This episode highlights the pivotal role of Institutional Representatives (IRs) within the Michigan ACE Women's Network. Dr. Dawn Hinton serves as Associate Provost of Saginaw Valley State University, as well as a co-chair of the IR committee for MI-ACE. She joins host Dr. Cynthia Rooker, to give her insight into the essential role IRs have as liaisons between campuses and the statewide network. Their discussion explores how IR's facilitate networking through educational opportunities and initiatives like Young Women Strong Leaders, and Women of Color Collaborative, all of which is coupled with organizational support and aimed to foster and develop leadership among women in higher education.

Website: Saginaw Valley State University

Website: MI-ACE Institutional Representative

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Website: MI-ACE at Lansing Community College

Website: MI-ACE Women's Network

Hello and welcome to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education, a podcast dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in higher education across Michigan. Joining me today is one of the co chairs of the IR committee, Dr. Dawn Hinton.

Would you please introduce yourself and your current role in higher education? Dawn.

Beautiful. Cynthia, thank you so much for the invitation. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the work that we're doing with Michigan ace.

So I am MVISA co chair for this committee. My other co chair is Dr. Charmaine Hines, who is an activist, absolutely phenomenal leader in higher ed as well.

What I do is I am the associate provost at Saginaw Valley State University where I've been in the provost office for about three years. I've been in higher ed overall 28 years. Started as a professor of sociology and did that work for a while.

Did some faculty fellow things, some community engagement work, and then I ended up in our center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which was an amazing, absolutely amazing experience before I moved to the provost office. So this has been a really interesting journey for me.

Well, it sounds like it. That's fantastic. Wow.

Well, can you tell us a little bit about what inspired you to get involved in the Michigan ACE and eventually then also the role of the IR co chair?

Right. So I had no idea what Michigan ACE was. And a person who has now become a very.

Oh gosh, a very close mentor, Dr. Reeva Curry, actually invited me to the first conference when I was a faculty member. And to be honest with you, I can't tell you when that was. It was a number of years ago.

I want to say we were at Michigan State, but I could be wrong, but it was an absolutely amazing experience having the opportunity to engage with some women in higher ed who have been doing just phenomenal work across the state. So it's really eye opening just to see what's possible in those spaces.

I think that sometimes as a faculty member, we don't come to leadership in the same way. So we're in our classrooms, we're teaching these classes, we're engaged with our students, we're doing our research, we're doing service.

We don't really see higher ed administration as a thing that is possible.

And so when Dr. Curry invited me to in Michigan Ace, she invited me to the conference and it was eye opening about what was possible, and it was eye opening about the ways that these women who were in these spaces were engaging in the higher ed community. It was empowering.

Wow, what an eye opener. That's fantastic. So for those who are unfamiliar. What is an institutional representative?

And can you tell us why this role is so important to the Michigan ACE Women's Network?

Right. So the Michigan ACE Women's Network has institutions from across the state who have agreed to participate as institutional members.

That means that all the resources that are available through Michigan ACE is available to those institutions.

And so what we've done is we've identified women on those campuses who will serve as representatives from the institutions to Michigan ACE and also representatives from Michigan ACE to the institution. These folks have been nominated and identified by their president as people who should serve as their representatives.

And so what we're asking these folks to do is to help us to figure out how we can assist. Assist them in leading in those spaces.

So Michigan ace, the women's network, is associated with the American Council on Education, the larger nationwide organization. And we're committed to what we refer to as ideals.

And really, it's an acronym which indicates that we are here to identify, to develop, to encourage, to advance, to link and support women in higher ed.

So the expectations of people who are institutional representatives is that they will provide programming or resources for the folks on their campuses that will do those things. We encourage them to think about how to identify the folks on those campuses who need this kind of support.

How do we develop them, what do they need, and what does encouragement look like? And it happens in a number of different ways. So the IRS really are. We call them irs. We call ourselves IRS Institutional Representatives.

We are literally the backbone of the Michigan ACE Women's Network in that we are the ones who are doing the work of the organization on each and every individual campus.

So it's crucial to have people who are in those spaces who are excited about the work, who enjoy thinking about leadership and thinking about ways to engage the folks on their campuses. So it's crucial for us to have those kinds of folks who are in those positions and who have a passion for the work.

Oh, sure. So they're like the backbone. And as you mentioned, the backbone, the busy bees on their campuses.

And so you identify them and then take it from there and take it to another level. Wow. That's.

Yeah. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you mentioned a little bit about the core responsibilities, I think, in reference to the support. And you mentioned about ideal and supporting those people who are IRs. So how do they support the mission of Michigan ACE on their campus?

Through a variety. You mentioned different ways or.

Right. It is. There are a number. It's not prescriptive. So the work that they do we don't prescribe. You must do this, you must do that.

We encourage them to have conversations with the folks who are on their campus about what the needs are in those spaces. And then as a result of those conversations, it's our expectation that they will.

As a result of those conversations, it's our expectations that they will engage with that campus community in ways that's meaningful for that campus community. And so it varies. So what we encourage them to do is to assess the needs, what are people saying they need in those spaces?

And then begin to think about, how do you facilitate institutional professional development?

Oh, great. So on.

Like our campus here, an event would look different than, let's say, your campus or Michigan State or something like that, depending on what the needs are for that campus and meet the needs where they are. Right, okay.

Exactly.

That's great. That's fantastic. I love that. So then how do IRS help connect women to opportunities such as the annual conference? You mentioned?

Maybe Young Women's Strong Leaders or perhaps Women of Color Collaborative.

So again, we talk about our IRS as being the backbone, as being the feet on the ground, if you will, in these institutions on behalf of Michigan ace. And so one of the expectations we have of our IRS is that they will educate their campus community about our mission.

The major initiatives that we have, and those initiatives, which include the annual conference, talk about what our Young Women Strong Leaders, the Women of Color Collaborative.

So it's the expectation that all of those things that we are representing at this statewide level will trickle down through our IR to our institutional members.

When we have webinars as Michigan ACE and we have a professional development committee that develops these webinars, we send it out to our institutional representatives. Make sure that you advertise to the people who are on your campus so that they can see that this is available. It's free. These webinars are free.

So that they can then use this to kind of build their leadership journey.

So we encourage them to use the resources that we're providing on a statewide level to provide those resources to the folks who are in their campus communities, including all of the programming that we do at the state.

That's great. That's great. Well, what about sharing an example of a successful initiative or program that's led by an IR that has made a real impact?

Right. There are a number of things that our institutional representatives have engaged in, and they vary.

We've seen programming that reflects leadership workshops. We do a whole lot with equal payday. The idea of us tracking when women of various Backgrounds, when is there equal payday?

At what point in the year do they make as much as man does in the previous year? So we do a lot of equal payday observances. We do book clubs, we do luncheons, we do series.

We have a number of institutions that are partnering with each other in order to kind of pool resources so that they can provide a better resource for both of those campus communities.

At Grand Valley State University, one of our institutions, our institutional members, they did a community read and they purchased 50 copies of a book titled Rising from a Mud Hut to the Boardroom and Back and offered three hybrid gatherings for folks to have conversations around. What is this book about? You know, what are the themes that are associated with that book? And so we see a lot of that happening.

We have folks who are doing just across various institutions, leadership panels where we bring in leaders from across the state who sit and talk with the people in our community to kind of elucidate what it means to be a woman leader in higher ed in this time. Right. So various, many, many, many different methods are used in an effort to kind of engage the folks on our campus.

And they vary by from one institution to the next.

Yeah, that sounds very successful in initiating programs and so forth for IRS to get engaged with other institutions as well as bringing others along with them. Well, that's great.

So how do IRs collaborate with campus leaders, such as, like, with the other departments, and you mentioned professional development. So how do they promote some of the women in reference to their own campuses, with their leadership?

And that's one of the things that we encourage them to really consider is are there folks on your campus who are doing this kind of work where they're doing leadership development, where they're looking at supporting people who are interested in becoming leaders in higher ed?

So we encourage our institutional representatives to look on their campuses to see who else is doing the work and consider partnering with those organizations. Because we don't want to create, we don't want to duplicate effort. Right.

We want to make sure that the work that you are doing is going to be meaningful. And also you have a job. Right? The campus has hired you to do something, and they didn't hire you to be a Michigan, a institutional representative.

Many of these people who are institutional representatives are doing this work, like, out of the. Out of their love, out of their passion to see that higher ed leadership is receiving informed and prepared leaders.

So in doing that, we understand that you have other obligations on your campuses, and so we want them to be Thoughtful about how are they going to implement some of the programs and projects that they want to implement. But can we partner. Can we do this with another group? Can we see who else is. Is there a woman's empowerment team on campus?

Is there a faculty development team on campus that's doing professional development that you can actually partner with?

Oh, that's great.

So those are the things that we ask them to do, and we see that many of them have these other organizations that they actually partner with.

That's great. That's great. So then can you tell us, like, what are some of the challenges that IRS face?

Like, how do you, as a co chair, how would you support them with their challenges?

And so one of the challenges, I mean, I just mentioned, Right. You have a job that the university.

Is paying for, right? Yeah.

And so there are time constraints. There's only so much time that you can give to Michigan ace.

And as the board on the state level recognizes that, which is why we attempt to provide a number of resources for people who are in those IR positions so that they can be supported in doing that work. They don't have a whole lot of money.

In order to do the work, the institutional representative, the statewide institutional representative committee provides a scholarship, a grant. That's what we call it. We provide a grant for organizations who are doing this work, and all they have to do is to talk to us about.

Talk to us about the projects that you're trying to do. What does your budget look like? We have some money that we can share to defer some of the costs. Right. But we understand that these are challenges.

We understand some of the constraints that are on these folks who have been identified as irs. We're trying to think about how can we continue to support them doing that work?

Got it. Wow. Okay, so let's say, let's look ahead a little bit. Can you tell us what are the goals as far as for the IR networking in the coming year?

And how can someone become an ir and what advice would you give someone in that new role?

So the IRS are identified by their president. This is a wonderful opportunity. And we talk with our IRS about this.

The fact that Michigan ACE asked the president to list the names of those who will be the institutional representatives. We talk with them about how can they leverage that. Right.

And so what we're looking forward to is working with our institutional representatives on their own personal professional development.

What we find is that often IRS are planning and thinking about how can I help the women on my campus to advance, to move forward to realize their dreams. And often they're not really thinking about their own movement because they're constantly giving.

And so we're looking for opportunities to kind of pour into them and to provide them with resources that they're providing to their constituents. So the goal in my mind has always been from the statewide level, is thinking about ways that we can take some of the load for them.

What kinds of resources can we provide for them so that they can do the work they need to do. We have a speaker's bureau at the state level, and we tell irs, if you are interested in someone coming and doing a presentation, it's free.

Let us know what your topic is, what you want to do, and we will send one of our leaders from our executive board to present to present at one of your sessions. Again, I mentioned the mini grants that we offer in order to support them financially.

Both Charmaine and I, Dr. Hines and I meet with our IRS regularly, and we have conversations with them about what are your needs, how can we support you? What we're hearing them ask for is support in terms of formal planning. Help us think about how do we plan these events. Right.

Help us think about how do we broaden the leadership pipeline.

IRS are really, really in touch with what's happening on their campuses and are letting us know, and we're doing what we can in order to provide support for that. So the goals really are shaped by what the request.

But based on what we've heard before, we're developing resources this year for our institutional representatives in order to meet the needs that they've mentioned.

So you're already steps ahead in planning for the following year, right?

Okay, absolutely.

Excellent. And you support with any resources, such as what you mentioned with the scholarships and the speaker bureau.

And so there are definitely ways that IRS can tap into that so that they don't have to tip into any of their budget funds or anything, right?

Absolutely.

You help them to be successful, set them up for success. Right? Yeah. That's fantastic. So if someone became an I art, what advice would you give them as being in that new role?

That this work is a passion work. This work is work you have to be passionate about because it's challenging. And this challenge has the potential to help us grow as leaders.

As an institutional representative, the Michigan A Executive board is looking at our institutional representatives as the leaders in those spaces.

And so we want to think about ways that we can encourage them to develop as leaders at the same time as they are encouraging others to develop as leaders. So there's a lot of benefit that the people who are IRS receive as a result of this level of interaction.

And I think that anybody who is interested in other positions in leadership and higher ed, this is a really, really good place to start.

Exactly. Especially through the networking that Michigan AC has alone by itself. That is huge. That is huge. Absolutely.

And then you keep it going to make sure that it's sustainable throughout the different campuses as well. That's great. Well, thank you so much for sharing your insight and passion for empowering women in higher education.

It certainly is clear that institutional representatives are not just liaisons, but they're also leaders, advocates, and also change makers.

Absolutely.

Thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education. To listen to this episode and others, visit LCC Connect.com until next time. Keep leading, keep learning, and keep lifting others along the way.