Clockwise from top left:  1) Mary DiStanislao and Michael Class chatting with Professor Matt Hartley during the Alumni Conference welcome reception; 2) Byron White furthering the discussion in a Alumni Conference session with fellow Cohort 6 member Mark Reed looking on; 3) Cohort 8 classmates Karenann Carty, Diane Eynon, Lori Hurvitz, Eric Kaplan, Christine Erickson, and Julie Amon reuniting at the NASPA Reception; 4) Nancy Morrison celebrating the publication of Cohort 5 classmate Jim Garvey's new book, The Role of Presidential Leadership: In Market Adaptation and Evolution of Mission at the Alumni Conference; 5) Cohort 7 classmates Karen Weaver and Jenny Rickard enjoying their mini-reunion at the NASPA Reception; 6) Larry Schall moderating the executive search panel at the Alumni Conference; 7) Professor Marybeth Gasman toasting alumni Jeanne Arnold, Tim Fournier, and Ted Richardson at the Alumni Conference welcome reception.

Over 100 of our Exec Doc alumni, current students, faculty, and guests traveled from near and far to attend our 2011 Alumni Conference on “The Next Decade in Higher Education” in Philadelphia.   The event kicked off on Thursday, January 13th with an Executive Search panel moderated by Larry Schall (Cohort 1), President of Oglethorpe University, and Peter Garland, Executive Vice Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and a new practitioner faculty member for Exec Doc.  Julie Filizetti (Cohort 1) was one of the panel discussants, who shared their thoughts on the state of executive search and took lively questions from the audience. 

We concluded the day with a reception and dinner for our attendees at the Inn at Penn.  During the reception, Cohort 4, attending their 5-year reunion, honored the memory of their late cohort-mate Tom Carroll with a toast in his honor.

Our Friday line-up included a full day of presentations and discussions focused on navigating the challenges of the next decade in higher education.  Our own PennGSE professor, Laura Perna, opened Friday’s sessions with a faculty talk on access and affordability and the ways public policies and institutional practices can close the educational attainment gap in our country.  Jane Wellman, Executive Director of the Delta Cost Project, delivered a provocative keynote address on controlling college costs and improving productivity across higher education.  The afternoon sessions featured three panels with Exec Doc alumni.  Several Cohort 8 members who received distinction on their dissertations and/or on their dissertation defenses -- Gale Etschmaier, Diane Eynon, Chris Ferguson, and Lori Hurvitz – led a stimulating discussion about their research and key findings.  Their talk was followed by an alumni panel on opportunities and tips for getting published, which included Luther Tai (Cohort 3), Sue Wasiolek (Cohort 6), Christopher Stewart (Cohort 7), and moderator Shaun Harper, PennGSE Assistant Professor.  The day culminated with our Class of 2006 panel’s fascinating presentation by Tim Fournier, Jim Pellow, and Maureen Weatherall about the globalization of higher education and their experiences with enabling mission-centric goals without diminishing the institutional brand and quality in developing international partnerships.  Alumni and current students enjoyed a fun dinner and evening of reconnecting with their fellow cohort members at Marathon Grill in University City.

On Saturday, Blake Naughton concluded the conference with an informal breakfast discussion on the state of the Exec Doc program.  We received excellent feedback from the alumni who attended this session about introducing learning technologies in the classroom and expanding ongoing professional development opportunities. Many alumni who attended this year shared with us that it was our best Alumni Conference yet – and we owe much of that success to the input of our alumni board working group who helped re-shape the conference. 

We hope to see even more of you join us at the 2012 Alumni Conference next year – the culmination and celebration of the first ten years of the Exec Doc program – and help us continue an active dialogue about the issues facing higher education over the next decade. 

SAVE-THE-DATE:  The 2012 Alumni Conference will take place January 12-14, 2012. Cohort 5, Class of 2007 will be celebrating their 5-year reunion, and we hope to have them continue the Exec Doc tradition of hosting an alumni panel.

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LinkedIn Webinar

Click here to download the Exec Doc LinkedIn Best Practices and Training Guide!

Mark your calendars:  Tuesday, April 26th from 11:30am-12:30pm ET

Based on feedback from our alumni, Wally Boston (’10) and Brandi Durkac, our Graduate Assistant, will be hosting a webinar on how to use LinkedIn for professional development and networking.  If you are not aware, LinkedIn is a professional networking site, on which Exec Doc hosts a forum exclusively for our alumni and faculty.  (Special thanks go to Andrew Harker, Cohort 1, for initially setting up the group!)  During the webinar, Wally and Brandi will discuss best practices and tips for: 

• Presenting your professional profile and experiences

• Building your professional network and groups

• Finding experts in your network by professional expertise, dissertation topics, and research interests

• Using discussion threads to promote new positions, publications, and events

• Managing daily/weekly updates across your network 

To register for this webinar and get instructions on how to join, please RSVP via email to Brandi at bdurkac@gse.upenn.edu. We also welcome your suggestions on questions or topics you’d like to make sure Wally and Brandi cover.

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NASPA Reception in Philadelphia

During the 2011 NASPA conference in Philadelphia, Exec Doc and the Vice Provost for University Life Office at Penn co-hosted a dessert reception for Penn alumni, current students, student affairs staff, faculty, prospective students, and friends at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Almost 100 members of our Penn family joined us that evening for great conversation, food, and fun!    

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