HLC Workshops
Accelerating Efforts to Improve
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.
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.
Workshop Offerings
Assessment Workshops
Program Assessment Workshop
Workshop 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
Next offering: Fall 2020 | Online
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 Workshops
Effective Administrators Workshop
June 15, 29 and July 13 | Online (Sold Out)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
Workshop leaders: Michael Boyd and William TammoneThis 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 HatfieldIn 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.