UCCS Downtown is partnering with the UCCS College of Business to offer an Executive Training series for local organizations.
“About 18 months ago, we were contacted by a few local organizations asking if we offered any executive training,” said Zak Kroger, Director of UCCS Downtown. “There are a lot of professionals who are finding that they need a short crash course to get the basics on newly added job responsibilities.”
Kroger and his team started brainstorming what that training could look like. They did some research and sent surveys to more than 100 local organizations, asking what kind of courses would be helpful to them.
“We had a list of courses and asked how helpful each would be on a scale of one to five,” Kroger said, “and each option was pretty much pure fives.”
The courses offered will include topics such as reading financial documents, conflict management, blending mission and vision, managing stakeholders, and other topics necessary for those taking the next step on their leadership journey in their organizations.
“This is not leadership,” Kroger pointed out. “This community already has a lot of leadership resources, so that’s not what we’re trying to do. These sessions are designed for participants to leave each class knowing more about those specific hard skills.”
Kroger has partnered with UCCS faculty, largely in the College of Business, but as well as the College of Education and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, to instruct the courses.
“We are excited to partner with UCCS Downtown on a variety of professional development and continuing education programming,” said Thomas Aicher, Dean of the College of Business. “As a college, we are focusing on our adult learners and developing programs to assist with the need to upskill and reskill in this ever-changing environment. Our faculty are bringing their expertise and research to help our community, and workforce development is a key part of that mission.”
Interested participants can choose individual courses from the 12-session series, or they can attend all sessions and earn a certificate. Signing up for the full series also earns participants a discount – the courses are $100 each, or $1,000 for the series.
The sessions are three hours long and will be held on Wednesday nights from 6-9 p.m. at UCCS Downtown. The first series is set to begin in September. Additional sessions will be held on different days at different times, to accommodate various work schedules.
A second series is planned for the first few months of 2025. Interested individuals or organizations can reach out to [email protected] for more information, or sign up at https://cvent.me/4X5WQw.