Center for Innovative Leadership at Furman University

05/28/2026

Good design is a learnable, career-defining skill and demand for it is growing.

Through our partnership with the UX Design Institute, Furman's Center for Innovative Leadership offers a UI Design Certificate that gives you the principles, tools and hands-on practice to design interfaces that are as functional as they are beautiful.

-3 months | 3 hours a week
-Online, self-paced with live support and personalized project feedback
-Professional Figma portfolio upon course completion
-$2250.00 investment
-Enrollment closes June 30

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q04j3qn00

05/28/2026

Excel got you here. R will take you further.

If your reports are slow to build, hard to repeat, and maxing out your spreadsheet, it's time to make the switch. R is free, powerful, and built for exactly the kind of data work higher ed institutions run on every day; large datasets, complex reporting and visualizations that actually communicate something.

The Data Analytics-R Scripting course is your bridge from spreadsheets to scripting.

-Facilitated by Katlyn Bagley-Sepsey, Director of Institutional Research, Reporting, and Data Stewardship at Furman University
-Wednesdays, June 3, 10, 17 & 24 | 3:00–4:30 p.m. EST
-Mondays, June 8, 15, 22 & 29 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. EST
-Final Project Due: July 1
-$995

Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q04jb8Gl0

05/28/2026

Most leadership development doesn't stick because it's episodic. A workshop here, a retreat there, then back to business as usual with no ongoing support or community to lean on.

Catalyst Learning Membership from Furman's Center for Innovative Leadership closes that gap. One flat annual rate gives your entire organization access to year-round development through live sessions, expert speakers, micro-learning modules, and in-person networking with other Upstate SC leaders.

No per-seat pricing or participation caps. Just one predictable investment that grows leadership capacity all year long. Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q04j4WBS0

05/27/2026

AI is reshaping the way we work. The advantage comes not from throwing it at every problem, but understanding how to leverage it into practical results. Read the full blog post to hear more from Lelia King, facilitator of Furman’s Applied AI for Professional Practice certificate course, about how you can become an AI problem-solver.

AI is changing every industry, but most professionals are still figuring out what that actually means for their work and careers.

That’s the idea behind Applied AI for Professional Practice, a new hybrid professional certificate developed by Furman’s Office of Graduate Studies and the Center for Innovative Leadership in partnership with Build Carolina.

In this blog, facilitator Lelia King shares how the course will help participants move beyond theory and build practical AI fluency through real-world application, industry speakers and hands-on projects. Read more: https://ow.ly/nQS350Z3jnv

Build Carolina

05/27/2026

Culture isn't what an organization says it values. It's what gets rewarded, tolerated and repeated every day.

When those things don't align with where leadership wants to go, no strategy will close that gap. Culture can be designed, but it starts with an honest look at the gap between the culture you have and the culture you need. That is the work we do at the CIL.

Learn more about how we can help your organization design a culture of success: https://hubs.ly/Q04hSXfD0

05/26/2026

Policy shapes nearly every aspect of daily life, from housing to healthcare access, education to public safety. Yet most people have never been shown how to actually influence it. This course changes that.

Facilitated by Shaniece Criss, the Community Action & Policy Professional Certificate gives nonprofit professionals, board members, public health workers, and emerging leaders the practical tools to move from feeling locked out of the process to making real impact in their communities.

-August 25-December 8, 2026
-Tuesdays 5:00pm-6:30pm
-In-Person
-Enroll by August 24, 2026

Space is limited, secure your spot: https://hubs.ly/Q04hXfjT0

05/26/2026

Innovation isn't a department, team, title, or budget line. It's a capability, and like any capability, it can be built deliberately inside the people who are already doing the work.

The Certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship at Furman's Innovation Lab develops the entrepreneurial mindset inside established organizations. Five hands-on modules, a cohort of peers from other companies and a Furman credential your people take with them when it's done. If innovation is a priority for your organization in 2026, don’t miss this opportunity.

-Five in-person modules
-Open enrollment cohort
-Held at Furman Innovation Lab at Flywheel, Greenville SC
-August 7, 2026-December 9, 2026
-Enroll by August 7, 2026

Learn more: https://innovationlab.furman.edu/pcce/

05/26/2026

Most innovation frameworks never make it past the whiteboard. This one ended up inside BMW.

PDMA Carolinas is bringing together Furman University's Center for Innovative Leadership and BMW's IT Tech Office to show exactly how academic concepts moved from the classroom into a working corporate innovation process. From ideation to stakeholder engagement to scaling, this is a candid look at what it actually takes to bridge theory and practice inside a global organization.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026
12:00–1:00 PM EDT
Free virtual event

Register now: https://hubs.ly/Q04hSXMK0

05/21/2026

Furman's Center for Innovative Leadership partners with the UX Design Institute to bring internationally recognized UX and UI design certification to South Carolina.

UXDI is the world's first organization to offer a globally recognized professional diploma in UX design, with graduates in over 100 countries. Their programs are built around real-world practice, not theory.

Through this partnership, CIL offers four programs:

-User Experience (UX) Certificate
-User Interface (UI) Certificate
-UX Design Fundamentals Certificate
-Product Design (UX UI) Certificate Bundle for those ready to go deep on the complete design process

If you or someone on your team is ready to add these skills to their toolkit, this is where to start.

Learn more about each of these offerings: https://hubs.ly/Q04hclXy0

05/20/2026

You promoted your best performer. Now they're managing a team with minimal training, no clear framework and little support—and it shows up fast in engagement, conflict and turnover. The stakes are higher than most organizations realize: Gallup research found that highly engaged teams produce 23% higher profitability, 18% higher productivity and 51% less turnover. The biggest driver of that difference? The manager.

Great managers aren't born, they're built. That's exactly what Move to Manager is designed to do. This cohort-based program is delivered on-site at your organization across five modules, giving new and emerging managers the time and structure to grow into their roles.

Learn more here: https://hubs.ly/Q04hbHF20

Let’s chat about what Move to Manger can do for your organization: https://hubs.ly/Q04hb9zw0

05/19/2026

What happens when academic innovation frameworks meet a global corporation willing to put them to the test? PDMA Carolinas will explore exactly that June 16.

Innovation: Theory to Impact follows BMW's IT Tech Office as they took Furman University's Professional Certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship and embedded it directly into their Open Innovation Process, transforming how they ideate, validate and scale initiatives across the organization.

Hear from the people who made it happen:

Sarah Waylett, Director of Product Experience at Furman University's Center for Innovative Leadership, brings deep expertise in workplace transformation, Design Thinking and organizational resilience.

Brooke Rennison, Innovation Strategy Emerging Technology Manager at BMW's IT Tech Office, leads university and startup partnerships that drive a culture of innovation across the region.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026
12:00 – 1:00 PM EDT
Free virtual event

Register now: https://hubs.ly/Q04h6YLd0