Pre-Meeting Workshops

From the changing landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the encroaching threat of artificial intelligence to waning public support for higher education and declining enrollments, the higher education environment continues to evolve in new and often unpredictable ways. In the face of these challenges, it is more important than ever that leaders have the tools they need to drive proactive, strategic, and meaningful changes on campus. To support leaders in understanding, planning for, and enacting systemic change, we developed the Change Leadership Toolkit (CLT), a step-by-step guidebook for leaders starting, re-invigorating, or sustaining systemic change projects. The CLT is both grounded in research and full of practical, hands-on tools that leaders can use on their campuses right away.

This workshop will begin with a brief overview of the CLT and its underlying conceptual framework and then help participants dive into reflection and planning for leadership actions they can take on their campuses. Individually and in small groups, participants will work through several resources, including worksheets and case studies from the CLT, as they reflect on their leadership context, consider ways to leverage aspects of their environment to accelerate change, and take stock of the actions needed to make the changes they desire. Workshop participants will also gain access to the CLT to support continued engagement, planning, and assessment of systemic change initiatives on their campuses.

Through a synthesis of the relevant literature, and with input from focus groups of minoritized students and community partners at four Massachusetts universities, the facilitators co-developed four principles for anti-racist community engagement practice: (1) counteracting the persistence and impact of racism on our campuses and in our community engagement; (2) critical reflection on individual and system/structural racism; (3) intentional learning/course design; and (4) compassionate/reflective learning spaces. Recently, a co-edited volume, Anti-Racist Community Engagement: Principles and Practices, was published that includes 22 case studies showing the four principles for anti-racist community engagement being translated into practice at institutions all over the country in a wide variety of ways.

During this interactive workshop, the facilitators will present each of the principles and provide descriptive case studies that show the principles in action. The models shared will provide participants with techniques for reconsidering and reimagining their own practices in relation to colleagues, students, and community members with whom they seek to partner. Participants will gather in small groups to critically analyze the case studies and discuss how the principles apply to the work they’re currently doing or would like to be doing at their own institutions. The groups will then report back on how they might carry what they’ve learned during the workshop back to their institutions for consideration and implementation.

The imperative to center equity in our leadership practice is often met with challenges, despite our best intentions. A host of factors can lead an initiative to fall short of its goals or, worse, potentially cause harm. This interactive workshop offers a unique opportunity to dissect the complexities of equity-minded practice.

Leveraging their extensive leadership backgrounds, which include their current positions on the presidential team of the POD Network, the facilitators will lead this collaborative and immersive workshop. Academic leaders at all levels will be invited to reflect on the following questions: How do we bridge the gap between intent and impact? Whose insights should we seek to inform our decision-making? What assumptions are at play? What systems or processes have been taken for granted? How do competing budget priorities affect our decision-making? How are time constraints or planning bottlenecks catalysts for reactive decisions? The facilitators will present a set of case studies that will provide participants with an opportunity to apply a decision-making guide and reflective framework. Equity-minded leadership is an ongoing and iterative pursuit. This workshop will build awareness of common challenges that can help us say less often: that could have gone better.

This workshop is presented by the POD Network.

This workshop will be partitioned into three components. Focused on how faculty and administrators can be agents of change who transform their institution’s funding culture, the first part will begin with a discussion of ideas about transforming a campus culture so that it is amenable to the pursuit of new funding streams. Then, there will be an open discussion during which participants can share their concerns and ideas. The second part will focus on how to create structures that support and encourage this culture at the faculty, departmental, and administrative levels. The third part will take a macro look at what should change to encourage faculty and staff to seek out funding stream opportunities.

This workshop is offered free of charge to registered attendees of the 2024 AAC&U Annual Meeting thanks to the generous support of Fiorini & Associates.