Session 1

1A: Value-Based Health & Pharmacy Plan Designs: A Best Practices Breakthrough
Connecticut Room

In this session, you will receive an intensive introduction to value-based design strategies, one of the most promising new developments to lower costs while ensuring high quality, high value health care for faculty and staff. The session will include presentations, discussions and data modeling in "real time" reports from a major university currently implementing VBD in their health and welfare benefits.

Pam Doseck, Director of Benefits Services, Ohio State University; David Stacey, Principal/Midwest Market Leader, and Kristi Passarelli, Pharm.D., Senior Consultant/Pharmacist, both with Hewitt Associates

1B: Hourly Employee Compensation Program: How to Develop Competitive Pay Practices
Rhode Island Room

This session will discuss one approach to addressing the challenge of lagging base salaries. Learn how to develop a compensation program using market data and how to modify current pay practices to improve external competitiveness and address internal equity concerns.

Susan Clarke, Executive Director of Human Resources, and Sharon Dougherty, Director of Compensation, both from Bucks County Community College

1C: Leadership and HR: Partners in Institutional Change
Oxford Room

The HR department at Seton Hall University recently played an integral role in the transformation of university operations, most notably faculty market and equity studies and staff salary program redevelopment. Seton Hall wanted to use this work to change the thinking about their rewards, to ensure a higher level of involvement and understanding and to address issues related to equity and entitlement. This session will look at the process, challenges, supports and successes involved with this initiative.

Susan Basso, Assistant Vice President of Human Resources, Seton Hall University, and Karen Hutcheson, Senior Vice President, Sibson Consulting, a Division of Segal

1D: From Offer to Permanent Residence: A Step-By-Step Approach to Hiring Foreign Nationals
Somerset Room

As regulations escalate, visas are scrutinized and I-9's are increasingly more critical, it is imperative that institutions understand the process to legally hire a foreign national. Learn about recent developments in immigration law, uses and restrictions for visas, best practices for hiring foreign nationals and tips for HR professionals to ensure compliance with federal regulations.

Peter Landis, Attorney at Law, Landis & Arn, P.A. and Meredith Haralson, Manager of Employment & Staffing, Bowdoin College

1E: Developing Yourself and Your Staff Through the Knowledge Center
Lincoln Room

Learn how the exciting new features in the HR e-Learning section of the Knowledge Center can further your career and the professional development of your HR staff. We’ll be highlighting the 800 SkillSoft Business Library courses in more than 20 important subject areas to expand HR skills, competencies and effectiveness and professional certifications including the PHR and SPHR. More than 4,000 digital books are searchable and can be bookmarked for easy reference.

Phyllis Lewis, PhD, JD, Chief Learning and Professional Development Officer, CUPA-HR

1F: When Employees Push the Boundaries of HR Policy
York Room

Pushing the envelope has become commonplace when it comes to HR policy. Learn how to deal with those employees who knowingly or unknowingly exploit or abuse HR policy by reacting early and prudently to clarify or create guidelines for acceptable behavior.

Richard Coladarci, Director of Human Resources, St. Francis College, and Vennette Jones, Associate Director of Human Resources, School of Visual Arts

1G: MASTER'S SERIES — Defining the Role of the Campus Diversity Officer
Massachusetts Room

The diversity officer is fast becoming a fixture on campuses nationwide. People in these positions have met with varying degrees of success. This is in large part due to the lack of a consistent model for success. Based on action-based research conducted by Christopher Metzler, this session will present an overview of the anchors and competencies needed to be a successful campus diversity officer. Participants will be given an opportunity to preview the model and ask questions.

Christopher Metzler, Director of EEO Studies and Diversity, Cornell University ILR School

Session 2

2A: HR Panel on Employee Retirement Strategies
Connecticut Room

What do your institutional demographics look like? Do you see a challenge on the horizon? Come work with a panel of HR colleagues to discuss the challenges of addressing retirement for key positions on your campus. This interactive session will include colleagues from four institutions and Emeriti Retirement Solutions.

Mark Coldren, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, Ithaca College; Nancy Allen, Manager of Employee Benefits, Connecticut College; Larry Hunt, Executive Director of Human Resources, Smith College; and Barbara Perry, Vice President of Marketing and Membership, Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions

2B: Human Resources and Affirmative Action: Together We Stand, Divided We Fall
Rhode Island Room

Human resource and affirmative action responsibilities are similar within higher education institutions. No matter if they are housed in separate departments or within one combined department, cooperation and coordination are necessary for success of the functions. Learn how human resource and affirmative action units can function together to eliminate duplication of efforts, improve understanding of responsibilities and form successful alliances to achieve strategic institutional goals.

Catherine Bolder, Associate Vice President for Workplace Diversity, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Simon Brown, Director of Diversity and Equity, Community College of Philadelphia; and Theodore Johnson, Vice President for Human Resources, New Jersey Institute of Technology

2C: Are You What You Pay?: Effective Compensation Practices
Oxford Room

How you pay employees says a lot about what you value. This session focuses on the role of compensation within an institution. Hear from a director of human resources who now administers the staff compensation program she designed as a consultant. Also learn about the recent regulatory and reporting changes to executive compensation and how human resources can be an integral part of a good governance process.

Jo Ellen Pinkham, Director of Human Resources, Nazareth College, and Warren Kerper, Managing Principal, Sullivan, Cotter and Associates Inc.

2D: The Power of an HR Portal in Higher Education
Somerset Room

Collaboration is the key to success in higher education, but it's not always easy to work together efficiently. In this session, you will find out how a portal can enhance your HR communications. See how employees can use discussion boards, blogs and shared document access to improve communication at your institution. Also learn how to target communications to inform specific employee groups of items important to them.

Tracy Williams, HR Product Manager, Datatel

2E: Play For Performance
Lincoln Room

Incorporating game-based learning into workplace training brings significant benefits: learner engagement resulting in increased training attendance, enhanced learning, better transfer of learning to the workplace and cost effectiveness. Learning games, like all learning strategies, must be part of solid instructional design and when used appropriately, can be an integral part of strategies to move from traditional lecture-based training into the learner-centered training required in the modern day workplace.

Frank Medlar, Director of Training and Development, Berklee College of Music, and Victor Kluck, Education Vice President, LearningWare

2F: TECH SHOWCASE — Lead the Way to Better Search Decisions
York Room

All applicant tracking systems help you make decisions faster. Consensus® search support system helps you make decisions better! This session will demonstrate key features of this newly available search support system. Consensus® won the CUPA-HR 2004 SunGard Technology Award for innovation in higher ed HR technology.

Sam Connally, Founder and CEO, HigherEdDecisions LLC

2G: MASTER'S SERIES — Campus Response to Anti-Bias Incidents: and Strategies for Prevention!
Massachusetts Room

This session will include an interactive discussion on the extent of bias and harassment, as well as the emotional and physical impact of bias. Wessler will examine and discuss key elements of successful responses to serious bias incidents and hate crimes on campuses and also talk about successful prevention methods. Attendees will then work in small groups on scenarios which pose difficult issues involving the response and prevention of bias, harassment and hate crimes on campus.

Steve Wessler, Executive Director, The Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence

Session 3

3A: Improving Investment Options in Your Retirement Plans: The State of Connecticut Case Study
Connecticut Room

How can your institution leverage your purchasing power to benefit your participants? What strategies did Connecticut employ to increase diversification of plan investment options and what are the pros and cons of dealing with a single-fund family as contrasted to the advantage of using the third-party administration model? These questions will be addressed and helpful suggestions provided to ease the transition and communicate that change to plan participants.

Thomas C. Woodruff, Ph.D., Director of Retirement & Benefit Services, State of Connecticut; David P. Trainor, J.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources & Labor Relations, Connecticut State University System; Margaret E. Haering, J.D., AIFA, Assistant Director of Retirement & Benefit Services, State of Connecticut

3B: Perception, Image and Brand Building: Aligning HR Strategies With Institutional Goals
Rhode Island Room

In the current highly competitive environment, colleges and universities need to raise the profile of their institutions to attract top talent, increase grant funding and improve their rankings. Learn from case studies how four very different institutions set forth successful branding programs to increase awareness of their institutions.

Brian Kenny, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Northeastern University, and Eric Zack, Director of National Accounts, The Chronicle of Higher Education

3C: Career Planning and Enhancement
Oxford Room

Beginning in November of 2005, Penn State University's Office of Human Resources entered into a partnership with the Career Services area to provide interest inventory testing, counseling and career planning for employees of the university. Learn more about this partnership that gets employees thinking more strategically about individual career goals and assists those in need of finding more successful work environments within the university.

Cindy Campbell, Employment and Compensation Specialist; Susan Morse, Manager of Employment and Compensation; Dulin Clark, Staff Psychologist, all with Penn State University

3D: Carve-Out Case Study: Greater Involvement in Drug Benefit Management
Somerset Room

In this session, we will compare different plan models that sponsors can use for prescription drug management and will review key strategies used to control cost and utilization. We'll also discuss the top 12 innovative practices employers can propose with their PBM vendor.

Keith Bruhnsen, Assistant Director of Benefits and Manager of the Prescription Drug Plan, University of Michigan

3E: Workers' Compensation: A Model of Proactive Management and Collaboration
Lincoln Room

Success in the workers' compensation arena relies on collaborative relationships. Learn how to create a safer work environment by using research data; lower workers' compensation costs for your college; create a collaborative work environment that proactively solves problems to prevent injuries; and learn successful methods for handling claims in difficult situations.

Elizabeth Connellan-Smith, Attorney, VerrillDana; Dr. Al Mesrobian, Physician, Occupational Health Associates; John Dodge, Director of Safety Operations for Maine, MEMIC; Mark Fisher, Manager of Environmental Health and Safety and Mary Demers, Assistant Director of Human Resources, both from Bowdoin College

3F: TECH SHOWCASE — Automating Employment and Position Management Processes
York Room

Join us for an overview of the PeopleAdmin Human Resource Modules! PeopleAdmin is the leading provider of Human Resource solutions specifically designed for higher education institutions. More than 400 campuses use PeopleAdmin to reduce the staff time and cost associated with their Applicant Tracking, Position Description and Performance Management processes. Gain an understanding of system functionality, implementation and pricing. We'll visit Bowdoin College's live Web site and hear about their first hand experiences.

Kevin Wilson, Director of Eastern Region Sales, PeopleAdmin; Meredith Haralson, Manager of Employment and Staffing and Tama Spoerri, Director of Human Resources, both from Bowdoin College

3G: Interest-Based Bargaining for HR Professionals
Massachusetts Room

Gain practical knowledge and experience with the innovative interest-based approach to collective bargaining. In this session, we will discuss a recent successful example and a role playing exercise where participants will negotiate a specific benefit issue on behalf of either management or the union. We'll provide the opportunity to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the interest-based approach.

William Murphy, Director, Office of Labor Relations, and Polly Scannell, Deputy Director, Office of Labor Relations, both with Harvard University

Session 4

4A: A Data Breach: Understanding the Internal Threat
Connecticut Room

All institutions retain the sensitive personal information of current and former employees, students, patients and investors in multiple locations and formats. Identity thieves target this information and legislation requires action when it's exposed. This session will concentrate on debunking some common identity theft myths and help institutions understand their exposure to this issue and how to minimize it.

Alex Ricardo, Fraud Solution, and Julie Maddux, Background Screening, both with Kroll

4B: It's All Academic — Compensation Classified at Georgetown
Rhode Island Room

In this session, we'll examine how Georgetown University addressed critical compensation and classification issues in a manner that remained aligned with its Jesuit principles and values. Explore how Georgetown formed a classification committee dedicated to thoughtfully evaluating university staff positions and brought clarity and consistency to the evaluation process. Learn how to evaluate positions based on key skills, knowledge and experiences while still following federal FLSA regulations.

Kimberley Bonsey, Senior Compensation Analyst, and Derrek Brown, Director of Faculty Records and Appointments, both with Georgetown University

4C: The Professional Enrichment Program: A Unique Approach to Career Planning
Oxford Room

The Professional Enrichment Program, a unique cohort model, provides opportunities for non-managerial staff to invest in their career planning through skills development and professional networking and to enhance the university's capacity to fill managerial openings internally. Learn from PEP alumni the specific details needed to initiate or enhance an existing program at your institution.

Pamela Hogan, Vice President for Human Resources & Development, and Sara Wilson, Director of Training & Organizational Development, both with Southern New Hampshire University

4D: What … ME Change? Guiding the Way Through Life's Transitions
Somerset Room

Join us for an experiential session of organizational change activities. Demonstration and discussion will center on the impact of utilizing tools and activities relating to organizational change to enhance the ability of individuals and teams to survive and thrive in times of transition.

Barbara Saat, Human Resource Manager, River Campus Institution, and Marcy Miceli, Organization Development Specialist, Office of Human Resources, both of the University of Rochester.

4E: The Four Pillars of HR Leadership
Lincoln Room

Learn why HR strategies do not cause HR professionals to be viewed as "added value." Learn why The Four Pillars of HR Leadership are necessary to master in order to gain buy-in for your HR strategies. Learn how to assess and develop pillars specific to your organization.

Benedict Lastimado, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources & Labor Relations, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District

4F: TECH SHOWCASE — An Integrated Employee Assistance Program and Wellness Program
York Room

Increasingly human resource professionals realize that the design of their benefit plan can have significant impact on health, absence and productivity. The Wellness Corporation provides Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services, and TrestleTree provides Wellness (Health Risk Assessments, wellness coaching) services. These two organizations have developed a strategic partnership and an integrated product. Why? Learn how many users of EAP services also have health risks that easily qualify for Wellness Program intervention and, of course, vice versa.

Attendees will be entered to win a free Health Risk Assessment (HRA) program and aggregate report* for all employees in your institution. (*The aggregate report is provided if 50% or more of employees complete an on-line HRA.)

Ted Borgstadt, Co-founder & Chairman, TrestleTree, and Hank Christiansen, Vice President, The Wellness Corporation

4G: MASTER'S SERIES — Acting Strategically — Leveraging Your Competitive Edge
Massachusetts Room

Michelle Stronz has more than 20 years of leadership experience as a CEO, management consultant and advisor to leaders in industry, government and education, including United Technologies Corp., Aetna, Nationwide Insurance, Northeast Utilities, the U.S. Customs Service and the State of Connecticut. Stronz also works with organizations of all sizes to build internal "enterprise communities" that promote innovation and competitive advantage.

Michelle Stronz, Visiting Instructor in the Entrepreneurial Studies Program, Quinnipiac University

Session 5

5A: Health Promotion in the 21st Century: The Role of Neuroplasticity
Connecticut Room

The future of health promotion will evolve from research in neuroplasticity, which has discovered that the brain is after all malleable and can change by having new experiences and as a result may alter the treatment of mental illness. Explore the University System of New Hampshire's approach to promoting wellness in the workplace. Consider the advantages of integrating a multifaceted approach to improving individual and organizational health by instituting employee health promotion.

Joan Tambling, Director of Human Resources, and Nancy Puglisi, Director of Organizational Wellness, both with University System of New Hampshire

5B: Dialogue Toward Increased Understanding
Rhode Island Room

Hear how Syracuse University utilizes interracial discussions that focus on institutional or systemic racism as part of its Respectful Workplace Program. Experience through a facilitated group discussion of selected questions what it is like to be in a dialogue circle and decide whether that might be useful for your institution.

Curlene Autrey, Director of Diversity & Resolution Processes; Camille Donabella, Director of the Upstate New York Higher Ed Recruitment Consortium; and Osupa K. T-Davis, Recruitment & Diversity Administrator, all with Syracuse University

5C: It's About Time! A Seat at the Table
Oxford Room

Evaluate the changes made and successes achieved by HR when it becomes an integral part of the institution. Discuss the reasons why HR lost its credibility and the steps taken to restore the division to its rightful place in the organization.

Iliana Ricelli, Director of Staffing & Compensation; Maria Alam, Associate Vice President for Human Resources; Jose Capote, Senior HR Associate, all with George Washington University

5D: Final 403(b) Regulations: A Look at the Changes
Somerset Room

Our legal experts will provide you with an overview of the final 403(b) regulations with a focus on how these regulations will impact you and your plans. You'll learn what you'll need to do now to be prepared for the 1/1/09 start date. Our presentation will address different plan sponsors by differentiating among governmental, church, ERISA and non-ERISA 403(b) plans.

Tony Richard, Director of Employee Benefits, University of Maine System, and Elaine Immerman, Associate General Counsel, TIAA-CREF

5E: The Conflict Competent Leader
Lincoln Room

Successful leaders have the skills for managing conflict to produce creativity and positive change. Examine four conflict competencies, learn about your own and others' conflict styles, recognize interests versus positions in conflict situations and practice skills for promoting constructive responses to conflict in your organization.

Phyllis Lewis, Chief Learning and Professional Development Officer, CUPA-HR

5F: TECH SHOWCASE — Interview Exchange Applicant Tracking/Hiring Management Modules
York Room

Discover the Interview Exchange Applicant Tracking System — a suite of affordable, easy-to-use solutions for requisition tracking approvals, sourcing, screening and selecting qualified job applicants tailored to meet your institution's needs. Interview Exchange Web-based solutions deliver the latest in recruiting technology in a simple, browser-based product your candidates, managers and search committees can start to use in minutes. Study an overview of all Interview Exchange modules with meaningful metric reports and hear from other Interview Exchange users.

Naray Viswanathan, President, Interview Exchange

5G: Communicating About Compensation
Massachusetts Room

Communicating about compensation can be tricky. Harvard will share its best practices and methods recently used for HR and managers. Participants will have the chance to share their challenges and solutions during roundtable discussion.

Susan G. Riegler, Senior Compensation Officer, Harvard University

Session 6

6A: Regulatory Update
Connecticut Room

Learn about the latest federal regulatory and legislative initiatives from a labor and employment attorney with close to a decade of experience lobbying on workforce issues. He will provide insights on everything from Family and Medical Leave Act expansions to proposed changes to antidiscrimination and labor laws.

Josh Ulman, Chief Government Relations Officer, CUPA-HR

6B: Keeping Your Employees Healthy and at Work
Rhode Island Room

Recruiting and retaining quality employees is one of the most important roles played by college and university human resources, and it is becoming more difficult each year. With an aging workforce and unhealthy lifestyles and health care costs on the rise, it's imperative that HR professionals adopt new ways to stay ahead. Learn current trends impacting the workforce and suggestions on how to improve employee productivity, lower health care costs and boost recruitment and retention efforts.

Tom Hopkins and Kawika Thompson, both with the University of Maine System, and Stan Kulesa, Assistant Vice President, The Standard

6C: Problem Solving for HR Professionals
Oxford Room

In this session, you will gain practical knowledge on how to accurately identify problems at your institution, analyze information and available options and implement reasonable solutions. Attendees will learn techniques to objectively identify and assess key elements or root causes of commonly encountered problems at institutions.

Jesse Simone, Director of Human Resources, Information Services and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

6D: Aligning HR Programs to the Institution's Strategic Plan
Somerset Room

This interactive session will discuss the evolving role of HR in higher education from an operational and administrative role to one of a strategic partner for the various divisions/units within the institution. This interactive session will discuss the HR role at one institution but will allow for valuable "strategic" dialogue among session participants.

Arlene Bones, Director of Human Resources, and Steve Riccio, Staff Development Coordinator, both with Dickinson College

6E: Surviving an IRS 403(b) Audit
Lincoln Room

Your consultants are right: government scrutiny of 403(b) retirement plans is increasing. In early December, the IRS selected Vassar College's 403(b) plans for a comprehensive audit. Vassar's benefits manager shares highlights of this character-building experience.

Leslie Power, Manager of Benefits Programs, Vassar College

6F: Branding Your Message From the Inside Out
York Room

Strategically aligning your operations to one vision ensures the entire organization is gearing its decision-making processes to meet the objective of the vision. Human Resources can provide the vehicles for developing and aligning the vision, while Marketing can disseminate the message through internal communications. In this session, find out how University of Pennsylvania created a robust marketing campaign that has generated buy-in internally and created enthusiastic employees eager to share the vision with the external marketplace.

Thomas Chester, Director of Human Resources, and Ilene Wilder, Director of Marketing, both with the University of Pennsylvania

6G: MASTER'S SERIES — Are You Prepared for the Future? Leadership, Succession Planning and Building Bench Strength
Massachusetts Room

A key HR competency is to help identify, develop, recruit and retain leaders for an institution. Key organizational practices such as succession planning and bench strength development should be in place to insure a successful future. Join us and interact with a panel of seasoned folks in a discussion that includes the areas of professional development, the succession planning process and determining leadership readiness. The panel will be facilitated by Mark Coldren, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, Ithaca College.

Panel Members: Peter Barnes, Vice President of Human Resources, Emory University; Margaret Ann Gray, Director of Organization and Employee Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Barbara Butterfield, Senior Consultant, Sibson Consulting, a Division of Segal

Session 7

7A: Temple's System of Job Classification: A Retrospective
Connecticut Room

In this session, you'll see one university's customized approach to classification and the relationship of a new system to changing culture and delivery of HR services from process to more strategic alignment.

Hunt Bartine, Director of HR Strategy, Planning & Compensation, Temple University

7B: Challenges and Practical Solutions to Diversifying a University Faculty and Staff
Rhode Island Room

Examine the importance of diversifying an institution's faculty and staff and learn about the challenges in this important initiative. We'll also discuss a university's actual implementation of effective strategies and determine its relevance to your own campus. Resources and valuable handout materials focusing on actual initiatives and search materials will be provided to participants.

Dr. Robert Wislock, Deputy to the President for Equity; Dr. James Mackin, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dr. Irvin Wright, Assistant to Provost for Diversity Initiatives, all with Bloomsburg University

7C: The USM/UMS Supervisor Development Institute: Partnering for Growth
Oxford Room

During this session, participants will learn about the Supervisor Development Institute in place at the University of Maine System. Participants will come away with knowledge on how to build a comprehensive supervisor development program — with very little financial cost. This interactive session includes a presentation by the architect of the program and discussion with participants of the Institute.

Michelle Drucker, Director of Leadership and Organization Development, University of Southern Maine, and Sally Dobres, Associate Director of HR and Director of Equity and Diversity, University of Maine System

7D: The HR Leader and the Legislature
Somerset Room

A university's relationship with the state legislature is key to the institution's success. A human resource leader may be called upon to work with the legislature by analyzing bills, drafting or presenting testimony, developing ideas to amend a bill, contributing strategic ideas or serving as a resource at hearings. This session will focus on participants' experiences and guidelines for HR leaders.

Tracy Bigney, Chief Human Resource and Organization Development Officer; Frank Gerry, Director of Labor Relations; John Lisnik, Assistant to the Chancellor for Governmental Relations, all with the University of Maine System

7E: Developing an HR Business Plan
Lincoln Room

Over the course of the past five years, New York Institute of Technology's Office of Human Resources has transformed itself from one that was administratively focused, reactive, and undervalued to one that is strategically aligned with the university. In this session, you will come away with practical advice on how to re-position the HR function by developing a client-based HR business plan for your institution. The presentation will provide a primer on developing an HR business strategy and will offer tips on how to overcome the potential challenges to such an initiative.

Richard Savior, Director of Human Resources, New York Institute of Technology

7F: Succession Planning: You Owe It to the Future of the Institution
York Room

There is nothing more critical to the smooth functioning of your campus than a succession plan for each of your senior officers, yet it is nearly non-existent in the academic world. This session will explore ways that HR officers can partner with top executives and take a leadership role in facilitating succession planning at their institutions.

Bill Sherwood, retired Senior Director of Talent Management, New York University

7G: Diversity as a Sustainability Model
Massachusetts Room

Diversity is among the top issues facing academic institutions in attracting and retaining minority students, faculty and administrators. Key elements of an effective diversity program that relates diversity initiatives to specific business continuity and sustainability objectives will be discussed.

Sabrina Brown, Director of Human Resources, City University of New York, City College

Master's Series

The Master's Series program features three renowned experts who have earned high regard for their accomplishments in their areas of expertise, in addition to a panel presentation by senior HR practitioners. These experts will share practical and strategic approaches to some of the most complex challenges we face as human resource leaders in higher education. The sessions will also offer participants the opportunity to engage in interactive dialogue with the presenters and their peers as they examine strategies for achieving success.

The Master's Series is designed for senior HR professionals; however, all conference participants are welcome to attend these sessions.

Sponsored by: Hewitt Associates

The diversity officer is fast becoming a fixture on campuses nationwide. People in these positions have met with varying degrees of success. This is in large part due to the lack of a consistent model for success. Based on action-based research conducted by Christopher Metzler, this session will present an overview of the anchors and competencies needed to be a successful campus diversity officer.

Metzler believes that issues of diversity, inclusion, affirmative action and equal employment opportunity need to be addressed proactively as opposed to reactively. All too often, organizations address these issues only when regulators or courts tell them they have to. Metzler's decision to join the Cornell ILR Extension faculty full time was a significant turning point in his career. He has established the country's first diversity certification program for those who are serious about advancing the profession. He works with colleagues to improve the diversity profession and to build on the rich work done by the pioneers in the field.

In this session, Steve Wessler will combine lecture, question-and-answer and small groups problem solving to examine the issue of hate violence on campuses. He will examine and discuss key elements of successful responses to serious bias incidents and hate crimes on campuses and also talk about successful prevention methods

Wessler started the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence (CPHV) in 1999 after 23 years as a practicing lawyer, most of which was for the Maine Attorney General's office. While there, he was given the duty of creating a Civil Rights Unit that was responsible for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. The CPHV develops and implements programs that seek to prevent and respond to bias, harassment and hate crimes at colleges and universities, k-12 schools and other institutions.

In this highly interactive session, participants will explore the strategy cycle, the leadership competencies required to think and act strategically, and the role of HR in ensuring effective strategies. Participants will leave the session with a better understanding of the strategy cycle in higher education organizations, tools for thinking and acting strategically, and the role HR might play in building a strategy focused organization.

Michelle Stronz received a doctorate in organizations and leadership from Columbia University in May 2005. She earned a master's in international development from the University of Washington and a bachelor's in journalism from the Scripps Howard School at Ohio University. She brings more than 20 years of leadership experience as a CEO, management consultant and advisor to leaders in industry, government and education, including United Technologies Corp., Aetna, Nationwide Insurance, Northeast Utilities, the U.S. Customs Service and the State of Connecticut.

A key HR competency is to help identify, develop, recruit and retain leaders for an institution. Key organizational practices such as succession planning and bench strength development should be in place to insure a successful future. Join us and interact with a panel of seasoned folks in a discussion that includes the areas of professional development, the succession planning process and determining leadership readiness. The panel will be facilitated by Mark Coldren, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, Ithaca College.

Panel Members: Peter Barnes, Vice President of Human Resources, Emory University; Margaret Ann Gray, Director of Organization and Employee Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Barbara Butterfield, Senior Consultant, Sibson Consulting, a Division of Segal

Tech Showcases

The CUPA-HR Eastern Region board is pleased again this year to be hosting several vendor Technology Showcases among our concurrent session offerings:

All applicant tracking systems help you make decisions faster. Consensus® search support system helps you make decisions better! This session will demonstrate key features of this newly available search support system. Consensus® won the CUPA-HR 2004 SunGard Technology Award for innovation in higher ed HR technology.

Join us for an overview of the PeopleAdmin Human Resource Modules! PeopleAdmin is the leading provider of Human Resource solutions specifically designed for higher education institutions. More than 400 campuses use PeopleAdmin to reduce the staff time and cost associated with their Applicant Tracking, Position Description and Performance Management processes. Gain an understanding of system functionality, implementation and pricing. We'll visit Bowdoin College's live Web site and hear about their first hand experiences.

Increasingly human resource professionals realize that the design of their benefit plan can have significant impact on health, absence and productivity. The Wellness Corporation provides Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services, and TrestleTree provides Wellness (Health Risk Assessments, wellness coaching) services. These two organizations have developed a strategic partnership and an integrated product. Why? Learn how many users of EAP services also have health risks that easily qualify for Wellness Program intervention and, of course, vice versa.

Attendees will be entered to win a free Health Risk Assessment (HRA) program and aggregate report* for all employees in your institution. (*The aggregate report is provided if 50% or more of employees complete an on-line HRA.)

Discover the Interview Exchange Applicant Tracking System — a suite of affordable, easy-to-use solutions for requisition tracking approvals, sourcing, screening and selecting qualified job applicants tailored to meet your institution's needs. Interview Exchange Web-based solutions deliver the latest in recruiting technology in a simple, browser-based product your candidates, managers and search committees can start to use in minutes. Study an overview of all Interview Exchange modules with meaningful metric reports and hear from other Interview Exchange users.