Pre-Conferences

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Engagement Academy for University Leaders

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

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, Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer, 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

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Outreach and Engagement Practitioners Network (OEPN) Pre-Conference

Back to Basics: Discovering Our Why — cultivating values, strengthening civic engagement, and inspiring action as boundary spanners

Schedule:

Monday, October 5, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Networking evening event  
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 | 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.  |  Pre-conference workshop

Cost: $125 - Participation fee includes programming materials and meals, including networking event

Join us for the 2026 Outreach and Engagement Professionals Network (OEPN) Pre-Conference, hosted by the Engaged Scholarship Consortium (ESC), and explore Together We Lead: Relational Practice, Community Partnership, and Shared Power. 

In a time marked by complexity, evolving community needs, and shifting expectations of higher education, the role of boundary spanners - those who build and sustain relationships across institutions and communities - remains essential. As engagement professionals, scholars, and practitioners, we are called not only to design programs and partnerships but to lead in ways that are relational, collaborative, and rooted in shared power. 

This year's pre-conference invites participants to reimagine leadership as a collective practice rather than an individual role. Grounded in traditions of community organizing and informed by the expertise of local partners, this experience centers the relational work that sustains meaningful, community-engaged scholarship. Together, we will explore how trust, reciprocity, and accountability shape transformative partnerships across grassroots efforts, cross-sector collaborations, and institutional contexts.

Through dialogue, reflection, and place-based engagement, participants will examine how leadership is enacted in partnership with communities and how shared power can lead to more equitable and impactful outcomes. Attendees will leave with practical tools, shared language, and strengthened networks to support their work. 

Whether you are new to the field or a seasoned practitioner, this pre-conference offers an opportunity to reflect, connect, and lead-together. 

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Learn more and register at the 2026 OEPN pre-conference webpage.

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