On September 15th and 16th, more than 20 members of the NCSCE and SENCER community came together for a retreat on Values-Based Academic Leadership at Roosevelt University in Chicago. This meeting brought together current and aspiring leaders in academia to share lessons about advancing academic innovation, improving student engagement, and inspiring and supporting colleagues.
Following introductions from NCSCE Executive Director Eliza Reilly, SCI Midwest Co-Director Bob Seiser, and Roosevelt University Provost Lois Becker, Jonathan Bucki of The Dendros Group led a facilitated conversation to define the qualities and practices of values-based leadership. Among these qualities were flexible vision, the ability to make and defend hard decisions, and empathy for those whom they lead.
Karen Oates of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Success for Higher Education discussed fostering a culture of shared academic values, with the main idea being that leaders at institutions, through their actions and values, ultimately determine the culture of an organization, which has a tremendous impact on strategy. DonnaJean Fredeen, Provost at Rider University, and David Ferguson, Provost Scholar at Stony Brook University, then led a conversation on building coalitions for student success regardless of how much authority one has at an organization. The day’s sessions continued with concurrent workshops from Monica Devanas on developing a portfolio of achievements to support career growth and advancement, and DonnaJean Fredeen about the ways in which institutional governance should sustain academic values.
Saturday began with a presentation on the Intercultural Development Inventory, or IDI, which is a tool for measuring intercultural competence in both individuals and groups. Yoshiko Chino and Adriana Robertson of the Dendros Group prepared a group profile of the retreat participants to lead a conversation about uses of the IDI, and ways that individuals can become more interculturally competent and impart that competence to their organizations. Karen Oates and Amy Shachter of Success for Higher Education then facilitated a workshop to help participants understand how to effectively manage their career trajectories. The afternoon consisted of concurrent workshops by Monica Devanas about program review and evaluation, and by David Ferguson and Amy Shachter about how leaders can balance personal values with institutional decision making.
More information, including the program book, can be found at the Values-Based Academic Leadership website.