Professional Enrichment Program (PEP)
- Goals and Outcomes
- Program Goals
- Program Outcomes
- Stakeholders
- Structure
- The Use of Technology
- Potential Presentation Topics
SNHU's Professional Enrichment Program, or PEP, is intended to provide mid-level staff opportunities for skills development, self-discovery, professional networking and, possibly, career advancement. In addition, this experience has the added benefits of bringing together employees who may not have normal reasons to work together or get to know each other.
Specific goals of the program include:
- A transfer of institutional knowledge,
- Building leadership and management skills,
- Promoting more participatory decision-making,
- Strengthening communication within and between departments, and
- Building and sustaining both a sense of community and purpose at SNHU.
It is expected that individuals who have completed the program will:
- Better understand their own personality style and how that style relates with others
- Possess a broad understanding of leadership styles and supervisory skills
- Learn new information about the institution, which they will share with others in their departments and throughout campus
- Apply skills learned from the various workshops and be able to explain how those applications apply to personal growth and/or contribute to the department's functions
- Chart a career plan and goals for the next five years
PEP stakeholders fall into several categories:
"Participants" or "PEPrs" are the primary focus of the program, and will be drawn from professional and university staff below the Director level. Each PEP class will include 10-12 Participants.
Each cohort of participants will be assembled by program coordinators carefully, with an eye toward individual and group ability to leverage program participation into institutional progress. To that end, each cohort will represent as many departments and levels within the University as possible. Participants will be chosen on the basis of written program applications and interview responses.
"Mentors" will be selected and assigned to assist a Participant. They will work closely with a Participant and will be drawn primarily from SNHU academic and administrative ranks at the Director level and above.
"Presenters" will create opportunities for Participants to learn new skills, usually through monthly breakfast sessions. Presenters will include recognized leaders and subject experts from within the SNHU community.
"Speakers" will appear in a monthly public forum to address professional development issues of interest to the entire campus community; their sessions will be publicized to the entire campus. Speakers will include local business and community leaders, in addition to experts from within the campus community.
"Coaching Team" members: Brenda Labrie and Sara Wilson will coordinate the PEP initiative under the guidance of Pam Hogan, Vice President for Human Resources and Development. The Coaching Team is responsible for selecting the PEP class and their mentors, building the program schedule, and ensuring the program's goals are met and any required improvements are implemented.
PEP will employ a strong cohort model in which participants are encouraged to form mutually supportive ties with one another and with their mentors. Accordingly, group activities will be emphasized throughout the program.
PEP's inherent pedagogy emphasizes self-reflection, self-challenge and experiential education, and so participants will begin the program with a self-assessment, put newly-learned skills into practice at their jobs, reflect on their experience with those skills and the program as a whole, and journal throughout their involvement with the program. The year is spent with Participants creating and modifying a focus plan which they prepare with their Mentors. This focus plan is intended to guide their experience in the program and upon its conclusion.
In addition, Participants may share their experience with PEP at the following year's opening retreat, to ensure that insights gained from program participation are shared with subsequent cohorts.
- Readings: Participants begin PEP by receiving selected readings in professional success in early summer at an opening meeting. As they read these materials, they will begin the process of self-reflection and journaling and on-line discussions via Blackboard. The class of 2007-2008 read "Now, Discover Your Strengths" and "Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty."
- Resume Development: By the end of the summer, Participants will complete a draft of their resume as they would like it to read at the end of five years and a focus plan for their PEP experience.
- Retreat: PEP moves into an active phase in the late summer, with an August retreat at which Participants will be challenged to define professional development goals. Mentors will join Participants for a portion of the retreat to learn about their role within the program and to assist their Participant with goals setting for the year. In addition, this retreat will be used to customize the program content and schedule to meet Participant needs.
- Kick-off: In September, Participants and Mentors will attend a kick-off dinner hosted by President LeBlanc.
- Ongoing Activities: Throughout the program, Participants will learn a new set of skills at a breakfast session (which will usually run from 7:30 to 9:30 AM) hosted by a Presenter each month. Participants will integrate these skills into their work lives during the following month and will discuss their experience with one another via technology.
Participants will meet with their Mentor at a monthly lunch to be arranged by the Participant.
PEP will include a significant benefit for the entire SNHU community: Once a month, a Speakers Series will address a professional development issue of interest to all on campus. These Speakers' sessions will be publicized to all via electronic communication.
Participants will attend the Speaker series one evening a month followed by dinner with the Speaker. The dinner hour is intended to provide Participants with an opportunity to share insights and questions with the Speaker, to explore the relevance of the topic to their own work settings and career aspirations, and to network.
PEP may feature opportunities for Participants and their spouses/partners to interact with the SNHU's Executive Council.
It is important to note that, while every effort will be made to schedule events at convenient times, all Participants will be required to take part in all program activities.
Because Participants, Mentors and Presenters all lead very busy lives, and because technology can create a highly successful learning community even in the midst of the day-to-day turmoil of a fast-paced environment such as SNHU, Blackboard will be used throughout PEP. For example, Participants will use Blackboard over the summer to discuss their background readings; during the academic year, Mentors and Participants will interact asynchronously and in real-time via Blackboard and e-mail between breakfast, lunch and dinner sessions.
Topics generally are selected based on the needs and interests of the PEP class. Contained below are the list of programs developed for the 2007-2008 PEP class.
Breakfast Sessions
"Commanding and Facilitating a Group"
"Networking Principles"
"Writing Negative Messages in a Positive Way"
"Budgeting Basics: Part 2"
"The Art of Managing Your Boss"
"The Building Blocks of Trust: Ethics Challenge"
"Book Discussion"
Recap/Learning Modules (both fall and spring semester)
Evening Presentations
"Panache that Pays: Business Etiquette Practices"
"Non-Hierarchical Leadership"
"Conflict Resolution"
"Understanding SNHU's Financial Structure"
"The Imposter Syndrome"
"Thinking on Your Feet"
"Emotional Intelligence" (2 parts)