Professional Development Program Spring 2023
Join us for the following Professional Development sessions:
How to Job Craft Your Way to Loving Your Work
Presenter: Stella Grizont
Date: February 17, 10am - 11:30am. Virtual Session.
RSVP by February 14, 2023.
Description: Join Stella Grizont, speaker and executive coach, in understanding the science behind job crafting to feel more engaged at work. In this virtual session, you will:
- Learn how to get clear on what you want and what fuels you.
- Identify how to customize your tasks, relationships, and mindset to feel more energized at work.
- Recognize the power and control you have to shape your career and everyday reality.
This is an interactive, virtual workshop and requires your full attention and participation with cameras on. There are 40 spots available in this workshop.
About the Presenter: Stella Grizont is a Positive Psychology Expert, an executive coach, and the Founder and CEO of WOOPAAH. Read more about Stella Grizont.
Disrupting Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process
Presenters: Wayne Gersie, PhD and Raphael Jordan
Date: March 15, 12:30pm - 4:30pm. Virtual Session.
RSVP by March 10, 2023.
Description: This virtual workshop offers an in-depth look at how implicit bias impacts decision making during hiring processes, most specifically in sourcing, recruitment, applicant screening, hiring, and onboarding. Additionally, this workshop will teach strategies, best practices, and interventions to mitigate implicit bias and minimize its effects. This will be a highly interactive workshop where the presenters will guide you through a multi-step process of personal reflection, interactive group activities, and knowledge development. This workshop requires your full attention and participation with cameras on. There are 30 spots available in this workshop.
About the Presenters:
Wayne Gersie, PhD, is the owner and principal of Oasis Strategic Consulting LLC and currently serves as the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion at Michigan Technological University. Read more about Dr. Wayne Gersie.
Raphael Jordan: has worked in public and private sectors focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion for over 10 years. During his career in Human Resources, he has established credibility building and leading recruitment programs. Read more about Raphael Jordan.
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
Author: Priya Parker
Reading Dates: March 17 - May 19. Virtual Participation.
RSVP by March 15, 2023.
Description: You’re invited to join the Vassar Professional Development Book Club where you’ll connect with Vassar employees in a private online community to read and discuss books on a range of topics including diversity, equity and inclusion, leadership, communication, and more. Participation is based on days and times that are convenient for you. We will begin to read and discuss The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker on March 17th.
About the Book: At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Priya Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small. Parker investigates a wide array of gatherings—conferences, meetings, parties—and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience.
To join the book club or to learn more, visit https://www.pbc.guru/vassar.
Managing Through Difficult Situations
Presenter: Ginger Jurecka
Date: April 4, 9am - 12pm. In-person Session.
RSVP by March 30, 2023.
Description: Supervision is always challenging because of the various styles, experiences and strengths that people bring to their work. Additionally, supervisors are asked to balance the changing needs of the organization with the changing people within the workplace. This session is for anyone who experiences the difficulty of meeting people where they are and getting them to where operations need them to be. In this interactive, in-person workshop, you will be introduced to some game changing ideas about how to lead your team, in good times and not so great times, as well as have opportunities to put these strategies into practice. There are 30 spots available in this workshop.
About the Presenter: Ginger Jurecka is passionate about helping individuals and organizations achieve their potential through ongoing learning. She currently serves as the Director of Organizational Development and Training at SUNY New Paltz. Prior to her current role, she worked at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York University and the University of Wisconsin Madison in roles focusing on talent development for both students and staff. Ginger holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Southwestern University and Masters of Arts in Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University.
Leading to Create Healthier Workplaces
Presenter: Annmarie Caño, PhD
Date: April 13, 12pm - 2pm. Virtual Session.
RSVP by April 7, 2023.
Description: To create healthier workplaces that build confidence and provide a supportive atmosphere, leaders must understand what causes their team to feel constrained, so that they can accompany them in this co-creative process of change. By applying trauma-informed and liberation psychology approaches, we will discuss how leaders can build healthier working environments that free people to be creative, innovative, and experience a deep sense of belonging.
This is a virtual workshop offered by Academic Impressions and open to leaders in the higher education industry. Vassar has 10 spots available in the workshop.
About the Presenter: Annmarie Caño is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Gonzaga University. In addition to her role at Gonzaga University, Annmarie is also a licensed clinical psychologist (MI, WA) and an Academic Impressions leadership coach. Read more about Annmarie Caño.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workshops
Presenters: Dr. Wayne Gersie and Kellie Raffaelli
Date: May 12 (see times below).
RSVP by May 8, 2023.
Join one or both workshops:
1) Communicating Across Difference
Date: May 12, 9am - 12pm. In-Person Session.
Description: This in-person workshop includes experiential activities and small group discussion, to assist you in fostering communication skills. You will leave with tangible and enhanced skills including active listening, suspending judgment, leaning into discomfort, and using empathy as ways to be more culturally responsive and equity minded in your interactions with others. In addition, you will have a better sense of your own identity and how power, privilege, and oppression interplay with these established identities and those around you. There are 30 spots available in this workshop.
2) How to Influence without Shaming
Date: May 12, 1pm - 4:30pm. In-Person Session.
Description: This in-person workshop is an interactive program that combines experiential and small group activities to help you understand the impact of harmful and biased statements, even when unintentional, and to develop strategies that can disrupt the harm and impact of these types of behaviors. This workshop will give you the confidence to respond to these incidents in an appropriate way that creates a better sense of belonging and a climate that promotes, enhances, and fosters inclusivity. There are 30 spots available in this workshop.
About the Presenters:
Wayne Gersie, PhD, is the owner and principal of Oasis Strategic Consulting LLC and currently serves as the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion at Michigan Technological University. Read more about Dr. Wayne Gersie.
Kellie Raffaelli is an associate with Oasis Strategic Consulting LLC and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Student Engagement at Michigan Technological University. Read more about Kellie Raffaelli.
Join the Book Club to Vote on the next Book.
Reading Dates: May 26 - July 28. Virtual Participation.
RSVP by May 19, 2023.
Description: The Professional Development Book Club will start reading the next book in May. The book club members will vote on our next book in March. Join the book club to vote on the book that most interests you! To join or to learn more, visit https://www.pbc.guru/vassar.