Resilience Series:
Empowering Change Leaders
Highlights
*Series of 5 one-hour, interactive learning events
*Live monthly programs, October 2021 through March 2022
*Private online group access
*Expand your network of SUNY colleagues
*Earn a ‘Resilient Change Leader’ certificate of completion & digital badge

Audience: Faculty and administrative professionals in all departments and at all levels.
As we emerge from multiple pandemics, academic leaders are giving serious consideration to the challenges we must face in order to become resilient change leaders leading the way to higher education’s future. Through a series of live learning events hosted by the SUNY SAIL Institute, we will empower leaders to envision, align and execute necessary change efforts. We invite campus administrators, faculty leaders and professional staff to be a part of this new resilience series to ensure we have the awareness, skills and mindsets to lead successful change initiatives at our institutions to meet students’ needs. Through a series of five one-hour live, interactive learning events, we plan to explore and set in motion action-oriented plans to:
*Setting the Stage:
Leading through Challenges in Higher Education
*A Conversation with the Chancellor:
Leading SUNY Forward
*Building Academic Leadership Capacity:
How do we meet the demands of the various pandemics?
*Engaging Students Successfully, &
*Defining Academia’s Future through Inclusive Leadership
We invite faculty and staff to join us in the process of collaboratively learning and developing solid leadership skills to propel us all forward.
Program Schedule
All programs took place live, online, from 11:00 a.m. though 12:00 p.m.

Setting the Stage: Leading Through Challenges in Higher Education
October 25, 2021
This opening interactive learning program will put into focus the priorities and challenges that leaders need to address in higher education. In order to address these issues, leaders will be empowered to adopt a growth mindset and keep inclusivity at the forefront of all we do.
Learners will:
- Understand and map out the priorities and challenges that need to be addressed in the current higher education landscape as we emerge from multiple pandemics;
- Create environments for both our talent and students to thrive as they grapple with fear and anxieties provoked by rapid change;
- Learn what it takes to adopt a growth mindset and make space for necessary improvement;
- Co-create higher education’s “new normal” as leaders in this context; and,
- Explore how to lead with inclusivity in all we do.
Leading SUNY Forward
December 13, 2021
Learners will:
- Examine some of the challenges leaders of a large educational system faced during this multiple faceted pandemic
- Explore ways to engage stakeholders during this “new normal;”
- Determine what innovations and adaptations implemented during the COVID pandemic should be retained and positively inform the “next reality” in higher education; and
- Distinguish what leadership attributes are needed during a major crisis and afterwards.

Building Academic Leadership Capacity: How do we meet the demands of the various pandemics?
January 24, 2022
During this interactive webinar we will continue to explore the various pandemics we are living through and emerging from as well as the multiple implication they’ve had on higher education. Leaders will begin to build capacity for the work ahead, as we empower you to shift and adopt the mindsets necessary for change.
Learners will:
- Distinguish attributes needed in building leadership capacity;
- Understand the importance of collaborative teamwork and breaking down silos;
- Appreciate the importance of emotional intelligence in building a new mindset in academic leadership; and
- Seek takeaways in building capacity in changing our mindset as we address the “new normal.”

Engaging Students Successfully
February 28, 2022
Improving student experiences and outcomes is essential to success for institutions and students alike. During this virtual learning event we put the student experience into focus as we enter a new era in higher education. Together we will explore student engagement as a launchpad for empowering our students. External political, social, economic and global health dynamics forced us to throw away the playbook. As academic leaders, we will craft a new paradigm that prepares our students for the critical roles they will play during their educational journey and beyond.
Learners will:
- Hear perspectives from Student Life leaders in our University Centers, Comprehensive Colleges, Ag/Tech schools, and Community Colleges.
- Examine some of the challenges students encounter in their interactions with us;
- Strategize ways to get students engaged in their academic and civil journeys;

Defining Academia’s Future through Inclusive Leadership
March 21, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for significant and positive change in traditional teaching methods. These adaptations can redefine engagement, both in and out of class, while allowing learners increased flexibility and offering instructors greater ability to reach their students. During this virtual learning event we conclude our examination of the challenges educational leaders must face and clarify how an inclusive mindset approach can guide us to change the paradigm and define academia’s future.
Learners will:
- Conclude their evaluation of the challenges academic leaders must face higher education in order to understand our current context and keep pace with these evolving challenges;
- Further explore the attributes needed to be more inclusive of all students;
- Assess programs and methods to assist us when working with students;
- Seek the attributes needed for us to be successful agents of change and model this for our teams and students;
- Develop and commit to action and accountability plans to propel us forward.
Congratulations to our SUNY leaders that earned ‘Resilient Change Leader’ Certificate of Completion and Digital Badge
SUNY faculty or staff participants completed all five sessions. Here’s the list of our graduates:
Dana Acee
Gui Albieri
Yaacov Anziska
Tracy Archie
Deborah Beall
Wendy Beesley
Maria Boada
Jacqueline Castaldo
Sue Chichester
Rick Coloccia
Pamela Connor
Brian Fallon
Jamie Frank
Laurie Fox
David Furney
Denise Gaffor
Vernon Goodman-keating
Glenda Gross
Emily Hamilton-Honey
Savita Hanspal
Ann Hawkins
Ronnie Hector
Nikkie Herman
Deborah Hernandez
Lashawanda Ingram
Paul Jackson
Ze-enna Jenkins
Benita Jones
Georgia Kalivas
Deborah Klesenski
Larissa Kowalczyk
Craig Lamb
Michelle Logan
Orla Lopiccolo
Kris MacDonald
Jeffrey Macharyas
Todd Marshall
Nina Maung-Gaona
Russell Nunley
Shawn Plummer
Cristina Pope
Flagan Prince
Rachel Rigolino
Manar Sabry
Jennifer Sellers
Rebecca Small Kellogg
Carli Spina
MaryAnn Stark
Vanessa Threatte
Daurn Tribble
Erin Vaccaro
Nikolas Varrone
Gail Wentworth
Steven Wiley
Christopher Wolfs
Jennifer Zell
Susan Zimmermann
Instructor

Dr. Ronald A. Milon
SUNY SAIL Institute Leadership Fellow
Chief Diversity Officer, Fashion Institute of Technology
Read bio
Program Cost
The registration cost for faculty and administrative professionals is listed below. Includes access to all five live programs, private online group access, certificate & digital badge.
Program Cost
$125 SUNY CPD member rate
$150 Non CPD/SUNY rate
$175 Non-SUNY rate