For Faculty & Staff

While much of the Wurtele Center for Leadership’s programming is geared toward students, we nevertheless strive to live into our mission to equip all members of the Smith community with the creativity, courage and collaborative capacity to lead positive change. We believe strongly that in order to build these skills in our students, we need to engage as learners ourselves as we seek to model collaborative leadership. We also hope to serve as a resource to faculty and staff members who are interested in exploring new ways of building collaborative leadership skills in their students. Below are some ways our center engages with faculty and staff.

The Art of Leading Teams Lunch Series

Join the Wurtele Center for Leadership for this facilitated monthly series of conversations about what it means to work collaboratively in a team at Smith College. Open to all faculty and staff, regardless of title or position. Most sessions are held in-person with a virtual attendance option; lunch is provided for in-person attendees who RSVP.

See a pdf of the schedule, or click on the tabs below. Sign up for email related to the Art of Leading Teams on this Google form.

September

Tuesday, September 24
12:15–1:15 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Establishing Psychological Safety & Healthy Feedback Cultures

Most of us crave two things in our working environment: a feeling of safety to speak our minds without repercussions, and growth-oriented feedback. Maintaining team cultures marked by these qualities can be challenging, however. Join us to discuss what can get in the way and learn some language and tools to begin shaping your team’s culture.

October

Tuesday, October 22
12:15–1:15 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Managing Collaborative Student Teams

Are you responsible for managing a team of student workers, interns, lab assistants, etc., and looking for ways to boost their collaborative capacities? Join us for a conversation about managing collaborative student teams (whether that’s a team of two or twenty). Learn from colleagues about what works well, and gain some tools and strategies for building students’ teamwork skills.

November

Tuesday, November 19
12:15–1:15 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Cultivating Hope & Imagining Desirable Futures in Our Work

We all experience moments when it can feel hard to see beyond a current moment and imagine new possibilities, whether in our work, our personal lives, or the world at large. Join us to explore practical strategies to face challenges with more hope and creativity, concretely imagine what could be different in the future, and take action toward making those future conditions more possible.

January

Tuesday, January 14
12:15–1:15 p.m., Virtual Meeting

The Mid-Year Team Reflection
January is an excellent time to press pause after the intensity of the fall semester and check in together as a team. This virtual Art of Leading Teams session is an opportunity to bring your whole team or department and engage in some collective reflection on goals and group dynamics. We will lead you through exercises in breakout rooms, and offer some additional tools to use together at a later date.

 

February

Tuesday, February 25
12:15–1:15 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Intentional Team or Department Meeting Design

Teams, departments, and committees all meet regularly, but are your regular meetings designed in ways that foster belonging and help you accomplish your goals? Join us to hear about how the Wurtele Center has been experimenting with a team meeting cycle, and gain some example team meeting structures to help build relationships and pursue different types of collective objectives.

March

Tuesday, March 25
12:15–1:15 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Navigating Positional Leadership

Fostering a collaborative team culture can be challenging when you’re in a leadership position, particularly if you’re leading colleagues who once were or still are peers. Whether you’re a department chair, team lead, manager, or hold another leadership role, join us to discuss the power dynamics inherent in positional leadership, and how to make use of the power you hold to encourage collaboration and build belonging.

April

Tuesday, April 15
12:15–1:45 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room (lunch available at noon)

Improv to Improve Deep Listening with Pam Victor (‘88)

According to George Bernard Shaw, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." Using improv-enriched (and introvert-friendly!) interactive exercises and guided discussion, this workshop led by Pam Victor (‘88) of Happier Valley Comedy introduces you to an improviser’s approach to strengthening deep listening muscles to be more present, open, and available at work. Quieting the inner critic, resisting assumptions, slowing down - all these improv skills apply beautifully to workplace communication. Open to all faculty and staff, sponsored by the Wurtele Center for Leadership. In-person in Neilson Browsing Room only.

May

Tuesday, May 13
12:15–1:15 p.m., Virtual Meeting

Designing Cross-Unit Collaborations

More and more offices and departments across Smith are collaborating in creative ways, but we rarely get to hear about it. Join this virtual session to hear from colleagues who have successfully collaborated across campus units, to glean what they learned from their partnerships. We will also have an opportunity to foster connections with fellow participants for possible future collaborations, so bring your goals and ideas!

“Thank you all so much for facilitating this amazing series! I often was on the fence about joining because I was ‘so busy with everything else,’ but every session I was able to join gave me new tools and connections across campus, and I left so glad I carved out this time for professional and personal development.”
Art of Leading Teams Participant

Student Pedagogical Partners

The Wurtele Center designs and facilitates a series of workshops for students participating in the Sherrerd Center for Teaching and Learning’s Student Pedagogical Partner program. The workshops provide students with a space in which to reflect as a cohort on their experience as a pedagogical partner, explore what leadership looks like in this specific context, and act as peer mentors to one another.

Common Topics

  • Tools and Strategies for Instructional Design
  • Offering and Receiving Constructive Feedback
  • Navigating Power Dynamics Within Your Partnership
  • Translating Skills from Partnership Work to Other Contexts
“Thank you so much for your support and guidance during this past semester with the Pedagogical Partnership. Our monthly sessions were such a joy to attend, and I always felt inspired talking to you and the group. The time was perfectly divided between reflecting, writing, sharing, and discussing. Additionally, all of the tools you used in the meetings (as simple as the great icebreakers) were very engaging and useful.”
Student Pedagogical Partner

Ways to Partner with the Wurtele Center

Curricular Partnerships & Support

The Wurtele Center for Leadership is available for consultation, collaboration, and support for any faculty members whose courses (or other modes of students engagement) are actively team- or group-oriented, and who are interested in exploring how they might work more intentionally with students to develop their collaborative skills in order to lead projects and initiatives forward. Our curricular engagement with faculty has ranged from individual consultation and curricular co-design to guest teaching arrangements to resource sharing.

For more information, please contact the Wurtele Center Assistant Director, Megan Lyster, and/or check out the Resources page of our website.

Co-curricular Partnerships & Staff Support

The Wurtele Center for Leadership also collaborates widely with a range of campus partners to support the collaborative leadership development of students and staff through co-curricular or work experiences. This includes:

  • Ongoing training and development partnerships with student leaders in Residential Life, House Leadership and Student Affairs
  • Support of student club and organization leaders
  • Collaboration with other centers on campus to develop programs, talks and workshops
  • Assistance with meeting design, retreat design and facilitation of team engagement for other units on campus

If you are interested in collaborating with the Wurtele Center in these or other ways, please reach out! 

For more information, please reach out to Annie DelBusto Cohen or Silas McClung, Co-Curricular Leadership, or check out the Resources page.