Consider this scenario: An institution hires a new leader who has previously worked in higher ed. Assuming the individual has already acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to get the job done, HR guides them through a brief onboarding and launches them into their new role. Six months later, HR checks in with the leader... View Article
Think about a time you were recognized by a colleague for a job well done. Whether it was a grand gesture or a small act of recognition, chances are the personal shoutout put some pep in your step. Positive recognition in any form is a sure mood booster and helps move campus well-being in the... View Article
In the wake of the Great Resignation and talent recruitment challenges, heavy workloads have led to stress and burnout for some employees. One way higher ed HR pros can help identify sources of stress and mitigate burnout is by considering employees’ work environments. Are invisible pressures placed on employees, causing team members to downplay or... View Article
Onboarding programs consisting of a brief history lesson about the institution and instructions for how to get a parking pass aren’t likely to inspire new hires. Here are three elements of onboarding programs that go beyond the basics to create a deeper understanding of campus culture and a sense of belonging. Orient New Hires to... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Maureen De Armond, Executive Director, Human Resources at Drake University. In higher education, we must plan for many worst-case scenarios, including tornados, fires, active-shooter situations, and, as we now know, pandemics. Among this wide range of difficult scenarios that could present themselves on our campuses at any time, suicide... View Article
For the higher ed HR community to thrive there must be a pipeline of early-career professionals waiting in the wings, and one way CUPA-HR equips early-career pros to grow in their role and take steps toward their career goals is through the Wildfire program. The program, sponsored in part by HigherEdJobs, is a 12-month immersive... View Article
The goal of CUPA-HR’s Emerging CUPA-HR Leaders program is to identify potential volunteer leaders who have shown exemplary leadership and initiative within higher ed HR and exhibit the desire to play an active role in advancing the profession. Invited participants have the unique opportunity to engage in problem-solving work groups and develop deep networks with... View Article
Have leaders at your institution embraced flexible work, viewing it is a way to boost employee engagement, productivity, retention and recruitment efforts? Or are they skeptical that flexible work arrangements can work for the long-term? In a recent CUPA-HR webinar, “Leading Into the Future of Flexible Work,” a panel of higher ed HR professionals discussed... View Article
Over the course of the pandemic, higher ed employers may have struggled with how to approach employees whose work performance has been negatively impacted by issues in their personal lives. A recent CUPA-HR webinar, “Trauma-Informed Leadership for Higher Education,” shared ways employers can open the door for disclosure and develop a leadership style that is... View Article
Whether your institution is mandating, incentivizing or encouraging vaccinations for employees, HR has a critical role to play in how the plan is communicated and how barriers to getting vaccinated are mitigated. Consider overall campus safety and messaging when communicating which groups will and will not be required to be vaccinated this fall. For example,... View Article
Note: See the results of CUPA-HR’s April Snap Poll to find out how institutions are structuring their vaccination policies and the types of incentives they’re offering. Mandating or strongly recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for faculty and staff raises a host of legal and practical considerations for higher ed employers. In a recent CUPA-HR webinar presented in... View Article
In recent weeks, we’ve highlighted key takeaways from CUPA-HR’s town hall meeting, Partners in Justice — We Will Not Be Silent! Leaning into uncomfortable conversations to help lead the charge for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and addressing systemic racism and inequality on the individual, team and organizational levels are just two of the “nuggets”... View Article
“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” This sobering statement echoed throughout CUPA-HR’s recent town hall meeting, where higher ed HR panelists discussed how to tackle systemic racism on campus and urged higher ed HR pros to challenge leaders and rethink policies and procedures that perpetuate ongoing inequalities and create barriers to inclusivity. Panelists shared these three... View Article
The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and too many others have prompted a flood of angry voices demanding justice and radical change. Many of us have joined those voices in our communities. As higher ed HR leaders committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), we are also uniquely positioned... View Article
COVID-19 has changed nearly every aspect of our daily lives, from how we work and commute, to how we teach our children, shop and connect with our communities. And while the majority of us are looking forward to a swift return to normalcy, we must acknowledge that the world we return to post-pandemic will not... View Article
Teleworking arrangements necessitated by COVID-19 were an entirely new experience for many higher ed employees. While some may have initially struggled to adjust to a virtual workspace, shelter-in-place directives have given workers time to settle into this new way of work — just in time to shake things up again. Now, institutions are thinking about... View Article
CUPA-HR Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Shomaker is back again with Jay Stephens, vice president for human capital services at Kansas State University. Jay explains how Kansas State is moving from crisis mode to focusing on the future and offers advice on planning for a fall return to campus. Related Resources Preparing for... View Article
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will require the entire workforce to learn new skills, whether it’s to keep up to date with an existing role or pursue a new career as a result of automation. AI will not eliminate jobs; it will create them. And HR will be focused not only on the employee’s ability to do... View Article
Many institutions will return to campus this fall with tighter budgets and a leaner workforce. Preparing the internal talent pipeline and keeping employee skill sets agile through upskilling will be critical to navigating these challenging times. The term “upskill” has been turning up with increasing regularity in conversations about continual learning and keeping staff current... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Linda Fisher Thornton, chief executive officer of Leading in Context LLC and adjunct associate professor at the University of Richmond. She spoke about ethical leadership at CUPA-HR’s virtual conference in April. In today’s world, leaders have more information available to them than ever before, but this torrent of information isn’t helping... View Article
In March, many colleges and universities had policies and procedures in place that provided guidance for moving to online instruction and telework arrangements while ensuring that their communities stayed safe and well. However, now, as we pivot toward fall, we’re in uncharted territory. Enrollment and budget shortfalls are likely, and COVID-19 will continue to be... View Article
Higher ed HR is a people-centric profession with no shortage of programs focused on developing those who are just launching their HR careers. But what about HR professionals who have assumed leadership roles at their institutions and are looking for that next opportunity to grow and engage? The goal of the Emerging CUPA-HR Leaders program... View Article
For the higher ed HR community to thrive there must be a pipeline of early-career professionals waiting in the wings, and one way CUPA-HR equips early-career pros to grow in their role and take steps toward their career goals is through the Wildfire program. The program, sponsored in part by HigherEdJobs, is a 12-month immersive... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Stephanie Hoffmann, assistant director of community standards and responsibility at Rollins College. Ensuring that student affairs professionals feel engaged with their institution, know what resources are available on and off campus and know how they can utilize their strengths can help them perform better in their roles and positively... View Article
To fully understand and embrace the changing role of higher ed HR, we must first acknowledge and connect our work to the most pressing challenges of our institutions. At CUPA-HR’s national board of directors meeting in July, we asked the board to identify the most pressing challenges their colleges and universities face. We asked the... View Article
The clean slate of each new year ushers in a wave of resolutions for those who want to improve an area of their professional or personal lives. One common resolution is to give back, which often takes the form of monetary contributions. However, another way to meet this resolution on a professional level is to... View Article
The campus is alive with all the startup activities of the fall semester. New freshmen and transfer students have begun to find their way around campus, and returning students have unloaded all the stuff they had packed into their parents’ basements during the summer. A celebratory opening convocation preceded the first day of classes to... View Article
This blog post was contributed by Sarah Forbes, senior vice president, PageUp. Higher education institutions are increasingly looking to contingent labor (adjuncts) to complement full-time or tenure-track faculty and administrative staff. The issues surrounding adjunct hires, their pay and the effects of stretched and inexperienced resources on student outcomes are currently a hot topic. Even... View Article
At the recent CUPA-HR Association Leadership Program in Tempe, Arizona, 12 early-career higher ed HR professionals began their year with CUPA-HR’s Wildfire program, and 10 recent graduates of the program shared project outcomes as they wrapped up their year with the program: William Budding of Harvard University and Abby King of the University of Kansas... View Article
Editor’s note: You may have missed this article when we published it in 2017. It’s been updated here with additional resources and related content. What does it take to be successful as a leader in higher education human resources? Mary Lucal and Ron Tredway from the University of Tennessee shared their formula with attendees at... View Article
On June 20, the House Science Committee passed Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-TX) bill, H.R. 36, the Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019, out of committee. This comes after a June 12 hearing which evaluated higher ed’s response to sexual harassment in STEM jobs on and off campuses, offered feedback on the bill,... View Article
When it comes to organizational change, managing the change process itself oftentimes is the hardest part. When the University of California, Irvine (UCI)’s HR team implemented a new HR model, they made sure to have a process in place to help usher in the change. Here are the steps they followed: 1) Create a vision. For... View Article
CUPA-HR recently hosted an online discussion in the members-only CUPA-HR Connect General Discussion Group where higher ed HR practitioners shared their onboarding wisdom, their innovative and successful onboarding practices, and answered each other’s questions. From these online conversations, we have compiled questions and responses spanning all aspects of onboarding — from training for hiring managers... View Article
Editor’s note: You may have missed this article when we published it in 2015. It’s been updated here with additional resources and related content. “Active shooter situation – campus on lockdown.” These are some of the most terrifying words you could ever hear. Unfortunately, too many campuses across the country have faced this reality. According... View Article
Another provost leaves after just three years — which by the way is the median tenure for provosts — and we open yet another search. We appoint an interim (probably the same person who served as interim during the last search), bring in another search firm, dust off the job description we used just a... View Article
Another year down, and a new one underway! As you jump back into your work in this new year, we hope you’ll take some time to read about some of the great work your HR colleagues are doing at colleges and universities around the country. CUPA-HR’s The Higher Education Workplace magazine and Higher Ed Workplace blog highlight new and innovative... View Article
According to data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health, the number of college students seeking mental health counseling services on campus increased by nearly 30 percent from 2009 to 2015. Similarly, a new study by the American Psychiatric Association found that the rate of treatment of college students for mental health issues rose from... View Article
Results of a recent survey of college and university presidents conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE) show that half of all presidents surveyed rely on their chief HR officer to weigh in when setting institutional policy related to campus inclusion and free speech. And 30 percent of presidents said they rely on HR... View Article
What if I told you that 82 = 392? It’s not fuzzy math, I promise! For a recent CUPA-HR virtual workshop, we had 82 registrations, which resulted in 392 individual attendees — which tells us that most attendees participated in a group setting. Learning and working in teams has many advantages, including helping individuals develop... View Article
In 1969, nearly 8 out of 10 faculty members in higher ed were tenured or on the tenure track. Today, more than 70 percent are non-tenure-track. The faculty model is clearly changing, but institutions are struggling to adapt — and it’s having an impact on student success. In her session “HR and Support of the... View Article
Pictured (left to right): Erik Smetana, University of Missouri System Administration; Lauren A. Rubitz, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Darrell Easley, Mississippi State University; Kenneth Nelson, University of Colorado Boulder; Marc Serrett, South Dakota State University; Shanna Hines, Bates College Six CUPA-HR members have been selected to participate in the 2017-18 Emerging CUPA-HR Leaders program.... View Article
Six early-career professionals who are participants in CUPA-HR’s 2017-18 Wildfire program — Shamika Patterson, Tapiwanashe Nhundu, Chris Roediger, Thuy Nguyen, Heather Butterfield and Drexel King — joined nearly 200 individuals July 13-16 in Tempe, Arizona, for the Association Leadership Program (ALP), an annual gathering of CUPA-HR leaders from the chapter, regional and national levels, corporate... View Article
According to data from CUPA-HR’s Faculty and Department Heads in Higher Education Salary Survey, the hottest disciplines for new faculty hires in higher ed are nursing, psychology and English language/literature. Mathematics and music round out the top five. Other Findings: Racial/ethnic minority tenure-track faculty are paid equitably at all ranks, but the representation of... View Article
Performance reviews in the vast majority of organizations follow this trajectory: setting objectives, feedback, manager assessment and rating, consensus meeting, salary/bonus decisions. But does this process really work? Is it efficient? Is it consistent across the organization? Is it viewed as a value-add? Most employees would answer with a resounding “no.” So what’s the solution?... View Article
In 2015, the University of Wisconsin System implemented its own human resources function, separate from the State of Wisconsin. This new autonomous way of doing HR changed a number of dynamics and gave the university the opportunity to rethink a whole range of policies and procedures and how it could best administer them. Out of... View Article
“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” – Jim Barksdale, former Netscape CEO And therein lies the problem of NOT using sound data to drive decision-making in business — everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks his or hers is the right one. While many... View Article
Keeping a finger on the pulse of current and emerging higher education and HR-related trends that may have implications for our students, employees and campus communities is a crucial part of our role as HR professionals. In order to effectively assess, plan for and respond to these trends, we must first be “in the know.”... View Article
While some people are content to stay in the same job year after year, maybe for their entire career, most people want to advance up the career ladder. If that’s a goal for an employee, but there’s no easy way to do that in his or her current organization, that employee will look for those... View Article
Think about the many different work styles, personality types, viewpoints and temperaments in your organization. Now add to that mix competing ideas, workplace stress, ego and pride, and it’s easy to see how coworkers can butt heads. While many workplace disagreements are either intentionally resolved or simply fizzle out on their own over time, others... View Article
People leave managers, not companies. – Marcus Buckingham In my 25 years in the workforce, I’ve been on the receiving end of many different management styles. I’ve reported to the my-way-or-the-highway manager, the micromanager, the laissez-faire manager, the perpetually cranky manager (huh … thinking back, I’ve had some pretty terrible managers!). Granted, most of these... View Article
What’s your social media capacity? Are you a whiz? A novice? A work in progress? A not-for-me? Are you the first to try out a new platform, or does the thought of yet another social media app make you want to bury your head in the sand? No doubt, social media can be overwhelming …... View Article
We’ve all read about it, heard about it and discussed it with our HR colleagues — unhappy employees hurt our organizations. Author and researcher Shawn Achor has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success, and when he was first selected as a keynote speaker for the CUPA-HR Annual... View Article