Fac2Fac Conference Schedule

Spring 2024 Conference: Innovations in Credentialing

The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) invites you to a statewide faculty conference to celebrate the many innovations in credentialing that have emerged over the last year, including Colorado's engagement in the national Credential As You Go (CAYG) movement, and successful efforts to implement Senate Bill 22-192 on Stackable Credential Pathways. The day will feature moderated panels and interest sessions to share state-level innovations and connections to national trends; promising practices in incremental credentialing; and connections to industry partners and skills-based hiring.

Date: Friday, March 8

Time: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

Location: Auraria Campus - St. Cajetan's, 101 Lawrence Way, Denver

February 13, 2024 Announcement

Due to the high interest and the limited capacity at St. Cajetan's, we are happy to share there will be a remote option to attend the morning and lunch panels only. Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer a remote option for the afternoon breakout sessions. If you previously registered to attend and would now like to attend remotely, please: 

1. Register for the remote conference option using the link below.
2. Email Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us to release your in-person spot. This will allow space for those who would like to attend in person. 

February 14, 2024 Updates 

Registration for attending in-person is now closed. Please reach out to Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us for questions. 

Know Before You Go:

1. Parking - Please see the campus map with St. Cajetan's and the King Center circled and the preferred parking garages marked. There is a parking fee charge of $7.75 daily (flat rate) which can be paid at the Parking Pay Machine or pay-by-cell using ParkMobileApp. Parking costs are the responsibility of attendees.
2. Upon arrival - Please check in at the sign-in tables inside and receive your name tag.
3. Livestream and recording - There will be a livestream and a recording of the first three panel sessions; recording and resources will be posted on the conference page afterward. NOTE that for security reasons, anyone wishing to access the livestream must register using the link on the conference page (see below).
4. Presenters - Please bring your own laptop and any adapter needed for presentation mode (required for Apple laptops). For any questions, please contact Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us or Stephanie Bailey at skbailey@northcarolina.edu

Given the high demand for the event and limitations on capacity, please let us know if your plans have changed and you will not be able to join us.

Conference Documents:

• Agenda
• Colorado CAYG projects
• Conference Recording
  • State-level Innovations and National Trends panel begins at minute 13:33
  • Promising Practices in Incremental Credentialing panel begins at minute 01:40:28
  • Industry/Employer panel begins at 03:22:35
• Conference Slide Deck
• Registration has closed.

Conference Goals:

• Celebrate Colorado's innovation through the CAYG national initiative and implementation of Stackable Credential Pathways (SB22-192)
• Demonstrate and further the connections between efforts in Colorado and the national movement in credentialing and skill-based hiring
• Expand coalitions of faculty, employers, and other innovators engaged in credentialing innovation
• Develop strategies for continued progress and sustainability of efforts in credentialing 

Who Should Attend This Conference?

• Faculty experts in curriculum and credential development, competency/skill mapping, assessment, and articulation
• Institutional leaders and administrators responsible for academic programs and curriculum, assessment and accreditation, and inter-institutional partnerships
• Academic advisors who work with both certificate- and degree-seeking students, including non-credit programs
• Industry and non-profit leaders in the learn-and-earn ecosystem

Please direct any questions to Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us. 

Fall 2023 Conference: Agriculture Pathways

Date: Friday, September 22

Time: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

Location: Colorado State University SPUR Campus, Terra Building - 4777 National Western Drive, Denver

Update -- Registration is now closed. Please contact Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us for additional information.

Driving directions to the CSU Spur Campus

from the north

• Take I-25 south to 58th Ave. (exit 215)
• Travel east on 58th Ave.
• Turn south onto Franklin St.
• Continue onto National Western Drive

from the south

• Take I-25 north to I-70 east
• Travel east on I-70 to Washington St. (exit 206)
• Turn north onto Washington St.
• Turn east onto E. 47th Ave.
• E. 47th Ave. turns into E. 46th Ave.
• Turn north onto National Western Drive

Address for GPS: 4777 National Western Drive, Denver, CO 80216

Parking: All visitors are directed to park in Lot N. Please see campus map -- Lot N is shown as number 5 while the Terra Building is shown as number 2. Parking is free. 

Conference Documents

• Agenda
• Agriculture Business STAA
• Agriculture Education STAA
• Animal Science STAA
• Equine Science STAA
• Fermentation Sciences STAA
• Horticulture Business Management STAA
• Soil & Crop Sciences STAA 

Conference Goals

• Review academic pathways that prepare students for careers in agriculture and related fields; identify opportunities to strengthen existing pathways and expand options for students at the associate and baccalaureate level.
• "Revisit, Revise, and Renew" existing Statewide Transfer Articulation Agreements (STAAs: associate to bachelor's degree pathways) to improve their Simplicity, Transparency, Equity, and Portability. 
• Identify potential obstacles to more frequent use of STAAs and recommend course changes and other strategies for overcoming these obstacles. 
• Strengthen collaborative and collegial relationships among faculty from different institutions, as well as between faculty, academic advisors, and industry partners. 

Who Should Attend This Conference? 

• Four-year university faculty who teach or develop curriculum for degree programs in ag business, ag education, animal science, equine science, fermentation sciences, horticulture business management, and soil & crop sciences.
• Two-year college faculty who teach or advise students interested in pursuing bachelor's degrees and careers in ag business, ag education, animal science, equine science, fermentation sciences, horticulture business management, and soil & crop sciences. 
• Academic administrators who are engaged in program development, curriculum design, and transfer initiatives related to one of the listed areas.
• Academic advisors, transfer coordinators, and others deeply familiar with the use of STAAs by faculty, current and prospective students, families, and high school counselors. 

Please direct any questions to Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us 

Spring 2023 Conference: Building Credential Pathways

After a three-year hiatus, the Department of Higher Education is pleased to once again host our statewide faculty conference in person! 

Date: Friday, April 14

Time: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

Location: Auraria Campus, North Classroom Building, 1200 Larimer Street, Denver

Update -- Registration is now closed. Please contact Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us for additional information. 

Conference Documents

• Agenda
• Campus map -- North Classroom Building is circled in red; available parking is circled in green.
• Keynote speaker slide deck
• Panelist speaker slide deck

Conference Goals

• Expand knowledge of the evolving credentialing ecosystem and opportunities for institutions of higher education to be at the forefront of change
• Empower faculty to lead efforts to create new credentials that meet learner and workforce needs
• Share progress on implementation of SB22-192 (stackable credential pathways initiative) and engage participants in building out pathways in:
  • Behavioral Health
  • Computer Programming/Developer
  • Cybersecurity
  • Education
  • Healthcare
• Develop a framework for a statewide equivalency matrix that accommodates postsecondary, industry, and other non-degree credentials

Who should attend this event?

• Faculty from disciplines aligned with one of the five credential pathways:
  • Behavioral Health
  • Computer Programming/Developer
  • Cybersecurity
  • Education
  • Healthcare
• Faculty experts in curriculum and credential development, competency/skill mapping, assessment, and articulation
• Institutional leaders and administrators responsible for academic programs and curriculum, assessment and accreditation, and inter-institutional partnerships
• Academic advisors who work with both certificate- and degree-seeking students, including with non-credit programs

Note to Attendees:

Please add your voice to the conversation! The conference will elevate existing partnerships and innovative work already occurring across the state while identifying ways to better serve Colorado's students through clearer, more efficient, and more effective pathways through postsecondary education. Bring your catalog of courses or academic plans for related and potentially-related certificates and degrees offered by your institution (including those in development). We will spend the morning in industry/pathway-specific faculty work sessions getting familiar with innovations already in play across the state, and the afternoon in the same groups digging deeply into what pathways are available to students and how we can best align education and training opportunities so students gain early exposure to their career fields and maintain momentum as they come to higher ed for upskilling and further education. 

• Behavioral Health -- Join your faculty colleagues from across the state as we look at the innovative work happening across the institutions of higher education to address Colorado's mental health crisis. During our morning faculty work session, we will hear about a brand new set of microcredentials developed by Colorado Community College System behavioral health faculty designed to meet employers' need for more and better trained entry-level positions. We hope this discussion will spark needed conversations around what microcredentialing can look like in bachelor- and master's degree-awarding institutions, and whether and how credential stackability can occur within and across institutions. In our afternoon faculty work session, we will delve deeply into the certificate and degree landscape across our Colorado institutions of higher education to surface the possible credentials and credential pathways that learner/earners can currently pursue and how we might best meet each student where they are and effectively and efficiently provide them the next-level learning and credentials needed (including associate, bachelors, and master's degrees) to get where they are headed in their careers. Your voice matters so please plan to join us!
• Cybersecurity and Computer Programmer/Developer -- Join your faculty colleagues from across the state as we look at how stackable credential pathways are shaping up in IT, cybersecurity, and software development across our many institutions. During our morning faculty work sessions, we will look at how subject matter experts from Colorado Community College System have engaged in work to crosswalk the competencies of several in-demand entry-level IT industry certification to courses offered at community colleges across the state in an effort to facilitate Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) and will consider whether and how similar CPL opportunities exist in IT programs at other colleges and universities across the state. In our afternoon faculty work session, we will explore the interinstitutional articulation agreements that currently exist in cyber, IT, and software development, and whether and where there are opportunities to create and market to students stackable credential pathways that both meet a student where they are effectively and efficiently provide them the next-level learning and credentials (including associate, bachelors, and master's degrees) needed to get where they are headed in their careers. Your voice matters so please plan to join us!
• Education -- Join community college and university faculty colleagues from early childhood and K12 educator prep programs from across the state for a day of learning and innovation. In the morning faculty work session, we will stare with a quick overview of the state of Senate Bill 23-087. From there, we will highlight several innovative apprenticeship programs in early childhood education and K12 education and discuss how these work-based learning programs align with traditional for-credit course educator preparation programs. In the afternoon faculty work session, we will delve more deeply into question of stackability of learning experiences, certificates and degrees and consider how we can best communicate options for continued learning to Colorado's learner/earners interested in becoming educators. 
• Healthcare -- Join your faculty colleagues from across the state as we look at how to best support learner/earners as they move from entry-level experiences and education in healthcare through the next steps along their chosen career path. The Healthcare Stackable Credential Pathways Leadership Team is working to develop a student-focused, employer-informed career lattice that helps illustrate the multiple career opportunities open to students in healthcare regardless of interests and prior educational, employment, or credential background. In the morning faculty work session, we will engage in conversations around current practice across the state's colleges and universities with regard to valued vs. required prerequisites to courses and within the selective admission process. Another area of discussion will be the various paths from LPN to RN to BSN and how these are communicated to students. In the afternoon faculty work session, we will consider whether and where opportunities exist to recognize learner/earners' work-based learning experiences as they move through the healthcare career lattice to support credit for prior learning where possible. 
• Administrators/Institutional Leadership -- Join postsecondary leaders from across the state as we continue the conversation with Nan Travers and Melissa Goldberg, our keynote speakers. In this interactive session, participants will share the innovations occurring at their institutions as well as discuss some of the questions and challenges that exist as Colorado's postsecondary institutions work to innovate in order to better meet learner/earners where they are on their career and college trajectory.

Please direct any questions to Christina Carrillo at christina.carrillo@dhe.state.co.us.