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Join our dynamic 60-minute Fireside Chats designed to surface real-world challenges and strategies.
This isn’t a lecture - it’s a peer-powered conversation led by seasoned experts, focused on practical solutions you can take back to your campus and implement immediately.
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A Fireside Chat is a relaxed yet structured conversation between a moderator, a guest speaker, and the audience, designed to be more intimate and engaging than traditional presentations or panel discussions.
The format creates a sense of personal connection with our professional colleagues. Think of it as a cross between a strategic roundtable and open dialog - a conversation!
No PowerPoints. No lectures.
Just practical, real-time dialogue, with prompts that spark ideas—not speeches.
Each session is built to:
- Foster peer-to-peer learning across roles and institution types
- Elevate member voices and campus-tested strategies
- Create lasting connections around common challenges
- Deliver takeaways that feel personal, useful, and shared
Whether you're new to EdPro or a long-time contributor, this is your seat at the table to ask questions, offer ideas, and engage in the kind of collaboration that makes our cooperative stronger.
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- A lively, expert-led conversation
- Facilitated exchange of practical solutions
- Spotlight on cross-functional collaboration.
- Build connections with peers, mentors, and collaborators
- Continue the conversation post-session on the EdPro Hub with access to shared materials, follow-up discussions, and expert guidance
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October 16, 1:00-2:00 PM
From Insight to Implementation: Bridging IT and Procurement Through Business Analysis
Speaker: Dr. Melody Dunbar, Senior Director – NSU Contact Center & IT Business Analysis Innovation & Information Technology
Key Objectives:
2. Strengthen Collaboration and Vendor Engagement: Share best practices for co-leading vendor selection, aligning requirements, and building trust across departments.
Identify early warning signs of misalignment and learn how to course-correct before contracts are signed.
4. Empower Strategic Implementation
Provide frameworks and governance models that support innovation, transparency, and long-term success.
Dr. Melody Dunbar is a strategic IT leader with more than 20 years of experience in higher education, energy, and nonprofit sectors. At Nova Southeastern University, she leads the Project Office, Business Analysis, and Contact Center teams, driving enterprise-wide transformation through vision, empathy, and execution.
Her expertise spans project management, Lean Six Sigma, and business analysis, and she is known for building inclusive, high-performing teams while making complex systems accessible to all levels of an organization. Melody holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership, an MBA, and a background in Management Information Systems.
A mentor and educator, she has taught university courses and led community training programs, helping students and professionals navigate academic, career, and technology pathways.
October 30, 1:00-2:00 PM
Quality of Purpose in Procurement: How to Navigate Institutional Shocks with Integrity
Speaker: Dr. Gastón de los Reyes
1. Recognize the Ethical Landscape
Acknowledge the challenges procurement professionals face in rapidly changing institutional environments—and how integrity can be a guiding principle.
2. Integrate Personal and Professional Identities
Explore how compartmentalization can undermine integrity and how opening channels between identities fosters ethical action.
Learn how this concept, rooted in Harvard’s Business Policy tradition, can guide individual professionals and drive organizational change.
4. Practice Answerability and Stakeholder Engagement
Discover how quality of purpose motivates professionals to engage with stakeholders and adapt with integrity.
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Gastón also consults on strategy for the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, a non-profit CDFI in Boston, and serves as chair of the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Prior to his doctoral studies in business ethics and strategy at the Wharton School, Gastón practiced corporate law with Cleary Gottlieb, representing Latin American companies in Wall Street transactions. He earned his J.D. and M.A. in philosophy from Boston University and his A.B. in philosophy from Harvard University.