. How can we sustain leadership for the longer term so that these initiatives might thrive? In particular, this discussion session will focus on strategies for identifying and cultivating leaders within our own institutions and particularly from the faculty ranks—individuals who understand institutional culture and could bring courage and insight to leadership challenges. This session is intended for early-to mid-career faculty and administrators who want to assess their personal leadership trajectories.

 

JOHN GARDNER, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow, University of South Carolina; Chief Executive Officer, John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education; LEO LAMBERT, President Emeritus and Professor, Elon University; BROOKE BARNETT, Dean and Professor, College of Communication, Butler University; KIMBERLY KOLEDOYE, Professor & Program Coordinator of Academic Student Success, Houston Community College

 

Faculty Leadership Development: Comparative Perspectives and Lessons on Program Planning and Implementation

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm | Independence Salon F (Level M4)

While faculty are well grounded in their specific disciplines, they have less formal preparation in the leadership and management roles they assume through the course of their careers. Implementing institutional change, collaborating across departmental and divisional lines, and creating a positive campus climate require the same thought and attention to detail that faculty deploy in solving academic issues. This panel will explore faculty leadership development programs—the challenges, process, and lessons learned. Four very different institutions (Davidson, Duke, Furman, and Johnson C. Smith) and the foundation that supported them will discuss the lessons learned from their faculty leadership development initiatives.

 

COURTNEY QUINN, Faculty Leadership Development Coordinator, Furman University; FUJI LOZADA JR., Associate Dean of Faculty, Davidson College; BRIAN MADISON JONES, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters & Acting Dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Johnson C. Smith University; ABBAS BENMAMOUN, Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, Duke University; KRISTI WALTERS, Higher Education Program Officer, The Duke Endowment

 

Building Leadership Excellence: How Innovative Strategies Can Help Build the Higher Education Leadership Pipeline

Friday, Jan. 24 | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm | Independence Salon G/H (Level M4)

The demands of higher education today require superlative leaders. But where will the leaders of tomorrow come from? How can current and future faculty build the leadership skills that the future demands? Join this 30-minute discussion session to consider concrete action steps to advance your own leadership skills and experience; explore new ideas on how and where to find leadership opportunities—and how leadership opportunities can find you; discuss why leadership skills matter even for those who don’t aspire to academic leadership; reflect on a variety of approaches to building academic leadership excellence, and explore how to find ways to mentor the future generation of academic leaders. A brief description of an innovative model for faculty leadership enrichment at Phi Kappa Phi will be the jumping off point for our discussion.

 

MARY TODD, Executive Director, The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; ELEANOR BLOXHAM, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance

 

Supporting and Developing Effective Faculty Engagement in Governance

Friday, Jan. 24 | 3:15 - 4:15 pm | Mount Vernon (Level M3)

The current higher education environment involves many pressures that make effective faculty engagement in campus governance a challenge. Yet addressing the challenges of the 21st-century would certainly benefit from the ideas and expertise of faculty from across an institution’s range of perspectives and disciplines. In this session, we seek to discuss approaches toward faculty development that help to encourage engagement in campus citizenship. Tapping the diversity of the faculty as effective agents of change to grapple with current challenges and opportunities can influence decision-makers at all levels of the institution. Participants will explore scenarios and case studies that help them consider the governance situation on their campus, and generate ideas for how they can return to their institution with ideas for improving faculty participation in campus decision-making.

 

ANNE KELSCH, Director of Faculty & Staff Development and Professor of History; RYAN ZERR, Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences; and MELISSA GJELLSTAD, Professor of Languages and Norwegian Program Director—all of the University of North Dakota

 

Strengthening Institutional Leadership by Supporting Faculty: Models for Faculty Growth and Leadership Development

Friday, Jan. 24 | 3:15 - 4:15 pm | Gallaudet (Level M1)

In this session, representatives of four institutions will share professional development models implemented at their respective institutions and will invite discussion and wisdom-sharing from among session participants. Models in this session focus on the development of department chairs, the diversifying of faculty through training and coaching of search committee members, the development of faculty as Professional Coaches, and other means of working with faculty from early career through emerging leaders. Presenters’ initiatives grew, in part, from participation in the HERS Institute and represent a variety of institutional structures and needs. Session participants will leave with diverse resources and possible structures that could be adapted for use in other contexts, as well as lessons-learned from both the presenters and the other session participants.

 

JEANE COPENHAVER-JOHNSON, Associate Provost for Academic Programs, Ithaca College; LAURIE GRUPP, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs; Providence College; T. (TERESA) STORES, Assistant Provost and Dean of Faculty Development, University of Hartford; KIMBERLY JACOBS, Interim Dean, Faculty and Student Success, American Public University System

 

Diverse & Inclusive Leadership

 

Administrators of Color Navigating the Challenge of Leadership

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm | Georgetown (Level M1)

Featuring perspectives from both public and private universities, this discussion section will explore how administrators of color learn to navigate and manage students’ expectations for institutional change. Panelists will discuss key findings related to diversity from national data sets in order to better understand how different institutions are responding to national trends in student attitudes. The panelists will also share case studies from their own institutions to provide nuanced examples of how administrators of color are applying their leadership in higher education.

HIDEKO SERA, Associate Dean of Education, University of Redlands; MARCIA HERNANDEZ, Associate Dean, University of the Pacific; MARY ANN VILLARREAL, Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Utah; MARGARET HUNTER, Associate Provost of Recruitment & Student Success, Mills College

 

 

Diverse Strategies for Mentoring, Coaching, Advocacy, and Sponsorship of College and University Professional Women

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm | Independence Salon G/H (Level M4)

As the landscape of higher education continues to become more complex, the need to engage diverse women faculty, staff, and administrators in formal mentoring and coaching has never been more critical. As college and university leaders, we are being called to create the conditions for cultivating and inspiring leadership within and across the ranks, preparing pathways for formal leadership positions and informal roles and responsibilities that women will assume during their tenure within the academy. How do we create opportunities for women to reflect on their professional journeys and contributions? How do we help prepare women for their next roles in university leadership? How do we build a network of diverse women within and across institutions that can provide advocacy, support, and guidance? Join us in a panel discussion moderated by Marjorie Hass, President of Rhodes College, for diverse higher education women leaders around strategies and opportunities in mentoring.

 

MODERATOR: MARJORIE HASS, President, Rhodes College; MICKI MEYER, Lord Family Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs & Community, Rollins College; LISA PERFETTI, Provost, College of Wooster; ANGELA WEBSTER, Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, and Associate Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Central Arkansas; RANDI TANGLEN, Associate Professor of English and Director of Faculty Development, Austin College

 

 

Best Practices in Minority Faculty Recruitment & Retention

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 2:15 - 3:30 pm | Marquis Salon 1/2 (Level M2)

This session identifies best practices when it comes to faculty recruitment and retention of minority candidates. What are the most effective strategies to yield the most diverse candidate pool possible? What are the keys to retaining minority faculty for the long haul? How can you build your own pipeline of diverse talent ready and able to accept a call when it comes? What roles should graduate schools play in preparing underrepresented candidates for the job market? In this session, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education highlights best practices in minority faculty recruitment and retention.

 

MODERATOR: JAMAL ERIC WATSON, Editor-At-Large, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education; JAMES MOORE III, Vice Provost of Diversity, The Ohio State University; SHAUN HARPER, Professor, Executive Director of the USC Race and Equity Center, University of Southern California; ARACELI FRIAS, Assistant Dean of Diversity, University of Utah; LAWRENCE POTTER, Chief Academic Officer, University of the District of Columbia; ASTRID TUAMINE, President of Utah Valley University

 

From Chance to Intention: Supporting Women’s Entrepreneurial Pathways to Academic Leadership

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 2:15 - 3:30 pm |  Marquis Salon 12 (Level M2)

In a series of five linked HEDs UP-style talks, this session will challenge audience members to reformulate their conceptualizations about leadership pathways in order to increase the diversity of leadership in higher education. Higher education desperately needs diverse voices to bring innovation into decision-making, as highlighted in the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, “What Happens When Women Run Colleges?” Yet while women forge multiple pathways into academic leadership, too many get funneled into associate-type positions, which can block their potential. Women and people of diverse identities often possess unrecognized transferable skills that are gained through unconventional career paths. Our goal is to make the value of these multiple paths into higher educational leadership more visible to both decision-makers and potential future applicants. Because we hope to stimulate robust discussion, the talks will be both brief and provocative, followed by thought exercises and then open discussion. #ShapingBoldLeadership

 

ANDREA REHN, Associate Dean & Director, Whittier College; ELIZABETH SAYRS, Dean of University College and Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success, Ohio University; KRISTIN ENGLISH, Mass Communication Coordinator and Associate Professor, Georgia College & State University; JESSICA LAVARIEGA MONFORTI, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, California Lutheran University; AMINAH MASSENBURG, Director of Compliance and Privacy Officer, The College of New Jersey

 

Matrix of Academic Leadership Bias: Framework for Analysis and Action around Gender and Race/Ethnic Bias Experiences for Women

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm | Union Station (Level M3)

This discussion session will present the Matrix of Academic Leadership Bias (2019) with examples of how multiple dimensions of bias subtly and overtly emerge on our campuses. As more diverse students enter higher education, there is a need to diversify the faculty and leadership of our institutions, yet we hesitate to acknowledge bias within the workplace. Using the matrix, we provide a common language to address the influence of gender and racial/ethnic bias in the higher education work setting. Participants will be given an opportunity to use the matrix to describe behaviors on campus and to voice examples of personal experiences that can be commonplace within higher education institutions.

 

VASTI TORRES, Professor of Education; TABBYE CHAVOUS, Director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity and Professor—both of University of Michigan

 

Women’s Ways of Leading: Disrupting Expectations and Effecting Change in the Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Thursday, Jan. 23 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm | Union Station (Level M3)

While all-women leadership teams in higher education are still atypical, it is prime time to ask: how well are women situated to deploy our diverse ways of knowing and leading? In what ways are women’s leadership teams, many of which operate through a more distributive model of authority and decision-making, situated to disrupt the status quo and effect transformative institutional and cultural change? Two all-women leadership teams from Sacramento State’s College of Arts & Letters and College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies will facilitate a discussion on such topics as:

• Distributing leadership: fostering inclusive participation in decision-making and setting values, priorities, and processes
• Strategic deployment of women’s leadership styles on-campus and in the community, e.g., relationship-building, consensusbuilding, collaboration, listening
• Building inclusive leadership pipelines through nontraditional succession planning and formal and informal support structures/resources
• Intersectionality as a change agent: disrupting the status quo of academic leadership

 

SHEREE MEYER, Dean; CHRISTINA BELLON, Associate Dean; MELINDA WILSON RAMEY, Associate Dean; DIANNE HYSON, Dean; MARYA ENDRIGA, Associate Dean—all of California State University, Sacramento

 

Shaping the Future We Want: Inclusive Leadership Requires Intention

Friday, Jan. 24 | 4:45 - 5:45 pm | Independence Salon C (Level M4)

A survey of chief academic officers showed that women make up fewer than half the chief academic officers and an even lower proportion of deans, and little progress has been made on racially diversifying the faculty. Inclusive leadership cannot wait for URM, women, and first-generation faculty to move through the pipeline in order to begin to make significant strides toward supporting the needs of our current and future students. We need to lead our institutions toward greater equity and inclusion while we nurture the next generation of leaders who better reflect the students we serve. This session draws parallels between effective strategies for inclusive teaching and designing inclusive leadership programs, and asks participants to explore their own capacities to advance inclusive leadership and question common assumptions about traditional leadership practices.

 

KATHLEEN WONG (LAU), Chief Diversity Officer, San Jose State University; SHARON WASHINGTON, Consultant, Higher Education, Leadership and Organizational Development; PATRICIA (PAT) LOWRIE, Director, Women’s Resource Center, Michigan State University, and Distinguished Fellow, AAC&U

 

Presidential & Board Leadership

 

Presidents and Boards Working Together to Advance Civil Education

Friday, Jan. 24 | 3:15 - 4:15 pm | Marquis Salon 14 (Level M2)

This session will focus on the responsibilities of governing boards and presidents to work together in embracing the urgent need for colleges and universities to prepare students for citizenship. While trustees often have little engagement in these pressing issues, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) recently issued a call to action for appropriate involvement in this domain. Higher education can, should, and indeed must address the critical challenges facing American democracy, and in the United States, where higher education governance is entrusted to independent boards of citizen trustees, governing boards are especially well positioned to ensure that civic education is a priority for higher education. The session will highlight the AGB statement but will focus mainly on practical reasons and recommendations for engagement. With panelists representing governing boards, institutional leadership, and associations, we aim for a lively discussion of a most pressing topic.

 

MODERATOR: JOHN OTTENHOFF, Former Interim COO, AGB and former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, College of Idaho; JONATHAN ALGER, President, James Madison University; MARY DANA HINTON, President, College of Saint Benedict; GLORIA APARICIO BLACKWELL, Chair, Montgomery College Board of Trustees; Director, Office of Community Engagement, University of Maryland; DAVID MAXWELL, Chair, Grinnell College Board of Trustees; President Emeritus, Drake University

 

Shared Governance and Board Leadership in Strategy Development and Implementation

Friday, Jan. 24 | 4:45 - 5:45 pm | Supreme Court (Level M4)

Manhattanville College has implemented a Design Thinking Program and built an innovation center under the leadership of a new president, an active board chair and faculty sponsors. The president led the concept of integrative learning and problem–solving-design thinking as a distinctive educational offering across the liberal arts curriculum. The board was fully involved in the decision to support the innovative move and it provided resources for planning and implementing the change. The provost worked with the president to gain faculty buy-in. The curricular development, the rehab of a building for use by project teams, and the funding of maker-space equipment was orchestrated with shared governance decision-making. The panel will discuss the process of decision-making, the role of the three constituencies (board, administration, and faculty), and the successful launch of the program.

 

MODERATOR: MARY GRAHAM DAVIS, Senior Consultant for AGB to Manhattanville College; MICHAEL GEISLER, President; MARCIA DeWITT, Retired Chair of the Board of Trustees, and ALISON CARSON, Associate Provost for Academic Innovation and Design Thinking—all of Manhattanville College

 

Reception for COACHE Partners

Friday, Jan. 24 | 5:45 - 7:15 pm

If you are a COACHE partner or are a provost or dean interested in becoming one, then please register here for our reception, jointly hosted with the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education. Kiernan Mathews, COACHE Executive Director & Principal Investigator, will be there to welcome you.

We look forward to connecting with you in D.C.!

 

Recommended for additional reading:

• A Changing Faculty Requires Change Leadership: Implications of The Gig Academy for Provosts and Deans
• Where the Faculty Affairs Things Are (Now): Conferences and Convenings Updated
• Essential Resources for the Evidence-Based Chief Academic Officer