Leading Engagement: Strategy, Meaning, and Survival in Shifting Institutional Contexts

An Engagement Academy for University Leaders Seminar

 

Schedule:
Monday, October 5, 2026 | 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Reception to follow

Cost: $240

Higher education leaders face mounting pressure from shifting priorities, constrained resources, and declining public trust.  At a moment in which community engagement is most vulnerable, it is essential for making the case for the value of higher education. As leaders in higher education community engagement, how do we navigate challenges and seize this opportunity to reposition engagement as central to institutional relevance and public purpose? 

This Engagement Academy for University Leaders workshop offers a fresh lens for leadership, moving beyond structure-building to focus on how engagement becomes more legitimate, valued, and resilient over time. In this engaging workshop, participants will learn to diagnose their institutional ecological context, surface what truly “counts,” and design adaptive strategies that protect, realign, and embed engagement. 

Participants will leave with practical tools and a draft of strategic actions to take to make engagement indispensable in their institutions.  

Learning Objectives:

• Diagnose the institutional engagement ecology (resources, legitimacy, competition)
• Identify dominant institutional logics shaping engagement
• Understand how social cognition influences meaning-making and legitimacy
• Distinguish between structural success and durable change
• Design multi-horizon leadership strategies (protect, reposition, transform)

Seminar Facilitators/Instructors:

• Rena Cotsones, Chief Engagement Officer and Senior Associate Vice President Emerita, Division of Outreach, Engagement, and Regional Development, Northern Illinois University
• Lorilee R. Sandmann, Professor Emerita, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, University of Georgia
• Byron P. White, Senior Consultant, SOVA

Register Here