Wednesday March 14th | 4:15 - 5:15PM
Community-University Boundary Spanners
Level: Applied || Tag: Emerging Leaders || Location: Dover AB
This professional development workshop provides an opportunity for outreach and engagement university personnel to coalesce around their roles, skills, values, opportunities, and challenges, and learn new ways to strengthen outreach and engagement practices. During this workshop, staff will identify their distinct roles, skills, and professional identity as boundary spanners, as well as identify a community of practice as a strategy for strengthening outreach and engagement practices. Those staff whose job responsibilities include coordinating and supporting campus outreach and engagement programs, and who want to engage in individual reflection on their own work and practice, as well as their role in and contribution to larger outreach and engagement systems should attend.
Moderator: Long Huynh, Kansas State University
Thursday March 15th | 8:00 - 9:00AM
Turn Learners Into Earners With Prior Credit and Open Badges
Level: Foundational || Tag: Alternative Credentials || Location: Dover C
Forward-thinking universities have invested time and resources to find the most effective methods to recognize and apply students’ prior learning in ways that are more agile and responsive to the workforce than ever before. Capella University empowers students to fast track degrees by awarding credit for recognized certifications, while Northeastern University recently announced that it accepts IBM open badges for credit across three professional master’s degree programs. In this session, learn which market shifts drove these universities to respond to both student and employer needs in such a dramatic fashion. Discover the obstacles each university faced in making these changes, and explore the best practices that generated success for their programs. Understand the role of open badges play in these programs, and leave with tangible next steps for how your institution can leverage prior credit and corporate-sponsored badging programs to attract new students and accelerate degree earning and workforce readiness.
Thursday March 15th | 9:30 - 10:30AM
The Workforce Development Apprenticeship: Developing Future Leaders for the Workforce Development Industry
Level: Applied || Location: Dover C
The “Workforce Development Professional” state-registered apprenticeship program is the first of its kind in California and is opening pathways to provide training opportunities for workforce development employees to find higher wages, better benefits and more avenues to promotions. Learn how CSU Long Beach, Los Angeles and Sacramento, the California Workforce Association and the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards collaborated with industry leaders to combine job-related technical instruction with structured on-the-job learning experiences to deliver this exciting new program. This successful and innovative job training strategy produces graduates with the advanced skills needed to pursue more competitive jobs in the workforce development industry.
Moderator: Gail Ruhland, St. Cloud State University
Thursday March 15th | 1:45 - 2:45PM
Networks and Partnerships: Creating and Implementing Partnerships With Industry and the Community
Level: Strategic || Location: Dover C
This interactive session will use a case study to discuss a roadmap in the creation and implementation of successful interdisciplinary partnerships that address the needs of academia, professional learners, and the community. The case study will include the perspectives from different sectors (e.g. community, industry and academia) about how they worked together to create and implement success partnerships. The presentation will include the following topics: program overview, strategic planning, identifying needs and creating a collaborative environment, discussing corrective measures needed for evolving programs, and providing a general roadmap on how to approach partnerships. Participants will also complete a strategic planning exercise.
Moderator: Janice Sitzes, North Carolina State University
Thursday March 15th | 4:30 - 5:30PM
Bridging Programs for Internationally Educated Professionals: Connecting Communities, Campus, and Labor Market Demands
Level: Foundational || Location: Dover C
Every year, Ontario receives a significant number of highly educated immigrants. Skilled immigrants bring with them higher education, valuable skills, and work experience. However, once they arrive, internationally educated professionals (IEPs) face significant labor integration challenges such as lack of Canadian work experience; lack of knowledge about Canadian workplace practices; limited professional networks; systemic challenges related to professional regulatory bodies; and employer’s inability to correctly interpret and assess an IEP’s prior education and work experience. Universities have an important role in bridging the gaps between this skilled immigrant-talent pool and Ontario’s employers. Ontario Universities responded to this challenge through the implementation of Bridging Programs for internationally educated professionals. We will discuss what we learned in creating sustainable bridging programs in a variety of professional areas and identify broader implications for supporting pathways between institutions, diverse populations and the labor market.
Moderator: Mercedes Ponce, Florida International University
Friday March 16th | 9:45 - 10:45AM
Serving Those Who Have Served
Level: Foundational || Location: Dover C
MyCAA, TA, GI Bill...oh my! Are you ready to serve those who have served? Do you need a crash course on demystifying distinct military benefits and their various audiences? If your department has a goal to support the military community and you would like to understand the breadth of what is possible with non-credit course offerings, this is your session! Join an informative discussion on how your institution can make a difference supporting military learners and their families. This session will also touch on the recent announcement of the Forever GI Bill and how it further inspires the call to action. Enroll more students, bring in new revenue, and establish meaningful career pathways that properly align with the various benefits.
Moderator: Carol Fleming, James Madison University
Leaders Leading Through Corporate and Government Relationships
Level: Strategic || Location: GB 9-10
Taking your unit to the next level of revenue generation can happen through contract training of your corporate and government partners. In this session paticipants will hear from a current President and CEO and a former Dean on how to identify, oversee and operate long-term community partnerships. Learn how to build strong and sustainable corporate relationships, the benefit of setting up contract training programs, and the best practices for streamlining the process.