Our first T.E.A.S. of the year took place on September 16th with a warm welcome to our newly hired Vice President of Research, Francine Berman.  Dr. Berman gave a well rounded talk on the type of work she did in San Diego and focused on what she would like to accomplish at Rensselaer. PI, Debbie Kaminski also gave an overview of some of the initiatives RAMP-Up will be taking on in the coming year. Also mentioned were a rundown of the upcoming TEAS from Co-PI Kristin Bennett. Lastly, RAMP-Up Director, Angela McNerney gave an overview on the new initiative called PhD Move, a pilot program to help assimilate new PhD hires and their families into the region by specifically focusing on dual career issues.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, October 7th @ 2:00-3:30 in the Fishbach Room, Folsom Library. One of RPI’s most accomplished and prolific researchers, Bob Lindhart, will join us to examine “How to Manage a Three Ring Research Circus.”  

Wednesday, November 11th, Bonnie Coffey of “Contacts Count” will lead a half-day interactive workshop in the Folsom Library Fishbach Room on professional networking strategies and skills for women in STEM.  Women participating will learn state-of-the-art strategies for making their contacts count – inside and outside their environments – whether they want to advance their careers or succeed in competitive arenas. Effective networking is a recognized skill necessary for outstanding leadership and successful tenure tracks. Those responsible for recruiting and retaining women will learn important skills that support their work at conferences, mentoring and leadership programs.

Leaders who are skilled networkers have access to people, information, and resources to help solve problems and create opportunities.

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how showing Character and Competence makes people want to build their relationships with them. Participants will learn skills that enable them to feel comfortable and confident in meeting people regardless of their status or the setting.

Participants will…

• Use the only Self-Assessment on the market that shows which parts of the networking process have been mastered and which parts they need to give attention to next.
• Learn the ideal network and how to build their own
• Understand the stages of building trust and relationships
• Learn how to build trust through the demonstration of Character and Competence
• Remember names…and teach theirs
• Answer "What do you do?" in a way that demonstrates your Character and Competence
• Use success stories to answer, "What's new?"
• Create an agenda to teach people how to use the participant's expertise, what to count on them for

The workshops include short lectures, self-assessments, paired exercises, writing, discussion, examples, demonstrations, Q & A, and small group work. Participants will walk away with tools for immediate implementation. Each participant in the program will receive a Participant Manual that includes all handouts and assignments for each session.

Bonnie Coffey, an experienced speaker and trainer, is a business and community leader. Her far-reaching career has impacted business, political, financial, and leadership organizations throughout the country, from ophthalmology and elected officials to Kiplinger’s and AARP Foundation. A former radio talk-show host, Bonnie continues her love of words as a columnist, speaker and author. She is a Certified Trainer and Associate with Contacts Count with experience in working with the issues that impact women, with the ADVANCE Team at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, other colleges.

Contacts Count is the premier training company offering a wide variety of learning opportunities nationwide and in Canada. For the past 19 years, Contacts Count has helped clients recognize the many strategic applications for networking and have worked with them to increase their employee and member expertise. Cofounders Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon are the co-authors of Make Your Contacts Count (2007, NY, American Management Association).
National clients include the Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, Verizon, PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. Cellular, Bank of America, First Horizon Bank, Corning, DuPont, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Raytheon, the National Business Incubation Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Institute of Architects, Georgetown University, the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, the Treasury Executive Institute, the U.S. Senate, and U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, & Navy, the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), the Presidential Fellows Program

Wednesday, February 10th – All day seminar on Emerging Leadership.  RAMP-Up is excited to announce the return of Jane Tucker and Barb Butterfield.  Last April, this dynamic team gave a workshop on Negotiation that was very well received by our women faculty.  Coming this February 10th, Barb and Jane will be leading a workshop on Leadership at a location off campus to be determined.  This all day workshop will encompass the following aspects: 
Title:  Emerging Leadership
Development of leadership skills in problem-solving and leading change
Audience:
Individuals who are or wish to be in an academic leadership position

Participants will increase their leadership skills by understanding:

•    Effective and ineffective leadership characteristics
•    New research on trends in leadership skills and how this applies to academia
•    Provosts’ rankings of leadership characteristics
•    Personal leadership strengths and development needs
•    Leadership negotiation and problem-solving
•    Personal leadership styles and how to lead change
•    How to use methods, such as Appreciative Inquiry, in addressing issues

Attendees will select a case to practice or select roles in a faculty meeting, with one person leading the meeting.  Leaders and participants will practice leadership skills; get feedback from coaches; and discuss best techniques for leading successful meetings.

Also, coming up will be a lively discussion led by Dr. Frank Wright on How to get the scores you want from your classes IDEA evaluations – the date will be in the Spring  and is yet to be determined.