Larry D. Lauer

The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is offering one of the first (and maybe the first and only) opportunities for advancement professionals in higher education to engage with colleagues about the internal  barriers that prevent all of us from doing what we know how to do.

Some have cautioned me that enrolling for such a seminar could actually have its own political issues. For example, they assert that attending such a seminar could have negative consequences when you openly signal that you have political issues with the institution. Or, possibly the person who needs to sign off on your attendance is your political problem. If either of these apply to you, let CASE know. You might even ask for the invoice to read “Seminar on Becoming a More Efficient Manager!”  Truthfully, that is what it will be about.

Terry Flannery, Vice President for Communication at American University, will share her experiences expanding her overall influence at an institution that has been dealing with past leadership issues; B.J. Davison, Vice President for Advancement at Frostburg State University, will show you how to survive being the primary change agent at your institution; and I will share all my “lessons learned” in the “100 years” I have been working at advancing our work in many different institutions.

People in all types of organizations tell me over and over again that addressing political issues is the major problem they face. Politics determine who gets ahead, and who doesn’t. Politics determine who gets support for their ideas and projects, and who doesn’t.

The more I hear about these situations the more I realize that we have not addressed this topic as a course of study  in any of our academic programs. We have also not addressed it in staff development sessions at professional  conferences. And so now, CASE is taking the initiative. 

We hope to have enough of you join us for this inaugural problem-solving experience. Please let us know how to frame the topic so you can attend. Contact our CASE conference manager, Ed Groves, at  groves@case.org , for more information, or to give us your suggestions on how to meet your needs on this topic.

There is no doubt about it. It is a key topic on the top of all our minds. We simply must determine how to work with each other to address it.