Since NCHC overlapped with the MCAA conference, at which I was presenting, I was only able to engage with the conference sessions on Thursday and Friday, but there was a lot of value in the sessions I attended. I was particularly interested in the City-as-Text material, and it was thrilling to be in the room with Bernice Braid herself.

With everything that has happened in the last three years or so, I have had sort of an on-again, off-again attraction to administration. This opportunity with the Chronicle came up, however, and my Dean offered to support it. I registered for the “light” version which included four webinars: “National Trends in Higher Education,” “Hiring for Diversity: a Primer for Department Chairs,” “The Chair’s Role in Promoting Student Success,” and “Work-Life: Forget About Balance, How can Chairs Achieve Equilibrium?”

I had worked with Amy Ciccino and Megan Mize in other contexts, so I had some idea of their insight and expertise, but their sessions were still remarkable. Dr. Ciccino’s unpacking of personal branding and reflective writing, along with Dr. Mize’s thoughts on multi-modal identity construction will prove particularly useful for both my Fall courses, and this portfolio, as I struggle to get it into some sort of shape.

The conference was scheduled with the Central European time zone in mind, which is six hours ahead of EDT. The morning sessions began at around 3:00 AM for me, and I will have to catch up when the recordings become available.

The brainstorming session was very productive and felt too short (always a good sign!). My breakout group was very supportive of my long-held desire to create a role-playing experience of life in poverty or the working class, and my 48-hour action item was to follow up with HPU colleagues who had participated in a “Reacting to the Past” initiative some years ago.

While corporate recruiters complain that they can’t find Black candidates, Dr. Allen asserted that while HBCUs accounted for only 5% of higher ed institutions in the US, they produced 25% of the Black graduates. The problem was not a lack of talent, but rather connecting recruiters to the HBCUs where it was.

Dr. Bailey’s design is sound, and the depth of his experience was clearly evident. He also generously invited Karla Rigsby, one of his students, to present her work as an example.

I was energized by the Saturday sessions of the CMS/ATMA Virtual Conference, “Music School for Tomorrow— Foundational Educational Training of 21st Century Musicians,” and eager to dig into the Sunday sessions.

This was a particularly impressive conference, both for the challenges and timeliness of the content, but also because it was largely organized and administered by students.

I was delighted to discover that this community addresses several issues that have been on my mind recently, and I paid for my membership at the conclusion of the conference. I would even like to see High Point University acquire an institutional membership.

During the month of July, 2020, I attended the Annual Meeting of the Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL), held online. The organizers did a remarkable job of creating a manageable schedule, full of meaningful, interactive sessions.

Dr. Shapiro’s comments had relevance for several domains in my professional and personal lives, and I am indebted to Dr. Judy Bundra of the Cleveland Institute of Music for connecting me with this resource.

The interactive session was moderated by the HIFI group: Drs. Marca Wolfensberger, John Zubizarreta, and Beata Jones, and I was delighted to see at least three of my colleagues from HIFI 2019.

While all of the presenters made good points (and reinforced the need for transparency voiced at last month’s CMS Webinar), I was especially struck by comments by Dr. Kimbrough and Mr. Busteed.

The major themes of the webinar included 1) crisis as opportunity and 2) leadership as co-inspiraton. Common threads of critical reflection and transparency also wove through the discussion. In all, the session provided a admirable model of what responsive, pro-active leadership looks like, and I plan to check out the COVID-19 resources on the CMS website to see what else is available.

On May 15, 2020 I attended the AAC&U Webinar, ‘Let’s Start with “How Are You Doing?’: How Resilience and Hope Can Shape a New Normal for Learning and Teaching.” I have been particularly concerned with my students’ well-being during the current crisis, and I am (or was) involved in a study of growth mindset and motivation, so it seemed like a good fit.

As with the NCHC conference the previous Fall, that I was immediately at home with the ePortfolio community, and found several useful ideas in the sessions.

In spite of having to work through some personal problems, I found myself at home in the community and invigorated by the sessions. Several sessions made significant impressions on me, most notably, a presentation about Hip-Hop in Honors, forum on diversity, and workshops about Theory U, and creative play.