2018 Featured Region 2 Preconference Sessions

Please take this opportunity to attend one or more of the excellent preconference workshops offered by Region 2 in 2018!

All preconferences are $25 and will be held on the first day of the Conference, Wednesday, March 21, 2018, unless otherwise noted.

You can sign up for preconferences while registering for the conference. If you have already registered for the conference and would like to add a preconference workshop, please use this form.

We hope you will consider attending one of the following new preconference workshops debuting at this year's regional conference:

P6. Understanding Privilege within the Context of Advising Relationships
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 2:00-4:50pm
Quentin Alexander, Longwood University
Marcus Ware, George Washington University

Often we unintentionally approach advising from a worldview different than that of our students. Being “culturally competent” often means advisors understand visible identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender) of advisees, and how these identities impact the advising relationship. Research indicates that an invisible construct, privilege, defined as a special right or advantage or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people (McIntosh, 1988), is often more of a barrier than cultural incompetence in advising relationships.

Through participant discussion and involvement in experiential activities, this workshop seeks to bring awareness about privilege, and how advisees might experience privilege within the context of advising relationships. By understanding privilege, we might understand how it impacts our advisees. This knowledge can help us be culturally sensitive in advising relationships.

P5. Engagement, Thankfulness, and Communication: The Key to Becoming a Great Higher Education Leader
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 2:00-4:50pm
Dawn Coder, Pennsylvania State University-World Campus
John Carter, Pennsylvania State University-World Campus

Employee engagement and appreciation are essential to employee morale, positive team environments, and successful leadership. Academic Advisers want to provide feedback, share ideas to improve work efficiency, be acknowledged for the outstanding work they do and to share innovative ideas to better serve students. In this presentation, examples will be shared with you of the intentional methods created, by leadership, to gain feedback, give important business updates, show appreciation and to improve work processes. Some have been very successful, and some not as effective. The key is to identify which methods to continue and which to discontinue.