Leveraging the Power of Information:

Information Concepts, Strategies, and Tools for Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, Innovation, and Change in Higher Education
A Nuventive-NCCI Online Professional Development Certificate Program

Leveraging the Power of Information is an activity-based program that focuses on the challenges and opportunities at your institution. It emphasizes how to make use of information, recognizing, that while people know what to do in theory, effectively using information to plan, pursue, and achieve desired outcomes can be a heavy lift in practice. Clarifying the problem or opportunity to be addressed, determining the “right” information that is needed and by whom, and overcoming organizational and human resistance, are so often where the major difficulties arise. Information is central to how colleges and universities achieve their missions. As higher education’s network for change leadership, the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation (NCCI) has an important role in guiding practitioners on how to effectively apply information to every aspect of their work—whether that involves incremental or transformational improvement. Information plays a role in strategic planning, enhancing institutional performance and effectiveness, supporting day-to-day decision-making, promoting innovation, assessing outcomes, and guiding continuous improvement efforts.

In a time of many challenges and need for reflection in higher education, this interactive session will introduce the faculty and participants; provide an overview of the program expectations and structure; and include a robust discussion of the challenges facing individuals engaged in continuous improvement and transformational change. The session will address issues including what are the key elements of organizational effectiveness and how information provides a key to progress.

The second session will focus on a case study that participants will review in advance. First in small breakout groups and then with the full class, participants will define the problem and discuss what information is needed to understand it fully. They will then discuss ideas for seeking the necessary information and how it might be used. This session will also discuss the relationship between information platforms and human decision-making.

Leaders and their colleagues at all levels benefit from reliable information to assess needs, monitor programs on departmental and institutional initiatives, and guide key decisions. Key information consumers include not only the final decision maker, but also individual users, task force members, external advisory or regulatory groups, other institutions, and partners. This session will help participants build practical skills for identifying and assessing target audiences and their readiness for information-based decision making.

Information must be organized, easily discoverable, accessible, curated and effectively communicated to a wide variety of stakeholders. Successful practices tie information to the purposes and goals of end users and provide a continuous feedback loop. During this session, participants will be introduced to best-practice examples of data presentation and will be asked to share their related experiences.

This session will continue the focus on promoting the use of information through engagement and relationship building — exploring what approaches are useful for diagnosing critical needs and uses and overcoming resistance. Each participant will present an actual case example from their campus utilizing the template for building a culture of data-informed decision making that has been developed throughout this program.

Creating tools and platforms to support these activites is what Nuventive does, and NCCI and Nuventive are once again collaborating on an innovative program to address these issues. Through Leveraging the Power of Information Certificate Program, which has been refined based on our experience with two previous NCCI participant groups, our aim is to equip future participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate more effective use of information, information tools, and information strategy as change agents themselves, and in support of leaders throughout their institutions.

Faculty

Brent Ruben is a distinguished professor of communication, founder and senior fellow at the Center for Organizational Leadership, and advisor for strategy and planning in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University. He is the author of more than 50 books and numerous chapters and articles on organizational communication, leadership, strategy, assessment, planning, and change in higher education. His most recent books are Implementing Sustainable Change in Higher Education: Principles and Practices of Collaborative Leadership (Stylus, 2022) and A Guide for Leaders in Higher Education (second edition) (2021 – with R. De Lisi and R. Gigliotti), which was recognized as the book of the year by the National Communication Association, Applied Communication Division (2018). Dr. Ruben was a founder of the Rutgers Department of Communication and founding president of the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation in Higher Education (NCCI). He received the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Foundation Inaugural Award for National Leadership Excellence in Education (2018) and other scholarly and professional awards from the National Communication Association (NCA), the National Association for College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), Rutgers University, and other organizations.

Kelly Schaefer has 30 years of experience in Student Affairs in higher education and currently serves as the Strategic Advisor for Student Affairs Initiatives at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In this inaugural role in the division, Kelly moves forward the strategic priorities for the Vice President for Student Affairs that span across the division and the institution. Dr. Schaefer’s love of learning and strategy has propelled her collaborative work across campus to create process improvements in several areas of Student Affairs, including the launch of a centralized campus website for undocumented students, and end-to-end streamlining of processes for student organizations, and writing a white paper for the campus administrator on-call program. Prior to Kelly’s current role, she served as the Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Student Engagement in Student Affairs with a team of 45 professionals and graduate students. She oversaw areas including Student Transition Experiences, Campus Inclusion & Community (which included Multicultural Student Affairs, Social Justice Education, and Student Enrichment Services), Religious Life, and Campus Life (which included Fraternity & Sorority Life, Leadership Development & Community Engagement, Student Organizations & Activities) and Graduation. Kelly has certifications in change management from Prosci, Strengths coaching from Gallup, and project management from Northwestern. Kelly serves as the Vice-Chair for the Professional Development Committee for the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation (NCCI).

Registration deadline is January 23, 2025.

Pricing: $750 NCCI Members, $975 Nonmembers

register

Previous Certificate Recipients:

  • Andrea Allio, Senior Data Analyst and Assessment Consultant, Pennsylvania State University
  • Sherry Buss, Director of Administration, Lehigh University
  • Sarah Button, Project Manager, University of Michigan
  • Michael Dean, Manager, Student Affairs Technology Projects, Austin Community College
  • Davina Desnoes, AVP, Budget & Planning, University Budget Director, Cornell University
  • Melanie Dow, Senior Quality Advisor, Carleton University
  • Kristina Givens, Senior Process Improvement Consultant, Virginia Tech University
  • Tanya Grove, Assistant Director and Sr. Management Consultant, Cornell University
  • Ashley Kaplan, Director of Continuous Improvement, California State University, Chico
  • Ravneet Kaur, Senior Manager, Business Transformation & Program Management, University of Toronto
  • Jolie Lam, Program Manager, University of California Berkeley
  • Ari Mack, Organizational Development Consultant, Cornell University
  • Kristine Mahoney, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives & Academic Integration, Cornell University
  • Kristine Maphis, Associate Director, Service Transformation, University of Maryland
  • Logan McKinley, Senior Developer, University of Virginia
  • Jeff Minelli, Service Architect, Pennsylvania State University
  • Kristi Moore, Sr. Process Improvement Coordinator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Julie Page, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Kennesaw State University
  • Ali Piovesan, Accounts Payable, Indiana University Bloomington
  • Alyson Pohlman, Project and Fiscal Coordinator, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Donna Robertson, Senior Director, Clemson University
  • Sharon Rogers, Process Improvement Analyst, University of Maryland
  • Jennifer Roth-Burnette, Director, Learning Commons, University of Alabama
  • Kelly Schaefer, Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement, Northwestern University
  • BeYonne Tinsley, Business Process Consultant, University of Maryland
  • Adam Seid, Associate, Organizational Excellence, University of Virginia
  • Melinda Wallace, FOSAS Financial Compliance Program Director, University of Alabama
  • Amy Williams, Assistant Production Manager, University of Notre Dame

About Nuventive

Nuventive enables higher education institutions to turn their plans into progress through the better use of information. Its cloud-based data-informed improvement platform brings business process and information together to support any improvement initiative, including overall strategy; accreditation; student success; diversity, equity, and inclusion; learning outcomes; general education; administrative outcomes; program review; and sustainability. Nuventive is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with distribution in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, please visit https://nuventive.com/.