Wednesday

Welcoming Change, Impermanence and Transformation to Strategic Thinking 
Speaker: Douglas Scherer
Description: What hasn’t changed recently? – not much. We need skills to open to the possibilities in ambiguity, transformation and de-stress. When we fall back on our unexamined successes – our comfort zone – we’re using strategies that were not designed for the change in front of us. This workshop explores some of the mindful, embodied, and traditional learning models I use to help tomorrow’s technology leaders survive and thrive in their dynamic and disruptive realm.

In the Weeds: The High and Lows of Cannabis Workforce Development
Speaker: Rebecca Firesheets
Description: How does a college reach a community that has been traumatized by government institutions? How does it create a workforce development program that leads to employment without labor-market data and clear regulations to guide the process? Join this interactive workshop for details on the highs and lows of creating cannabis-related programming.

Engaging Non-Traditional Students Through Badging Panel Discussion
Speaker(s): Mary Kohan, Jennifer Snyder, Denise Zieske. Christopher Marx, Deb Pernat
Description: Rewarding your campus learners and transforming their skills into verified, shareable digital credentials has addressed the recruitment and engagement of today’s online and non-traditional students. Learn through a panel of experts the “how” and the “why” of badging. 

The NYC Accelerated Workforce Recovery HUB: Shifting from a Transactional Model for Non-Credit Workforce Training to One Grounded in Access, Support, and Success

Speakers: Hanna Weinstock, LaGuardia CC and Yolanda Colon, Hostos Community College

Description: Learn how LaGuardia Community College and Hostos Community College, members of CUNY, in partnership with the New York Community Trust and the CUNY Workforce Development Initiative, launched the NYC Accelerated Workforce Recovery HUB to break down non-credit students' tuition barriers through an innovative, braided funding approach to get communities back to work after the economic dislocations of the pandemic. The model is centered around two pillars - scholarships and comprehensive supportive services - for students taking industry demand-driven tuition-based workforce training across sectors and occupations.  

Thursday

Wellness in the Workforce: Taking Care of Yourself, Your Team and Your Students Speaker(s): Jessica Cinelli, Alissa Levine 
Description: Wellness is a commonly used term by everyone - influencers to pharmaceutical companies. But what does it look like at work and how can you support your team and clients while also taking care of yourself? This session will address self care, ideas for achieving a work-life balance and include some fun activities that you can use in your own workplace
The Quest to Build Enrollment: Social Media Engagement, Process, and Progress
Speaker(s): Andrea Huda, Kim Kendall
Description: Once upon a time, students found programs through in-person information sessions. Then the evil pandemic appeared, and the students went missing. Join Lehman College as we embark on a quest to find the missing students using social media. We will unveil the power of audience segmentation, social media engagement, and processes and give you the tools needed to become the hero of your enrollment story

It Takes a Village: How Higher Ed, Employers, and Community Agencies Can Partner to Create Pathways to Economic Mobility Speaker: Dennis D'Lorenzo
Description: Are you looking for ways to boost your recruitment? Are you reaching your target populations? How do employers inform your curriculum? Are you assessing students’ strengths while determining gaps? Join us to learn how higher ed, employers, and community partners can work together to make an impact in workforce development

So, How Much Will it Cost? Pricing Strategies in Continuing Education
Speaker: Tiziana Rota
Description: "So, how much will it cost?" How to set course pricing can be challenging when you need to consider customer perception of course value, market conditions, competition, raising costs, and generating enough revenue to cover your overhead. The workshop will address elements of pricing strategies, and participants will work as a group on a template to reach a tentative pricing structure for a new course. 

Achieving Greatness Through Stillness
Speaker(s): Khadijah Frederick, Ornela Lekaj
Description: The past few years unveiled some crucial lessons. Many of us held on to hope during what seemed to be the most tumultuous time in history. Overdrive is an understatement for the information overload, work demands, breaks in boundaries, and uncertainty. There were cycles of ebbs and flow, times of growth, times of stagnation, times of contentment, times of sadness, times of closeness, and times of distance, abundance, and loss. The most important thing we could do was dig deep within to muster our willpower. In that vein, being still allowed us to gain a fresh perspective with recharge.
Upskilling: Meeting Learners Where They Are
Speaker(s): Helen Foster, Melissa Rodriguez
Description: Learn how CUNY addressed the economic downturn experienced in NYC by offering courses through its Adult and Continuing Education Departments to train New Yorkers who were suddenly unemployed or displaced in high growth in demand areas to prepare learners for the workforce

Thursday Continued

              

A Journey Through Marketing Apprenticeship
Speaker: Mary Kohan, Denise Zieske
Description: Apprenticeship is complex and it has taken many methods to tell the story accurately and persuasively. Learn varied marketing strategies that have worked to sell apprenticeship as well as lessons learned along the way. 

Overcoming NYS Challenges to Cannabis Workforce Development Training
Speaker: Floyd Jarvis
Description: An overview of the challenges to cannabis training in New York State with a comprehensive plan of action to overcome program obstacles

Navigating Megatrends: Shaping the Future of Society
Speaker: Jasmine Cardona
Description: Uncover the impact of megatrends in this session. Dive into urban dynamics, rural strategies, and higher education shifts. Discover the digital, sustainable, and workforce changes shaping our future. Join us for a journey into the forces reshaping societies."

Why are Our Program Outcomes so Hard to Achieve? Find Out How to Attract and Support Students for Workforce Programs
Speaker: Colleen Pike Blair, Dorothy Dobson, Phillippe-Olivier Deslouches
Description: Achieve successful results in recruiting and supporting workforce program students. In this hands-on workshop you will practice techniques for applying qualitative feedback to inform data-driven decision making on student intake and retention. 

NYSERDA Clean Energy WFD: Working Effectively with Employer Partners
Speaker(s): Beth Offenbacker, Christina Pastrana, Dwane Norris
Description: Employers are essential partners in NYSERDA-funded Career Pathways projects that prepare new entrants for roles in the clean energy industry. Learn key insights and best practices for productive employer relationships that support strategic on-ramps to adult employment. Explore current NYSERDA funding for new employer-facing workforce development/training initiatives in clean energy.

Data, Data Everywhere
Speaker: Denise Zieske, Lauren Andersen
Description: Join a roundtable discussion around non-credit student data - the good, the bad and the ugly. What can campuses track now, how are they collecting registrations and what data is available? How can this data tell a better story of non-credit impact and what is needed to do it? Let’s discuss how we can get there together

Friday

The Business Side of Micro-credentials and Stackable Pathways
Speaker: Jim Fong
Description: Based on UPCEA research, different segments of adult learners value a stackable portfolio and micro-credentials. The same also holds true for employers and they too have different segments that differ. UPCEA has partnered with a number of corporate partners on employer research that highlights differences in value, need and demographics.

Speaking the Same Language: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Higher Education, Business and Workforce Development 
Speaker: Amanda Karch, Chris Nardone
Description: An interactive presentation designed to bridge the communication gap between academia, business, and workforce development. Focusing on misinterpretation of industry language that fosters confusion, attendees will brainstorm ways to alleviate miscommunication, learn how the issue is addressed in our rural counties, and take away techniques with demonstrated success.