Transforming Challenged Units (TCU)
Providing resources and expertise to identify and address problems for educational institutions.
TCU Conferences generally take place in Chicago in the spring. This invitation-only conference is an opportunity to resolve the challenges of one or more academic units at your institution.
About Transforming Challenged Units
When academic units face challenges of internal conduct and governance, it can undermine their abilities to fulfill their missions of teaching, research, and service. Assessing and assisting these units to return to vibrancy and vigor can be complex.
- The Transforming Challenged Units Consortium creates, curates, and houses resources in a central repository accessible to members, organizes regular conferences for member institutions, and pursues selected small research projects to support these stewards in assisting challenged units.
- The Transforming Challenged Units Consortium is headed by an elected Executive Committee of high-level academic leaders with extensive experience in restoring challenged academic units to vibrancy.
- The Executive Committee and other experts supporting the Consortium do not provide direct interventions; instead, the Transforming Challenged Units Consortium brings institutional stewards together, and connects them with supporting resources.
Through membership, institutions gain access to NCPRE resources and strategies, as well as the opportunity to work with NCPRE staff and affiliated experts in invitation-only working conferences for institutional leaders who are dealing with challenged units and who want effective strategies for tackling these challenges. Each conference includes a limited number of selected attendees who bring their experience and wisdom to collaborative discussions on the challenges faced. Participants are guided through the development of problem-focused strategies based on our experience with effective practices, tailored to the particulars of each case.
Our collective aim is for participants to leave with actionable strategies for the problems they face.
Membership Details
Institutional members have access to resources and opportunities for networking and solution development. Resources will be updated on a rolling basis to reflect emerging good practice and accumulated collective wisdom. The collection is envisaged to include case studies (exposition, explanations, outcomes), tools, and assessment assistance for those working with such units on particular issues. Member institutions benefit from free attendance at the Consortium’s conferences as well as access to resources (case studies, best practice guides, etc.) and tools for assessing and working with challenged units that would be continually augmented through research and shared experience and feedback.
For questions about membership or details about the conference, please email ethicsctr@illinois.edu
Become a TCU member
Institutional members have access to resources and opportunities for networking and solution development. Resources will be updated on a rolling basis to reflect emerging good practice and accumulated collective wisdom.
Access our Resource Collection
The collection is envisioned to include case studies (exposition, explanations, outcomes), tools, and assessment assistance for those working with such units on particular issues.
We have provided an academic diagnostic tool, called AUDiT, that you can use to get started on understanding your unit’s relative health. You can also read our publication, Academic Leadership Development.
Please peruse our Leadership Collection for more on becoming an academic leader and fostering academic leadership.
Additional Member Benefits
Member institutions benefit from free attendance at the Consortium’s conferences as well as access to resources (case studies, best practice guides, etc.) and tools for assessing and working with challenged units that would be continually augmented through research and shared experience and feedback.