Professional Development
The Office of the Provost offers various professional development opportunities for Academic Administrators to learn, grow, and advance Academic Affairs priorities. Please explore the following offerings. Registration is required for some events.
Academic Affairs Administrators' Symposium
The Academic Affairs Administrators' Symposium will be held Wednesday August 7, 2024.
Annual Professional Development Series
The Annual Professional Development Series sessions are held to advance work on strategic priorities presented at the 2023 symposium. Outlook invitations will be sent for these sessions.
ASPT Series
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Leading a D/SFSC
September 13, 2023, 3:30-4:30 p.m, Stevenson 401
Session description:
Leading a Faculty Status Committee requires a level head, a keen eye, and an open mind. It also requires an attention to equity and detail, as well as the ability to guide sometimes challenging discussions of faculty performance and behavior. This session will help D/SFSC chairs understand the tools that they can use to lead with confidence, including when they may disagree with the other members of the committee.
Learning Outcomes:
- Select appropriate approaches to discuss challenging situations
- Develop familiarity with ISU ASPT policies concerning the role of the D/SFSC chair
- Recommend apt next steps for challenging performance-related situations
Presenters: Craig Gatto, Associate Vice President for Academic Administration, and Susan Hildebrandt, Special Assistant to the Provost
To learn more: NCFDD Core Curriculum Skill #9: How to Engage in Healthy Conflict
Sign up for a free membership to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)
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Reviewing Faculty Materials
October 11, 2023, 3:00-4:30 p.m, Stevenson 401
October 16, 2023, 1:30-3:00 p.m., Stevenson 401Session description:
Reviewing materials submitted by faculty is a critical role of any Faculty Status Committee (FSC). Whether it’s for annual review, 3-year pre-tenure review, tenure, promotion, or 5-year post-tenure review, an FSC member needs to put aside any biases and determine with the other FSC members whether each faculty member has met the criteria laid out in ASPT policies. With equity at the center, this session will familiarize attendees with revisions to Appendix 2 of ISU ASPT policies and present tools to for FSCs to equitably review faculty materials, no matter the purpose of the materials submitted.
Learning Outcomes:
- Recall changes to ISU ASPT policies related to civic engagement
- Analyze faculty materials with an eye toward equity in service commitments
- Recommend actions for local FSCs that encourage increased equity as they review faculty materials
Presenters: Craig Gatto, Associate Vice President for Academic Administration; Susan Hildebrandt, Special Assistant to the Provost; Mayuko Nakamura, Assistant Director for Assessment and Equitable Pedagogy in the Center for Integrated Professional Development ; Katy Strzepek, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement
To learn more: Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads: What We Can and Should Do Now -
Revising ASPT Policies
March 20, 2024, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Stevenson 401
Session description:
TBA
Learning Outcomes:
TBA
Presenters: Craig Gatto, Associate Vice President for Academic Administration, and Susan Hildebrandt, Special Assistant to the Provost
Chairs/Directors Staff Series
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Growing and Supporting Academic Staff: Idea Swap
November 3, 2023, 3:30-4:30 p.m, SFHB 357
Session description:
As critical members of our academic communities, staff frequently hold the institutional knowledge and familiarity with processes that keep units running. Unit leaders, however, rarely enter their roles with previous staff management or leadership experience. Join us to exchange ideas about how to build our skillsets around managing and developing academic staff, while being more proactive about how to hire and retain them.
Learning Outcomes:
- Review onboarding and recognition structures to support staff retention from the outset
- List ways to encourage staff in effective career growth and professional development conversations
- Align unit-level needs with staff skills and aspirations
Presenters: Yojanna Cuenca-Carlino, Chair of the Department of Special Education and Sue Hildebrandt, Special Assistant to the Provost
Interdivisional Series
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Navigating Crises as an Employee and as a Human Being
September 18, 2023, 1:30-2:30 p.m, Stevenson 401
Session description:
In the blink of an eye, you may find yourself struggling with what to say during a crisis or tragedy that impacts a student, faculty or staff member from your unit. What should you do and what can you say? Learn how to respond from both a human and legal standpoint, based on relevant university procedures, and who point persons are that carry out important tasks like working with the family and offering support systems. Explore how to communicate information to the unit, as appropriate, as well as next steps after the immediate crisis has passed.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand ISU’s formal policy regarding student death notification
- Discover the roles and responsibilities of crisis responders on campus so that one may seek their recommendations during and after a crisis
- Prepare to respond to/recover from a tragedy
Presenters: Katy Killian, Chief of Staff & Board Liaison; Andy Morgan, Assistant Vice President & Dean of Students; Kelly Walker, Director of Benefit Services, Human Resources
To learn more: Sanger, C. S. (Oct. 24, 2017). What to Say after a Student Dies. Chronicle of Higher Education (free to ISU employees and students). -
Helping Faculty and Staff Support Students
November 27, 2023, 2-3:30 p.m, Stevenson 401
Session description:
The challenges are many for university students since COVID. Faculty and staff are on the front lines of helping students find resources when they encounter those challenges, but they may not always be equipped to help or know what supports are available. Come learn about some of the tools that students can find on campus from the people who offer them. Then take that information back to your unit to let others know how to support students by directing them to the services available .
Learning Outcomes:
- Name resources available to students outside of Academic Affairs
- Compare supports from Academic Affairs to those available from other divisions
- Discover how supports can build on one another to provide wrap-around services
Presenters: Stacy Parton, Staff Counselor in Student Counseling Services; Dawn Pote, Executive Director of Well-Being and Recreation; Ashley Pritts, Assistant Director and Deputy Title IX Coordinator in Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (OEOA); Donald Reed, Associate Dean of Students; Aaron Woodruff, ISU Police Chief
To learn more: Fawcett, E. (Nov. 1, 2022). The Pandemic Generation Goes to College. It Has Not Been Easy. New York Times ( free to ISU employees and students )
New Administrators' Lunch Series
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Enrollment Management
October 17, 2023, 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m, Stevenson 401
Advanced registration is requiredSession description:
As an institution, we have become increasingly reliant on enrollment as the percentage of state funding remains under 15% of our operating costs. Learn about our enrollment history, our current challenges, and our future goals. Discuss the ways in which your area can help with recruitment and retention moving forward.
Learning Outcomes:
- Explain why enrollment is critical to ISU and our programs
- Identify ways that individual programs can increase enrollment
- Prioritize efforts to attract students to programs
Presenter: Jana Albrecht, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management
To learn more: College Enrollments: Cliffs, Shifts, and Lifts
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Developing New and Engaging Programs
December 11, 2023, 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m, Stevenson 401
Advanced registration is requiredSession description:
Current and prospective students are looking for engaging programs that will help them with the challenges of the 21st century. Find out how to create programs that will attract graduate and undergraduate students to ISU, while thinking through the necessary financial, enrollment, and curricular implications.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify the characteristics of programs of interest to today’s students
- Discover what new programs have been recently created at ISU
- Discuss the possibilities of future programs on campus
Presenters: J. Cooper Cutting, Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration and Noelle Selkow, Director of the Graduate School
To learn more: Creating New Opportunites for Students
Budgeting Professional Development Series
Dan Elkins, Associate Vice President for Academic Fiscal Management, will be hosting a monthly Budgeting Professional Development Series throughout the year. The purpose of these sessions is to enhance the budgeting knowledge and skills of Chairs and Directors to make informed data-based planning decisions, as well as to provide an important opportunity to communicate/discuss any challenging fiscal issues that Chairs and Directors may be facing at the time. Outlook invitations will be sent for these sessions. Please see the list of dates below for 2023-2024:
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September 29, 2023
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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October 23, 2023
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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November 14, 2023
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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February 22, 2024
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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March 26, 2024
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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April 22, 2024
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Data Literacy Institute
SU has long been a partner with APLU’s Powered by Publics (PxP), an initiative to address retention and graduation. As part of the PxP work, Illinois State has the opportunity to participate in the Data Literacy Institute (DLI) lead by the Association for Institutional Research.
A cohort of 20 individuals from across the institution, including faculty, advisors, administrators, student affairs, and other staff directly involved with student learning, development, or support will engage in a 2-semester learning experience where participants learn to collect, analyze, interpret, communicate, and make actionable data related to a group determined student success problem.
Teams of 4-5 will identify a student success issue and engage in facilitated workshops and hands-on work to understand the problem using data analysis and use data informed decision making. Sample problems from other PxP universities include: reducing student loan debt; impact of early alerts on high DFWI courses; success and retention of male students of color; and planned vs actual course load.
The Institute is comprised of 2 semesters, each 3 months in length. Every month offers a different section of DLI content and includes approximately 20 hours of work: 4 hours of webinars, 8 hours of virtual seminars, and 8 hours of independent/group work. Participants will begin by learning the basics of data and end with a full set of data literacy skills.
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Fall semester
The first term runs from September through mid-December and includes three sections, each approximately one month long. The collaborative research project is kicked off at the start of the Institute and weaves throughout the curricula. The fall semester will involve topics such as: developing the question/problem, connecting questions to data, and analyzing the data.
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Spring semester
The second term runs from February through mid-May and includes three sections, each approximately one month long. The term culminates with completion and presentation of the collaborative research project. This semester will involve topics such as: conveying the information to your audience, taking action, and closing the loop.
A full description of the curriculum can be found in the Data literacy Institute Program Guide.