Navigating School Politics

Where: Four Points Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center
1125 Boston Providence Turnpike
Norwood, Massachusetts

When:9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Workshop Organizer: Greg Banwarth of Cape Cod Community College

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For managers or aspiring managers in technology, Navigating School Politics discusses the challenges and opportunities of leveraging politics at your institution. The session aims to deliver points on adapting (or re-inventing) yourself and/your employees in the political atmosphere at your institution, applicability of certain strategies (IT by Governance, managing up, setting expectations), common pitfalls and alliances, and how to chart a course that will keep you and your employees sane among the political chaos.

Event Schedule:
7:30am – 9:00am Registration and Coffee

9:00am – 9:15am Introduction and Opening Remarks / Opening Polls of Attendees

There will be live polling throughout the day; the introduction section will have some opening questions to get a feel of audience demographics.

9:15am – 10:00am Technology Departments as an Opposing or Collaborating Force
Speaker: Rebecca Ebeling, Marketing Manager, Fresh Purls in Rhode Island, Former Marketing Director of Wheelock College

Rebecca brings experience working with the technology department to gain essential support for her teams while managing areas including alumni relations and general strategic advancement. After taking over the Marketing department, this relationship changed dramatically – contention over web management became a constant topic within the college that the Marketing and the IT department had to navigate on an escalating basis with shifting political influences in Administration.

10:00am – 11:00am Challenges, Common Alliances and Adversarial Situations
Speaker: Greg Banwarth, Assistant Vice President of Information Technology & CIO, Cape Cod Community College

This session will focus on common alliances and challenges, including relationship with faculty groups, marketing, facilities, libraries and more.

11:00am - 11:15am Break

11:15am - 12:00pm Finding Solutions to Political Turmoil
Speaker: Vicki Sells, Associate Vice Provost of Information Services, Sewanee: The University of the South - Presenting via Skype

As head of both IT and library operations in a school that is remotely located in the center of Tennessee, Vicki Sells is a seasoned veteran in navigating school politics. Vicki will present the challenges and opportunities of having your employees strengthen or weaken your departments’ political standing. Greg Banwarth, one of the facilitators of this session, started out his academic career under Vicki’s supervision and returned years later for another contract. They will relate how he sometimes helped and sometimes hindered the department’s progress in the larger political picture.

12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch

1:00pm – 2:00pm Successful Methodologies and Solutions
Speaker: Greg Banwarth, Assistant Vice President of Information Technology & CIO, Cape Cod Community College

An open discussion between the audience and the facilitator on methodologies to help navigate a school’s political atmosphere, including IT by Governance, transparency (or lack there-of) of internal projects, and more.

2:00pm – 3:00pm Open Forum, Wrap Up and Break Outs

Throughout the day the facilitators will be collecting data in open polls – questions and areas that have been side-barred will be discussed and facilitated at this time.

3:00pm End

Speaker:
Greg Banwarth

Greg Banwarth is the Assistant Vice President of Information Technology / CIO for Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, MA. Before settling in the Massachusetts area in 2007, Greg worked as an Information Technology contractor in academic institutions in Tennessee and Georgia. His previous experience has included working for technology businesses in Ireland and Greece as well as providing technology consulting services for U.S. and Western European companies.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature from the University of the South in Tennessee and a Masters of Education degree in Educational Technology from Georgia College and State University. He believes that community education coupled with national and international resources via technology enriched pedagogues are essential for producing a skilled, motivated and experienced work force. He is actively involved in a number of non-profit educational projects including connecting international and regional communities via consumer grade video conferencing software.