Campus Conferences

2018

August 17th, 2018 (Friday)

2016

Signature First-Year Experiences: Creating a distinctive first-year experience in- and out-of-the classroomPDF versionText only version

Description:

a) Success in the first-year directly translates to success at Mines, overall. In the first-year, students master the fundamentals for success in higher-level coursework, reevaluate their academic plans and degree, and also engage with the campus through extracurricular opportunities including undergraduate research and campus activities. This workshop will consider recent efforts related to first-year pedagogy and student life, but more specifically consider how the institution can identify and define an intentional, distinctive, and invaluable first-year experience for all incoming students.
b) Following a brief presentation, participants will participate in small group activities designed to illuminate areas for opportunity and growth related to first-year experiential opportunities in and out of the classroom.
c) This presentation is best described as a facilitated brain-storming session. Multiple small groups will develop and present their work with the intention of gathering and distilling all germane and cogent thoughts, ideas, commentary, and concerns related to first-year experience. The culmination of work done by small groups will inform future committee work related to first-year efforts – still to be determined and distributed.

Moderators:  Sam Spiegel & Colin Terry

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Achieving Our Mission: Aligning productivity, rewards, and resourcesPDF versionText only version

Description: 

Mines’ mission is to prepare students for successful careers, generate impactful output from our research and creative activities (i.e., discoveries, innovations, inventions, graduates), and to contribute through service to society and our professions.  We aspire to be the top STEM university in the nation and to be recognized for the uniqueness of our graduates, the strength of our interactions with industry, and the impact of our research and creative activities. We must accomplish this mission collectively, while recognizing that there is a wide spectrum of individual abilities, strengths, and interests among our faculty.
In this workshop we will discuss draft productivity guidelines that reflect practical needs for revenue generation and metrics that are important to our reputation as a STEM-focused institution. These guidelines will be used to assign aggregate productivity targets (instruction, research, mentoring) that reflect the current status and aspirations of each unit and their expected contributions to Mines’ overall mission and aspirations. In addition, we will discuss a draft budget allocation model that connects resource allocation and program incentives to strategic intent.

Moderators:  Kirsten Volpi & Tom Boyd

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Creating a 4th College: How best to organize new academic programs and initiatives?PDF versionText only version

Description:

A priority articulated by the President is that we provide students with four facets of education in their experience at Mines: (1) a disciplinary expertise, (2) a broad set of skills useful in professional life, (3) a motivating understanding of the social context of engineering and applied science, and (4) opportunities that enable students to explore and purse their passion, wherever it may lead them. In an institution with an organizational and management structure that is fundamentally discipline-based, it can be difficult to give students broader, non-disciplinary educational experiences. Recent discussions in the faculty and in the Executive Team have considered the possibility of defining a “4th dimension” (or college) to support such cross-cutting initiatives. This workshop will summarize these discussions and seek input on the concept of a 4th dimension, or college.

Moderators:  Kevin Moore & Ramona Graves

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Project Meridian: Re-engineering operational processes and exploring a cohesive services modelPDF versionText only version

Description:

Meridian’s goals are to provide a better student, faculty & staff experience through efficient, consistent, and quality operational processes. To that end, this project will aim to achieve streamlined processes and economies of scale for core services. This includes implementing technology to support our re-engineered business processes while developing service providers with deep skills and knowledge in those processes, campus policies and procedures. Come learn more about the vision, timeline, people involved, and process to make this happen. We will experience a re-engineering exercise to explore how business practices work across groups, and how groups can work together to innovate processes for better customer service and add value. Participants will gain a better understanding in how re-evaluating the processes they engage in daily can lead to furthering a culture of service, flexibility and agility.

Moderators:  Katy Ginger & David Lee

Communications and Marketing: Promoting your services, programs, and researchPDF versionText only version

Description:

Do you want the campus to know about a new service or program in your department? Are you trying to get people to an event? Do you have research that you want to share with the general public? Are you trying to recruit graduate students?
In this session, you will learn how to access the communication channels at Mines to get the word out. You will learn about the many ways that Mines shares information with the world, including social media and the web. Meet some of the campus communicators and get information on Mines branding basics and where to find tools and templates to amplify your communications.

Moderator: Jake Kupiec

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Fostering a Shared Culture: Empowering through leadership development and rewards and recognition programsPDF versionText only version

Description: 

In today’s highly competitive talent marketplace, organizations that want to attract, retain and advance top talent must be skilled at developing people. And as the rate of change in the marketplace accelerates, organizations are constantly trying to help employees adopt the critical new behaviors necessary to keep pace. Organizational alignment and empowerment are key in this ever changing and complex environment. This session will explore the vision of a vibrant shared culture and how we can enable employees to further their individual aspirations and those of Mines. The session focus will be on our plans for creating programs in developing and enhancing leaders, managers, and more broadly professional skills. We will provide an update on our new Onboarding system and philosophy, as well as, an introduction to the rewards and recognition initiative. Participants will gain a broader understanding of Mines’ direction regarding empowering our workforce to enhance a shared culture and an update on advances in organizational development.

Moderators: Michelle Darveau & Nigel Middleton

An Integrative Research Culture: Fostering an active, cross-disciplinary, and social research culturePDF versionText only version

Description:

Over the past year the Faculty Task Force completed its work and recommended pathways to accelerate research on campus.  We conducted targeted, campus-wide workshops on hot topics, and we have seen progress in promoting collaborative/interdisciplinary initiatives to bring very large projects to Mines. In this workshop we will review these activities and identify additional ways to stimulate the research culture on campus.

Moderators: Tony Dean & Tzahi Cath

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