HLC’s workshops offer intensive, hands-on learning opportunities for individual professionals and teams of colleagues. Under the guidance of expert practitioners, participants learn tested strategies and leave with plans for action that can be implemented at their institutions right away.

Workshop Offerings

New! HLC Speaker Series: Financial Sustainability

Strategic Enrollment Management:
Ensuring Institutional and Student Success

Monday, January 31, 2021 | 2:00–3:15 p.m.   Register Now

Institutional strategies for recruitment and student success play a crucial role in the financial sustainability of U.S. colleges and universities today. What are the essential components of a successful strategic enrollment management (SEM) implementation? How can institutions leverage SEM to optimize budget, program and infrastructure utilization? What questions should campus executives and governing boards be asking to ensure the financial sustainability of their institutions? These issues will be addressed in the context of the unique economics of higher education.

Speakers

Guilbert Brown is the vice president for finance and administration/CFO at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and serves as a consultant for NACUBO consulting. His consulting experience includes working with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and SRI International. He has contributed to several books on strategic enrollment management including SEM and Institutional Success: Integrating Enrollment, Finance and Student Access (AACRAO, 2008) and Strategic Enrollment Management: Transforming Higher Education (AACRAO, 2012). Brown currently serves as a financial evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Carolyn Shaw is professor and associate vice president for strategic enrollment at Wichita State University. She oversees undergraduate admissions, online and adult learning, financial aid, the registrar’s office, student success, international education, career development, OneStop student services and the media resource center. Shaw holds a bachelor of arts from Dickinson College and a doctorate in international politics from the University of Texas in Austin. Prior to serving as associate vice president, she served as faculty senate president and as a department chair for twelve years

Exploring New Business Models

Monday, February 14, 2022 | 2:00–3:15 p.m. Central time   Register Now

Balancing interest in growing revenue streams with needs related to cost containment is a growing challenge for institutions of higher education. This session will explore external environmental factors influencing decision making and preview tools for framing college and university business challenges to align data use across programs and finances. The session will include a high-level overview of conceptual tools by a prominent researcher and a hands-on discussion with a campus leader to ground the tools in practice.

Speakers

Andrea Bucklew serves as the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, West Virginia. Before becoming chief academic officer, Bucklew was the associate provost where her primary responsibilities included leading the University’s efforts in assessment of student learning, coordinating regional and discipline specific institutional accreditation, and serving as the administrator of online programming. Bucklew previously served as the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and is a tenured professor of criminal justice.

Louis Soares serves as the chief learning and innovation officer at the American Council on Education (ACE). Soares incubates and scales ACE’s executive leadership networks, as well as catalyzes compelling research and innovation initiatives across the Council. Working with colleagues, Soares integrates the work of ACE’s leadership, research and innovation teams to optimize membership value for colleges and universities by developing programs and services to advance the success of senior leaders, diversify the executive talent pipeline and facilitate partnerships to enhance institutional performance.

Strategic Partnerships and Affiliations

Monday, February 28, 2022 | 2:00–3:15 p.m. Central time   Register Now

As the higher education market becomes more and more competitive, it is critical that boards and executive leaders understand their institution’s financial “prosperity gap” - the distance between their current state and where they need (or want) to be in the future. In this presentation, a former and current college president will discuss the various options for transformation and consolidation including mergers, affiliations, and strategic ventures.

Speakers

Rick Beyer is a senior fellow at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and College. He has a unique combination of experience in higher education and business. A former college president and board governance chair, successful technology CEO and senior operating executive of a $1 billion public company, Beyer has consistently been at the forefront of industry-leading initiatives and has a successful history of leading organizations through change and growth. A Senior Fellow at Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and a past member of the AGB board of directors, Beyer was the founding managing principal for AGB Institutional Strategies.

Christine Plunkett is president at Iowa Wesleyan University and the first female president in its 180-year history. Plunkett has held administrative and executive positions in leadership, accounting and finance for more than 25 years, including 20 years in secondary and higher education and several years as a technology consultant and small business owner. Through the Registry of College and University Presidents, she joined the executive team at Iowa Wesleyan University in July 2015 as vice president for finance and treasurer. In that role, she applied her expertise in financial modeling, analysis, and management within a turnaround environment and in long-range strategic planning and implementation.

Enhancing Financial Governance

Monday, March 14, 2022 | 2:00–3:15 p.m. Central time   Register Now

Financial solvency of higher education institutions is a growing concern. This presentation will focus on how collaborative leadership between the CEO and the board strengthens the sustainability and viability of the organization. Focus will be on the fiduciary responsibility of the board and the collaboration on planning, budgeting and data-informed decision-making as integral components between the board and the CEO. This presentation will include shared practices from the perspective of trustees and a current president.

Speakers

Armand Alacbay is responsible for trustee and government relations related projects. Prior to joining the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), he worked in private practice as a trial attorney and later managed an educational services startup company. Alacbay received a bachelor of arts in economics and English from the University of Virginia and his juris doctorate from George Mason University School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal. He is a past president of the alumni association for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

Ryan Ruda was named president of Garden City Community College in 2019, a position he had held on an interim basis since the summer of 2018. Ruda has served in numerous capacities on the campus over the past twenty years. He began his time at GCCC as a counselor and moved into the director of counseling role in 2003. From there, he served in various leadership roles on campus including vice president for student services and athletic director. Most recently, he served as the vice president for instruction and student services. Ruda completed his doctorate in community college leadership through the Rouche Graduate Center at National American University in 2018.

Assessment Workshops

Program Assessment Virtual Seminar

Seminar leaders: Susan Hatfield and Jan Smith
This interactive workshop is an opportunity for individuals to further their understanding of practical and meaningful assessment of student learning in academic programs. Through lecture, discussion and structured activities, participants gain the practical knowledge and skills to lead the development and implementation of a program assessment plan in their academic discipline. This workshop is designed for individual department chairs, academic program coordinators and faculty in programs without discipline-specific accreditation to inform program assessment practices.

Cocurricular Assessment Workshop

Many practitioners struggle to understand the role of cocurricular learning and its contribution to student success. In this hands-on workshop, attendees explore strategies to develop meaningful and manageable cocurricular assessment plans. Those who are new to cocurricular assessment as well as experienced practitioners take a deep dive into the terminology and tools that are essential to good practice.

Assessing General Education Online Series

A focus on the process of assessment has taken many programs and institutions down a path of data collection only to find that it leads to frustration, distrust and wasted resources. At this workshop, teams of 4–8 institutional representatives collaborate with experienced facilitators to develop assessment plans that both aim to cultivate an institutional culture committed to continuous improvement and address the need to produce useful evidence of student learning.

---

Strategy Seminars

Effective Administrators Online Seminar Series

Workshop leader: Christian Collins

Delivered in three live, online modules, the workshop will present trends and promising practice in the areas of institutional effectiveness, planning and resource management. Each module includes a presentation from a leading expert in the field followed by activities for application led by an experienced practitioner. Attendees gain new skills for cultivating a collaborative, solutions-oriented culture at their institution and a support network of peers at other institutions.

Advancing Strategy Online Seminar Series

Workshop leaders: Michael Boyd and William Tammone

This team workshop brings together cross-functional groups of 4–8 administrators to learn processes and tools for effective strategic planning in higher education. Teams will leave with a project charter to develop a strategic plan that will improve their institution’s performance.

---

Supporting Student Success Workshop

Workshop leaders: Janice Denton and Susan Hatfield

In this hands-on workshop, individual administrators, faculty and staff members examine common factors that affect student success. Facilitators will lead a series of activities to help attendees identify their institution’s current realities and discover areas of opportunity for improving student success within their particular sphere of influence.

---

Workshop Features

• Tested, evidence-based insights from experts and accomplished practitioners.
• Guided discussions about promising practices and strategies.
• Opportunities to network with other higher education professionals.

Who Should Attend

Representatives of HLC-accredited or candidate institutions, including:

• Academic affairs professionals
• Assessment leaders
• Faculty members
• Institutional researchers
• Student services professionals

---

Workshop Leaders

Michael Boyd

President, Kankakee Community College

Michael Boyd was named Kankakee Community College’s seventh president in 2019 after joining KCC’s staff in 2014 as vice president for instruction and student success, the college’s chief academic officer. Prior to his service at KCC, Boyd worked at Illinois Central College, most recently as associate dean of English, Humanities, and Language Studies. He also served as the college’s Six Sigma Black Belt. As a professor of English and Humanities, Boyd was awarded the ICC Thomas K. Thomas Endowed Teaching Chair award in 2007. Boyd also has been a high school English teacher and football coach. He has three degrees from Illinois State University: a bachelor’s degree in English Education, a master’s degree in English Studies, and a doctorate degree in English studies.

Christian Collins

Vice Chancellor of Institutional Effectiveness, City Colleges of Chicago District

Christian Collins has 20 years of higher education administration experience in both year 4-year university and community college settings. Currently the Vice Chancellor of Institutional Effectiveness at the City Colleges of Chicago district, Collins leads institutional effectiveness, assessment, research, decision support, benchmarking, competitive analysis and evaluative initiatives to enhance enrollment, retention and student success efforts. Christian enjoys engaging in thought partnership with faculty, staff, administrators and students to develop innovative solutions to emerging challenges in higher education. She is highly skilled in the evaluation of data and resource requirements to support institutional performance goals including student retention, persistence and completion. She also has a proven track-record for facilitating an environment of shared accountability for student success, working with faculty and staff to design and implement processes to improve teaching and learning while establishing timely supports to enhance student experiences outside of the classroom.

Janice Denton

Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College

Janice Denton is Professor and Department Chair in the Chemistry Department at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. She is a member of her university’s Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning and was awarded the Blue Ash College Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001. She served as a mentor in HLC’s Assessment Academy from its inception in 2005, became a mentor in the Persistence and Completion Academy when it started in 2013, took on the role of Scholar for both Academies in 2016, and became a Senior Scholar in 2018. Denton has presented at regional and national assessment and teaching conferences and has worked with faculty on student learning and assessment at many colleges and universities.

Susan Hatfield

Professor Emerita, Winona State University

Susan Hatfield is Professor Emerita in the Communication Studies Department at Winona State University (WSU), where she taught from 1981 to 2015. During that time, she developed and directed WSU’s assessment program, served as a department chairperson, and coordinated the First Year Student Experience. She has recently completed appointments to the Board of Visitors for the Marine Corps University and the Board of Directors of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology. Susan is currently a Trustee with the Palmer College of Chiropractic.

William Tammone

Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice President, Strategy and Innovation

William Tammone serves as the Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice President, Strategy and Innovation at American Sentinel University. Based in Denver, American Sentinel is a relatively new online university specializing in healthcare. It offers RN to BSN, MSN, MBA-Healthcare, and DNP programs. Tammone holds a B.A. and M.S. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Indiana University – Bloomington. He has also earned a Certificate in Integrated Planning from the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) Planning Institute. Prior to starting at American Sentinel, Tammone served as the Regional Academic Officer at Ivy Tech State College in Columbus, Indiana; Vice President for Academic Services at Montcalm Community College in Michigan; Provost of Illinois Central College; Provost of Macomb Community College in Michigan, and Provost of the Colorado Community College System in Denver.

---

Get Registration Updates

Complete the HLC Programs Interest Form to receive more information about workshops. You’ll be notified by email when early registration opens for the workshops you select, giving you a chance to register before the rest of HLC’s membership.

Join a Workshop Interest List

---