Critical Thinking, Problem Solving & Innovation   

Course Overview 

You stare at your screen, editing the same sentence over and over. Is it clear enough? Persuasive enough? Professional enough? 

In today's fast-paced, tech-driven workplace, strong writing skills--combined with smart use of AI tools--can give you a serious advantage. This hands-on, 1-day intensive workshop helps you level up your professional writing, streamline your individual process, and confidently craft emails, reports, proposals and more. You'll also learn how to use AI to jumpstart drafts, improve clarity, and save time--without sacrificing your unique voice. 

Bring your own writing sample to get expert feedback and walk away with practical techniques you can use immediately. 

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the core principles of clear, professional communication across written and verbal formats.
• Understand their own communication habits and identify areas for improvement in tone, clarity, and style.
• Use AI tools to draft, refine, and enhance professional written communication (e.g., emails) more efficiently.
• Apply plain language techniques to simplify complex information for a variety of professional audience
• Bring your own communication sample to get expert feedback and walk away with practical techniques you can use immediately.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is ideal for professionals in communications, marketing, project management, HR, administration and anyone who wants to write with greater confidence, clarity and efficiency---whether solo or with AI support. 

What to Bring

A 1-2 page writing sample from your job or professional life. No sample? No problem--you can bring a mock or past writing piece for review. 

Course Overview 

You are responsible for organizing and managing a multifaceted activity involving people from differing specialties to create something brand new. Quality is essential, resources are limited, and time is of the essence - a classic scenario. This course provides the practices, tools, and skills required to manage such an enterprise. The process starts with scoping the project, moves through identifying tasks and estimating resources, and concludes with setting schedules and completing a plan. Working individually and in groups, you will apply and extend your workplace expertise and integrate project management competencies. Tools acquired during this course will be applied in the next certificate course, Implementing Project Management.

 Learning Objectives:

• Have a solid understanding of what PMs do
• Illustrate the flow of managing a project
• Have skills and resources for applying project management best practices
• Grasp work breakdown structure and work package design
• Understand task estimation and prioritization
• Build scopes, Gantt charts and schedules
• Become familiar with the Project Management Institute (PMI) and explore its role in supporting project management
• Explain the difference between project management & Agile/Scrum
• Understand the Triple Constraint and the PMI Talent Triangle
• Possess at least a dozen tools for creating relevant project documents
• Make progress on your own project

Who Should Attend?

The second in the USM Project Management certificate series; this course is designed for people who want a practical "how-to" experience in structuring a successful project. Emphasis is on scoping the project, scheduling project activities, and acquiring scarce resources for project execution. If you are a new or aspiring project leader, this course is for you. Experienced project leaders will walk away with tools to help you optimize your projects. Suggested prerequisite: Introduction to the Practice of Project Management or an equivalent of knowledge.

Additional Information

This is the second course in the series of three project management courses and a leadership elective required for the Project Management Certificate. This course contains three days or 15 hours of classwork and 6 hours of offline work for a total of 21 hours (2.1 CEUs). The registration fee includes all materials.

Digital Badge

A level 2 digital badge may be awarded recognizing that learners completed a comprehensive curriculum, obtained an organized approach to managing a project, and the successful completion of all assignments in the Effective Project Management course.

Course Description:

Explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and human-centric leadership, focusing on empathy, adaptability, and ethical tech integration.

Learning Goals:

1. Understand AI's impact on leadership.
2. Cultivate emotional intelligence.
3. Lead teams through technological transitions.

Mindfulness is about being centered in the middle of life which brings with it calm and chaos. This class is for beginners or a renewal for the more advanced. Mindfulness is a life-long journey.

Objectives: 

• Practicing being centered in calm and chaos
• Learning Mindfulness exercises for self
• Learning Mindfulness exercises for patients and students

Course Description:

Equips professionals with the tools to manage workplace conflicts constructively, transforming disagreements into opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Learning Goals: 

1. Recognize sources of conflict.
2. Employ effective de-escalation techniques.
3. Foster a collaborative team environment.

This course is designed for nonprofit executives, senior leaders, board members, and emerging operational leaders who are navigating organizational growth and increasing complexity. The course focuses on what it truly takes to scale a nonprofit organization successfully—not just expanding programs or revenue, but building the leadership, systems, culture, governance, and operational discipline required to sustain long-term impact.

Participants will learn how to assess organizational readiness, avoid common scaling pitfalls, strengthen execution capacity, and lead effectively through periods of growth and transformation. The course is highly participatory and will use an evolving case study to guide discussion, encourage peer learning, and help participants apply course concepts to challenges within their own organizations.

Course Objectives: 

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:   

1. Apply tools and frameworks to assess organizational readiness for sustainable growth.
2. Recognize common operational, cultural, governance, and leadership challenges associated with scaling organizations.
3. Understand how leadership, organizational structure, decision-making, and accountability must evolve as organizations grow.
4. Develop strategies to lead change, strengthen collaboration, and build sustainable operations.

Course Themes:

The course consists of five in-person classes, each 3 hours in length, held over 5 consecutive weeks.

Class 1              Scaling Readiness:  Assessing Organizational Readiness for Growth

Class 2              Professionalizing the Organization:  Structure, Change and Resistance

Class 3              Scaling Leadership: Structure, Accountability and Organizational Design

Class 4              Sustaining Growth:  Governance, Culture, and the Next Operating Model

Class 5              Wrap up and Applied Learning Project Presentations

The final class will synthesize key learnings from the course and provide participants with the opportunity to present an Applied Learning Project focused on a current organizational challenge within their own institution.  Participants will apply course concepts, frameworks, and discussion themes to develop practical recommendations and strategies relevant to their organizational context.

Course Description

A practical guide to developing a strategic mindset in daily operations, empowering leaders to make decisions that align with long-term organizational goals.

Learning Goals:

1. Identify key strategic priorities.
2. Apply strategic frameworks to daily tasks.
3. Enhance decision-making skills.