NASPA Institute for New Vice Presidents for Student Affairs

Who you are as a leader matters. Authenticity is when you can bring your whole self to work and when your behaviors match your intentions. Authenticity has been linked to higher engagement, higher work-life satisfaction, better performance, and better overall well-being. This session will allow us to discuss how we show up and how our various identities influence our work and how we are perceived. We hope this session will allow you to be intentional about how you show up.

In this era of higher education, educators must embrace the significance of digital engagement. Within this session, the facilitators will discuss the importance of institutional and personal brand building, networking, and advancement through digital engagement. Participants will be provided tips, tools, and strategies on how to establish and advance their institutional and personal brands.

A high performing leadership team for the division of student affairs is the single most critical strategic goal that a senior leader can have for the institution. This session will focus on how to strategically think about your talents, experiences, skills, and role as the vice president of student affairs and how to build a team of professionals that not only support the work of the institution but support your vision and the direction for the division. This session will touch on recruiting a diverse candidate pool, ensuring an equitable hiring process, assessing difficult hiring situations, and the inclusive on-boarding and engagement of new hires.

Innovation and change have always been essential components of a successful VPSA’s work. Now, as we reimagine the work of our profession in the wake of significant disruption, we will explore ways to cultivate the culture and create the framework for “what’s next.” This session is designed to prod you and your student affairs organization on a new path toward powerful ideas that will have significant impact. Tools and strategies to be applied back on your own campuses will include elements from the Baldrige Award winning Alamo College and from the Alliance For Innovation and Transformation (AFIT).

As a senior leader in higher education, serving as a vice president for student affairs will require new skills and the ability to be nimble to meet the expanding demands of the role. While you can build on past successes, your mindset for your VPSA responsibilities will need to evolve. Additionally, working in a pandemic has changed the context of our work and your leadership will require a new level of ongoing learning and strategic thinking to thrive in your new position.

Whether you have regular access to in-house attorneys on campus or more limited access to outside counsel, this session is designed to help you think about how to maximize the value counsel can add to supporting your efforts as a student affairs leader. Although we often think of a lawyer’s role as limited to providing technical legal advice, learn how, by partnering with your legal counsel, experienced counsel can provide a wide range of assistance and support that can help you be more effective. You will also see how the valuable insights you provide can help your legal counsel tailor advice that will reflect your campus culture and help student affairs meet its goals. By working through the problems together, you will see how the goals of the legal counsel can align with your own and how to respond when misalignment appears to exist.

This interactive workshop focuses on the realities of purposefully organizing and managing work teams that consist of individuals with vastly different years of work and life experience. Participants will use case studies, social media, memes, and current events to discuss who brings what to the table and what are the ways to value this type of diversity. Participants will share experiences, best practices and the factors to consider when identifying and maximizing work team generational differences.

Let’s go back to where we started. You identified what it takes to be an exemplary leader. You considered strategies to affect innovation and change. You discussed how you can work effectively with your colleagues and other institutional stakeholders. You explored executive-level strategies related to building and leading a team and leveraging identities to impact leadership. You learned new ways of thinking and doing and expressed a vision for the future on your campus. And, you have developed friendships with colleagues sharing the same roles on whom you can rely as the need arises. This closing session will ask you to consider how you will put all of this together to be the exemplary leader that you and your institution require.