CGS offers a full schedule of interactive, cutting-edge workshops that provide participants with helpful strategies, information sharing opportunities, and resources to bring back to their campuses.
Most workshops are half-day sessions with a fee of $75 per session. The pre-meeting workshop registration fee includes workshop materials and morning coffee. Lunch is not included.
Morning Sessions: 9:00 – 11:00 am
Strategic Approaches to Graduate Enrollment Management and Forecasting: Personalized Planning to Support Institutional Goals
The session will focus on developing personalized, institution-specific enrollment plans that leverage shared resources and strategic partnerships to foster sustainable growth. Presenters will share approaches to optimizing recruitment, retention, and yield among domestic and international graduate populations, while considering the implications of demographic shifts and global trends. The newly launched CGS Enrollment Management Toolkit member resource will also feature in this discussion to aid these conversations on your campuses.
Empowering Graduate Student Success Through Mental Health and Well-Being Initiatives
Graduate students can experience significant challenges, particularly as they navigate unfamiliar cultures, financial pressures, and competing responsibilities. This session highlights evidence-based and innovative approaches to supporting graduate students, including faculty and staff training, culturally responsive services, and peer support initiatives. Presenters will share institutional strategies for fostering a culture of care. Participants will gain practical, actionable approaches to strengthen well-being and create inclusive environments where graduate students can thrive.
Afternoon Workshops: 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Fundraising for Graduate Education
With significant disruptions to federal student aid and investments in basic research, securing external funding from a variety of sources is more important than ever. In this workshop, graduate deans will share strategies for obtaining philanthropic support for graduate education, even when resources are scarce. This hands-on workshop will focus on development fundamentals, building cases for support, and identifying potential donors among alumni, employer, and regional stakeholder networks.
Scalability, Acceleration, and Collaboration: New Strategies for Addressing Enrollment and Affordability
Graduate programs across the country are struggling with the intertwined challenges of maintaining enrollment and keeping programs affordable. This session will explore three strategies that combine enrollment management tactics with cost containment – accelerated degree programs, regional tuition models, and large-scale online programs – as ways to keep programs financially viable for institutions and affordable for students. Presenters will share strategies from their own institutions as well as ways that these strategies may be deployed at different types of institutions.
Program Review in a Changing Accreditation Landscape: Positioning Graduate Programs for What’s Ahead
Assessment of master’s and doctoral programs offers a critical opportunity for reflection and strategic decision-making. Presenters will share best practices for managing program review processes, leveraging data to drive evaluation and continuous improvement, and aligning efforts with disciplinary and institutional accreditation requirements. Participants will also gain insight into how institutions can proactively prepare for an evolving and increasingly complex accreditation landscape.
Full Day Workshop: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Leading at the Summit: An Institute for Senior Graduate Leaders
This institute is a professional development opportunity for experienced graduate leaders (3+ years in the dean's or associate dean's role) seeking to deepen their leadership capacity and broaden their institutional influence.
The two workshops are designed as an integrated whole: Part I sharpens the internal dimensions of advanced leadership, with an emphasis on values, identity, and philosophy, while Part II focuses on navigating external factors, equipping deans and senior graduate leaders to lead complex change across their institutions and the field.
Participants must attend both sessions and will leave with a personal leadership creed, a peer network of senior colleagues, and a 90-day action plan ready for implementation.
This session is only open to CGS members. Registration deadline is November 2 or until capacity (20 participants) is reached.
Registration fee is $275 (Fee is non-refundable after November 2)
The full registration cost includes:
Reading materials and workbook
Web-based cohort meeting in November 2026
Two intensive workshops at the CGS Annual Meeting
Post-workshop cohort meeting in early 2027
Certificate and a letter to your institution's president or provost noting your successful completion