It’s official: We’re past the first quarter of 2025! Are you meeting your professional development goals? If not, don’t wait! As a UCOP employee, you can access an array of career-boosting courses and resources at no charge to you. Sign up for a live training to connect with colleagues and ask questions in real-time, or check out our self-paced offerings to accommodate your busy schedule.

You can also join the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program for wellness-focused workshops!

All listings reflect Pacific Time. Select each course name to register. For questions, contact ucopld@ucop.edu.

Software and project management

Excel Power BI
May 1, May 7 & May 15, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Learn about and practice using Power BI in this three-session workshop. Attendees will learn how to connect to data sources; perform data cleaning, profiling and shaping; visualize data and create interactive visualizations; enhance reports and dashboards; and publish and share reports and dashboards.

Project Management I
May 8, 15 & 22, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
The Center for Project Management leads this three-part workshop emphasizing the fundamentals of how to initiate, create and manage a project. Each session has specific takeaways, as follows:

• Session 1: Discover the critical importance of having a clear, shared understanding of a project at the outset by creating a comprehensive project charter.
• Session 2: Build a professional-grade project plan and detailed estimates.
• Session 3: Convert a project plan and estimates into a project schedule to track and communicate project status.

Box Fundamentals
May 14, 10 – 11 a.m.
Get an overview of Box, the cloud-based service providing UCOP’s secure file storage and sharing. Topics covered include basic Box usage, collaborating within and outside of UCOP, commenting on files, folder permissions, shared links and many other features and tips. Plus, you’ll have a chance to ask IT administrators any Box questions.

Staff Talent Evaluation Process (STEP) and people management

People Leader Forum: Managing in 2025 — Current Research
May 2, 1 – 2 p.m.
The People Leader Forum is a monthly opportunity for people managers to connect with one another to develop leadership skills, build community, share best practices, swap strategies for navigating current challenges and learn to better support themselves and their teams. Each month covers a different topic, as stated below.

• May 2: Managing in 2025: Current Research
• June 6: Understanding UCOP Leaves and Accommodations
• August 1: Difficult Conversations
• September 5: Steady Leadership in Turbulent Times: Psychological Tools for Navigating Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity
• October 3: Equity Process Review
• November 7: Building Effective Teams

GROWing Your Check-In Conversations for Managers
May 6, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
GROW is a popular coaching framework used worldwide for problem-solving, goal-setting and performance improvement. This interactive session allows managers to discuss and practice using the GROW framework as a strategy and tool to support engaging STEP checkpoint conversations.

The ecourse “GROWing your Checkpoint Conversations” is a prerequisite to this class.

UCOP STEP: Setting Goals and Competencies
May 7, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
In this live training, we will expand on the materials presented in the STEP Fundamentals for Employees eCourse, going into detail on the Define Criteria stage to help you practice writing goals and aligning them to UCOP competencies. This course is designed to support new employees and those who want to elevate their STEP goals.

GROW Plus: Accountability Conversations for Managers
May 28, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
In the second part of the required live training series on manager and employee performance conversations, we’ll answer the question: “What do I do when my coaching is not improving performance?” In this virtual, live and highly interactive workshop, we will cover providing productive critical feedback, managing emotions, creating efficient documentation and holding effective accountability conversations. Attendees will role-play accountability conversations using the UCOP GROW Plus framework.

Communication and meetings

Mastering the Logistics of Hybrid Meetings
May 20, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Effectively facilitating hybrid meetings can be technically challenging. Learn how to set up hybrid meetings to fully engage remote and in-person attendees. We’ll cover effective preparation and set-up of all technical components, including audio, camera and the use of Zoom features.

Difficult Conversations
May 21, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Have you ever disagreed with someone where the conversation didn’t go quite how you wanted? Conflict is inevitable. This highly interactive course will explore strategies for navigating difficult conversations in your personal and professional life. You’ll learn core principles for successfully navigating disagreements, then apply them through practice role-playing. By the end of the workshop, you’ll feel more confident in approaching difficult conversations with anyone.

Brainstorming and Decision-Making in Hybrid Meetings
May 28, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
It’s critical to ensure that all team members have a voice when it comes to collaborative processes like brainstorming and decision-making. Facilitating collaborative meetings is especially challenging in a hybrid environment. In this workshop, you’ll learn protocols designed for the hybrid environment that lead to high participation, engagement and include all voices. Get ready to learn and try step-by-step protocols for productive brainstorming and decision-making in hybrid meetings.

Safety and well-being

Breaking the Taboo: Talking about Suicide and Seeking to Understand When Someone is Having Thoughts of Suicide
May 8, 12 – 1 p.m.
We have all been impacted by suicide — by hearing about suicide in the media, experiencing thoughts of suicide ourselves, losing a loved one to suicide, or trying to support someone we know who is coping with thoughts of suicide. We know that open, compassionate conversations can help save lives, but suicide remains a topic that’s difficult to discuss.

In this webinar, Dr. Joe Orovecz will help us develop our comfort in talking about suicide and, perhaps more importantly, listening when someone we know is experiencing thoughts of self-harm. We’ll cover how to:

• Recognize warning signs of suicide
• Communicate in a supportive way when someone is in emotional distress
• Access resources that can be helpful in moments of crisis (including 988, which you can dial right now anywhere in the U.S. to be connected to a crisis counselor for support)
• Attend to our well-being when supporting someone else

UCOP Safety: Basic Awareness
May 14, 2 – 3 p.m.
Melissa Collins, program manager for security, risk and resilience, will facilitate this live virtual class, providing basic safety tips to help you feel informed, alert and safe as you travel to and from the workplace. Extra time is allotted for questions and feedback.

Working Parents: Strategies for Resilience and Avoiding Burnout
May 16, 12 – 1 p.m.
Join Heike Mitchell, Ph.D., and FSAP for a practical, solution-focused session to help you manage the pressures of working parenthood and improve your well-being. We will review the challenges today’s working parents face and the risks of parental burnout. By the end of the webinar, you will be able to:

• Recognize signs and causes of parental burnout
• Discover personal, family and career strategies for burnout prevention and recovery
• Design your own plan to make working parenthood more sustainable
• Know how to access resources for dealing with parental burnout

Move into Stillness: African & Middle Eastern Beats Meet Meditation
May 23, 12 – 1 p.m.
This unique midday wellness experience invites you to reconnect with your body and mind through rhythm and stillness. We’ll begin with energizing African and Middle Eastern beats, then guide participants in meditative movement — an opportunity to step away from your desk and awaken the body. From there, the experience will shift into a seated, guided meditation designed to open the heart and promote relaxation and inner balance.

This immersive experience is designed to refresh and restore you, blending music, movement and meditation in a deeply grounding way. This session is ideal for anyone who enjoys moving to music and is looking for a guided yet private experience to recharge during the day.

Sensory Tools for Stress Relief: Strategies for Calming the Nervous System
May 29, 12 – 1 p.m.
Feeling overwhelmed by stress? Whether it’s work demands, personal responsibilities or the challenges of daily life, our nervous system constantly processes sensory input that impacts how we feel and function. In this Mental Health Awareness Month webinar, we will explore techniques to help you:

• Understand stress and nervous system dysregulation
• Discover sensory-based strategies (sight, sound, touch, smell and taste) for emotional regulation
• Learn practical ways to integrate these tools into your daily routine for greater balance and resilience

Through education and experiential exercises, you’ll leave with a personalized plan to help navigate stress more easily.

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