The Chair Academy

Worldwide Leadership Development For College and University Leaders

Pre-Conference Skillbuilding Workshops

The Chair Academy offers each conference participant, an expanded Conference experience. For $125.00, conference participants can attend a full day, pre-conference skillbuilding workshop. These day-long workshops can provide you with essential skills and knowledge, that participants can can bring back to their organizations.

 

THE TRICK TO BEING A CHAIR OR ORGANIZATIONAL LEADER
Presented by Bill Lamb, Kirkwood Community College

The workshop will present a variety of strategies for new front line administrators, including chairs, directors, deans, and other organizational leaders. Activities throughout the day will help participants define their role as leaders and share strategies to develop cohesive teams.

Topics will include:

• understanding leadership versus management in organizations
• understanding yourself and how you work with others
• building teams and working with diverse work styles
• time management and work best practices
• recognizing and managing conflict
• adapting to and guiding organizational change.

  • The activities will involve small group interaction and allow time for sharing strategies as well as applying new methods to real work examples. The afternoon session will encourage the sharing of “successful practices" through guided group discussions. Participants will receive a
    variety of written materials to use as guides and references, and information related to the Academy for Leadership and Development will
    be shared.

About the Presenter:

Bill Lamb, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 

Bill Lamb is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Until 2007, Bill was the Dean of Liberal Arts and Distance Learning at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS, where he served in the role of assistant dean, department chair, and writing teacher. He received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University in 1984, and his Master
of Arts degree in English literature from Pittsburg State University in 1974. His Bachelors degree is from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Lamb has received numerous awards including the Paul Elsner International Excellence in Leadership Award in 2011.  He is active in his local Rotary club and several community organizations.  Additionally, he is a member of the Leadership Editorial Board and a member of the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development.  He recently joined the IDEA Advisory Board.  Dr. Lamb also has a number of publications and is a frequent presenter at international and regional conferences and workshops.


 

A LEADER'S GUIDE TO BALANCE AND WELLBEING
Presented by Margo Keys, Chippewa Valley Technical College and Jean Svacina,Howard Community College

For leaders the ability to create and sustain a balanced, harmonious life is key to their success and well being.  An unbalanced life can lead to career and personal life burnout.  Preventing burnout requires an investment in a healthy lifestyle, followed by deliberate practice.  Leaders who have perfected the formula enjoy numerous benefits and serve as an inspiration to others.  Attend this preconference session to learn more on preventing burn out and sustaining balance and harmony in your life.  The session includes recent research on this important topic, remedy and practice, including natural stress remedies, case scenario practice, beginners’ chair yoga, and
an extended meditation exercise.  Tap into ancient practices to maximize your ability to balance the priorities of a leader. Invest time now
to sustain, and improve your performance in the long run. 

Attendees will develop a wellness plan integrating their personal strengths into the plan (Please bring your signature theme list to this session).

Attendees will benefit by:

• Increasing awareness of the research and long term benefits of healthy living.
• Increasing awareness on preventing burn out.
• Learning about and practicing natural stress remedies including ways of decreasing inflammation through simple ways of eating.
• Building skill through practice of beginners’ chair yoga and meditation exercises .
• Developing an Individualized Practical Wellness Plan (IPWP).
• Integrating their personal strengths into the wellness plan.

About the Presenters:

Margo Keys, Ph.D., Vice President Student Affairs at Chippewa Valley Technical College 

Margo Keys, Academy Facilitator. Currently the Vice President of Student Services at Chippewa Valley Technical College in west central Wisconsin. Prior work included Dean of Students, Director of Instructional Support and Services, and Staff Development Coordinator at
CVTC. During the early years at CVTC, Margo served as a Department Chair and program faculty. Previously, Margo worked in the
healthcare industry.

Jean Svacina, Ph.D.,  Dean and Division Chair of English and World Languages at Howard Community College

Dr. Jean Svacina, Acting Chair of the Division of English and World Languages and Professor of ESL, is committed to excellence in teaching
and service in leadership. As an instructor, Jean is passionate about her teaching and values the insights and determination of her students; she believes she learns as much from them as she hopes they do from her.

In addition to her teaching, Jean has dedicated herself to many initiatives including establishing an ESL Bridge Program with the county’s
high schools; participating in global projects and committee work; and presenting at numerous national conferences. Jean is a co-founder
of the English Language Institute, an intensive language program that was created in collaboration with the non-credit ESL program at HCC.
Jean and her colleague, Rebecca Price, were recognized for their eff orts with this Institute and were announced winners of a TYCA (Two-
Year College Association) award given in the category of ‘Reaching Across Borders.’

Dr. Svacina’s other interests include ‘Globalizing the Curriculum’, a college-wide eff ort which focuses on developing the global competency skills of students so that they are better prepared for the global environment and workplace of today. In Feb, 2012 her team’s work on creating the Global Distinction program earned the Andrew Heiskell International award for best practice in global program development.

 

THRIVE: FOSTERING ENGAGEMENT AND WELL-BEING THROUGH STRENGTHS-BASED LEADERSHIP
Presented by Kyle Robinson, Gallup

When Gallup wanted to find out what the world's greatest leaders do differently, we went right to the source -- large and small companies, privately held companies, and public-sector organizations -- and we interviewed more than 80,000 top-performing leaders in 400 organizations.

The Great Leader Program incorporates the findings of Gallup's extensive and ongoing research and presents these important findings to leaders of Higher Education.  We invite campus leaders who directly manage others in the workplace to attend this one-day program, which
will help them better engage their team members based on their talents.

During the program, leaders will learn how to increase engagement and wellbeing of their team by:
• Developing a comprehensive understanding of their unique strengths
• Viewing their team through the lens of the 12 Elements of Engagement to create a plan to increase engagement levels
• Understanding the Four Keys to Great Management and learning how to "turn the key" with each member on their team
• Encouraging the holistic development of team members wellbeing and understanding why leaders should care how their team members
eat, move and sleep.

About the Presenter:

Kyle Robinson, M.A., Director of Campus Engagement for Gallup’s Education Division.

Kyle partners with colleges and universities to help them create and implement strength-based engagement and wellbeing strategies for students, staff and faculty.  As a speaker and consultant, Kyle is often on campus working with educators to apply Gallup’s science and
research to impact their insitution. 

In addition to creating strengths-based solutions for campuses, Kyle’s experience at Gallup also includes leading mulit-national employee engagement projects and arctitecting customized leadership development programs for managers, employees and students.  Kyle was first exposed to Gallup’s strength-based approach while attending graduate school and adopted a strengths philosophy as a manger at a manufacturing company and as an adjuct faculty member at a privite liberal arts university.  

Kyle’s passion is helping people understand and develop their natural, innate talent and encouraging them to find ways to do what they do
best, everyday.  Kyle holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and is currently persuing a Doctorate in Leadership at Creighton University.   He resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two children.

 

WORKING WITH VALUES TO CREATE CULTURE CHANGE
UNLEASHING HUMAN POTENTIAL FOR PERFORMANCE

\What is the hidden potential of the members of your organization? How can you as a leader unleash this potential and maximize effectiveness/performance while building your program? Using the Barrett Model based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; you will explore
how values drive behavior and why this assessment is used in 70 countries.

Details:

• The values and beliefs of a leader are instrumental in determining the culture of an organization. Leaders have significant influence on the performance of an organization, or any group of individuals that share a common identity.
 
• Experience the Assessment: As you register, you will be invited to take an Individual Values Assessment (IVA).  This will allow you to identify
your own values, how you experience the current values of your organization and what values and behaviors you desire for your organization.

• Use the Results: During the workshop, the values plots/diagrams will visually demonstrate the alignment of the personal values, current
culture values and desired culture values according to the Seven Levels of Consciousness model.

• Uncover your leadership perspective and potential to lead a loyal, committed and creative workforce. Collaborate with other attendees to
create next steps for creating a vibrant culture.

About the Presenter:

MaryJane Bullen, Senior Barrett Values Centre Consultant, Lake Monticello, Virginia.

MaryJane Bullen, MSOD, is a trainer/consultant, coach, and facilitator with Barrett Values Centre and Coble Consulting. She provides Barrett Values certification training for individuals and organizations in the United States and Canada. In Washington DC area, her clients include:
NASA and Goddard; American University; Industrial Bank, National Cooperative Bank; Washington Post; Catapult Technology (coach to Homeland Security leaders). Another client: TIAA-CREFF in New York and North Carolina

As a management consultant at the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), MaryJane managed a technology team for Latin America before moving to the Strategic Change unit to support the president’s office in creating deeper dialogues between
vice-presidents during a large change effort.  There she worked with Richard Barrett in 1996 as he was creating the Values assessment tools.  MaryJane was appointed to serve on the Appeals Committee for 5 years in support of better management and staff relations.

MaryJane received her Master in Organization Development from the American University/AUNTL program.  In 2001, she became an adjunct professor in the MSOD program (course ‘Organization Analysis and Change’).

Recently, MaryJane and her husband moved from the Washington D.C. area to live on a lake near Charlottesville VA.  In addition to consulting, MaryJane enjoys traveling and spending time with her four grandchildren.