Accounting Research Workshop Series

Unlock Microsoft Word's hidden potential in just one hour and discover the features that will transform your productivity during this Professional Edge training.

Join this fast-paced, interactive workshop designed to introduce you to the game-changing features that most people never discover. This isn't about basic typing or simple formatting. It's about the professional-level tools that can transform how you create documents. Through quick demonstrations and hands-on exploration, you'll get a taste of advanced features like styles, reference management, and template creation that separate efficient professionals from those still struggling with manual formatting.

• Eye-opening feature discovery: Get introduced to powerful tools like the style gallery, navigation pane, and advanced formatting options most users never find.  
• Time-saving techniques: Learn quick methods for consistent formatting, efficient editing, and professional document creation.  
• Template creation basics: Understand how to create reusable templates that ensure consistency across all your documents.  
• Professional insight: Discover why these features matter in academic and workplace settings, and how they can set your work apart.  
• Next steps guidance: Leave with a clear understanding of how to continue developing these skills and resources for further learning.  

This workshop is perfect for anyone who uses Microsoft Word regularly but suspects they're missing out on features that could make their work easier, faster, and more professional. Discover what you've been missing!

Prepare for a future in today's dynamic business environment. Enhance your data analysis and visualization skills with Power BI! In the organizations you will work for, vast amounts of data will be collected every day. Your challenge will be to make sense of it. Excel spreadsheets have their place, but they're static, limited in their ability to visualize data, and time-consuming to build and use. In this Professional Edge training, you will be equipped with the skills to move beyond the confines of stagnant data and transform it into a living, breathing dashboard.  

Virtual Training Requirements

This training requires access to a computer running a Windows operating system. Power BI is NOT available on MacOS computers, including MacBooks.  

Schedule

• Friday, January 16, 1:00–4:00 p.m. (virtual)
• Friday, January 30, 1:00–4:00 p.m. (virtual)

Participants who attend both days of this program and fulfill all requirements are eligible to earn a digital microcredential in Power BI Essentials, validating your newly acquired skills.

This portable and verifiable credential can be shared on platforms like LinkedIn, showcasing your expertise to potential employers and offering tangible proof of in-demand competencies.  

Why Participate?

In a data-driven world, your ability to extract meaningful insights and make informed decisions is a game-changer. Power BI empowers you with the skills you need to drive decision-making processes, giving you a competitive edge in the job market.  

What You'll Learn

• Transform data: Format data to extract actionable insights.  
• Create data models: Present your data intuitively and in a visually engaging way, making it easier for your audience to understand complex information.  
• Visualize data: Tell the story of your data in quick, responsive analytics.  
• Share Assets: The power of automation ensures that your data reaches the right people at the right time.  

About the Instructor

Wyatt Schow is a current third-year student at the University of Oregon, studying accounting and economics, often dealing with large amounts of data. Power BI enables him to effortlessly organize and customize data, transforming it into a wide range of insightful charts and graphs.

Whether you're contemplating a career in sales, embarking on your first professional role, or looking to improve your communication skills to establish trust with others, the Professional Edge Sales Essentials Training program is your foundation for success.

Designed for participants across all majors and disciplines, this training program offers invaluable insights and skills for aspiring sales professionals, future entrepreneurs, marketers, and business leaders.  

Schedule

• Friday, January 16, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (in-person)
• Friday, January 23, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (in-person)  

Participants who attend both days of this program and fulfill all requirements are eligible to earn a Sales Essentials microcredential from the Lundquist College of Business.

This credential is perfect for showcasing your skills on LinkedIn and other platforms, offering tangible proof of your newly acquired competencies.  

Why Participate?

During this 8-hour program, you will learn the art of relationship-based selling throughout the entire sales cycle from a seasoned professional. Through engaging activities, practical exercises, and interactive sessions, you'll not only refine your sales approach but also create an individual development plan for continuous improvement.

This program isn't just about mastering sales techniques. It's an opportunity to develop a versatile skill set that includes effective communication, strategic thinking, and the ability to understand and meet customer needs—qualities that are invaluable in any career path.  

What You'll Gain

• Develop core sales skills: Gain proficiency in relationship-based selling techniques across key areas essential for sales success, including prospecting, effective communication, overcoming objections, and closing the sale.  
• Create an individual development plan: Leave the program with a tailored development plan, reviewed by an industry expert, to showcase your self-awareness and commitment to continuously improve your sales skills.  
• Earn a marketable skills microcredential: Enhance your resume and LinkedIn profile when you earn the Sales Essentials Microcredential from the Lundquist College of Business.  

About the Instructor

Steven Havens is a former senior executive at Bank of America, where he led multiple consumer and small business banking territories throughout South Florida and Southern California. After more than 16 years in banking, he made a career change, shifting to dual careers in education and catering. He is the owner and head chef of his catering business which specializes in boutique events and provides private chef services and cooking class instruction. A 2023 MBA graduate, he also teaches business finance, personal finance and business ethics at the undergraduate level as an adjunct professor. His breadth of experience in corporate finance, sales leadership, and entrepreneurship gives Steven a wealth of knowledge that he enjoys sharing with aspiring students.

Think PowerPoint is just for bullet points and slide transitions? Think again. In this fast-paced, hands-on Professional Edge workshop, you'll discover the powerful features that can elevate your presentations from basic to brilliant. Whether you're building decks for meetings, events, or instruction, this session will introduce you to the tools that make your slides more engaging, professional, and easier to manage.

This isn't about adding animations or picking a font. It's about mastering the design and organizational features that save time and make your message shine.

• Slide master and layouts demystified: Learn how to create consistent, professional slide designs using slide master and custom layouts. No more formatting each slide manually.  
• Themes and variants: Discover how to apply and customize themes to give your presentation a cohesive, polished look.  
• Smart organization with sections: Use sections to structure your presentation for easier navigation and editing.  
• Precision design tools: Get hands-on with smart guides, gridlines, and Designer to align content and create visually appealing slides effortlessly.  
• Infographics made easy: Explore how to use shapes, icons, and built-in tools to create compelling visual stories without needing graphic design software.  
• Presenter view and slide notes: Learn how to use presenter view to stay on track during delivery and leverage notes for smoother presentations.  
• Quick access toolbar customization: Speed up your workflow by tailoring your toolbar with the tools you use most.  
• Templates and reusability: Understand how to build and reuse templates that save time and ensure consistency across presentations.  

This workshop is perfect for anyone who uses Microsoft PowerPoint regularly but suspects they're missing out on features that could make their work easier, faster, and more professional. Discover what you've been missing!

Think Excel is just rows, columns, and formulas? This Professional Edge workshop will change your mind. In just one hour, you'll explore powerful features that go far beyond basic spreadsheets—tools that help you clean data, analyze trends, and make smarter decisions faster.

This isn't about learning how to sum a column. It's about unlocking the hidden gems that make Excel a powerhouse for productivity and insight.

• Data validation and cleanup: Learn how to control data entry with validation rules and quickly remove duplicates to keep your spreadsheets clean and reliable.
• Flash fill and quick analysis: Discover how Excel can recognize patterns and automate formatting, and use the quick analysis tool to instantly visualize your data.  
• Mini visuals with sparklines: Add tiny, powerful charts directly into cells to show trends at a glance in dashboards and reports.  
• What-if analysis and goal seek: Explore scenario planning tools that help you test outcomes and find the exact inputs needed to reach your goals.  
• Consolidate tool: Combine data from multiple sheets or workbooks into one streamlined summary. No manual copy-pasting required.  
• Forecast sheet: Use built-in forecasting tools to project future trends based on historical data, with just a few clicks.  

This workshop is ideal for anyone who works with data in Excel and wants to move beyond formulas into smarter, faster analysis. Whether you're tracking budgets, managing projects, or reporting outcomes, these tools will help you work more efficiently and make your data work harder for you.

Come discover what you’ve been missing!

Effective project management is about more than hitting deadlines. It's about delivering results that align with stakeholder needs, managing risk, and driving team accountability. This hands-on, Professional Edge training introduces foundational project management tools and mindsets through a dynamic, scenario-based learning experience.

Whether you're aiming for a career in consulting, operations, marketing, tech, or entrepreneurship, learning to analyze a project and develop an actionable plan is a standout skill that employers value across industries.  

Schedule

• Friday, January 30, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (in-person)
• Friday, February 6, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (in-person)  

What to Expect

• Live scenario walkthrough: Analyze a real-world inspired case study and contract to uncover the key milestones, stakeholders, and risks.  
• Interactive mock interviews: Step into the role of a project team member and engage with a simulated Project Executive Sponsor to practice stakeholder engagement and requirement gathering.  
• Team-based planning: Collaborate with your peers to synthesize documentation and interviews into a complete high-level project plan.  
• Presentation and peer feedback: Present your project plan, justify your decisions, reflect on your approach, and receive instructor feedback.  

What You'll Gain

• Analytical skills: Learn how to extract key deliverables, timelines, and risks from contracts and documentation.  
• Stakeholder mapping: Build a visual stakeholder map that identifies priorities, influence, and communication needs.  
• Project structuring: Translate ambiguous information into high-level project goals, tasks, and dependencies.  
• Risk management: Anticipate potential challenges and design mitigation strategies before they derail progress.  
• Team presentation experience: Practice articulating your plan with confidence—just like you would with a client or project sponsor.  
• Portfolio-ready output: Leave with a professional-quality high-level project plan and reflection you can reference in interviews or future projects. No matter what field you intend to go into, the ability to plan and execute effectively will help you lead with impact and credibility.  

Participants who attend both days of this program and fulfill all requirements are eligible to earn a Project Management Essentials microcredential. This credential is perfect for showcasing your skills on LinkedIn and other platforms, offering tangible proof of your newly acquired competencies.  

About the Instructor

Brian Ikei is a seasoned technology executive and digital transformation strategist with a track record of leading complex, high-impact initiatives across higher education and global enterprise. From managing a CRM modernization at the University of Oregon Foundation to driving large-scale tech programs for The Walt Disney Company at Accenture, Brian is known for building high-performing, resilient teams that thrive in fast-paced, mission-critical environments.

Microsoft Teams is more than just chat and video calls. It's a full collaboration hub. In this interactive, one-hour Professional Edge workshop, you'll learn how to structure your Teams environment for clarity, efficiency, and impact. From organizing channels to managing meetings and collaborating on files, this session will help you unlock the features that make Teams a powerful productivity tool.

This isn't about sending emojis or starting a call. It's about building a digital workspace that actually works.

• Team and channel structure best practices: Learn how to organize Teams by project, department, or function, and use private and shared channels effectively to keep communication focused.  
• Smarter communication tools: Master @mentions, tags, message formatting, pinning and saving messages, and managing your activity feed to stay on top of what matters.  
• File collaboration made easy: Understand the difference between sharing via OneDrive vs. Teams, coauthor documents in real time, and use version history to recover changes.  
• Meetings and webinars: Get comfortable scheduling and joining meetings, using chat, notes, and recordings, and explore tools like whiteboard and breakout rooms for interactive sessions.  
• Search and organization: Use advanced search techniques, folders, and archiving to find information quickly and keep your workspace organized.  
• Productivity boosters: Explore features like delayed delivery, email templates, voting buttons, and polls to streamline communication and decision-making.  
• Tasks and Microsoft To Do integration: Create tasks from messages, use My Day and priority views, and sync with Microsoft To Do to manage your workload across platforms.  

This workshop is perfect for anyone who collaborates in Teams and wants to move beyond basic messaging and meetings. Whether you're managing projects, coordinating with colleagues, or leading virtual sessions, these tools will help you work smarter and communicate more effectively.

Learn the key principles of being a neuro-inclusive leader in today's and tomorrow's working environment while exploring leadership outside of traditional hierarchy structures. Develop skills to understand and respect different ways of thinking, and gain insights into how diverse perspectives strengthen organizational outcomes.

This Professional Edge training provides a deep dive into intersectionality and examines how identity influences people's experiences at work. You will understand the importance of psychological safety at work through the lens of trauma-informed principles and discover what makes a workplace psychologically safe for all team members.

Throughout the training, you will learn to assess different business scenarios for inclusive or exclusive policies and environments, developing the analytical skills needed to identify areas for improvement.  

Schedule

• Week 1: Friday, February 6, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
• Week 2: Friday, February 13, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
• Week 3: Friday, February 20, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
• Week 4: Friday, February 27, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Participants who attend all sessions of this program and fulfill all requirements are eligible to earn a Neuroinclusive Leadership microcredential.

This credential is perfect for showcasing your skills on LinkedIn and other platforms, offering tangible proof of your newly acquired competencies.  

Why Participate

• You are looking to build and strengthen your ability to lead and support others in a rapidly changing and growing digital workplace.  
• You are interested in reflecting on your identity, how it may vary from others and what privilege and oppression can look like in the workplace.  
• You are interested in learning how your past experiences and behavior can support or detract from the psychological safety of your work environment.  

What You'll Gain

At the end of this training, you'll be able to:

• Recognize and appreciate neurodiversity as the natural variation in the way people think, feel and experience the world and understand these differences are not deficits.  
• Foster workplace environments that embrace neurodiversity through inclusive policies, practices, and physical/digital environments.  
• Understand as formal or informal leader, that there is no singular "ideal leader" and that there are many ways to lead.  
• Build more compassionate, trusting spaces through an understanding of how trauma impacts our understanding of self and others.  
• Recognize the nuance of intersectionality in the workplace and understand that neuroidentity is only one aspect of how marginalization and privilege can be present in the workplace.  

About the Instructors

Graham Hulbert (he/him) is a mechanical engineer whose early career was spent as a continuous improvement leader in the manufacturing and supply chain industry. He later transferred his love of problem solving into the world of business process design and software implementation. He founded Tula Consulting to showcase the strengths of neurodivergent thinkers and help build more neuroinclusive environments at work.

Vo Vo (they/them) explores support strategies and models of community care within a post-traumatic social landscape, focusing on the resilience of BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+ and disabled communities. They are editor of an internationally renowned publication, speaker, educator, curator, artist and musician who has exhibited and toured in countries around the world.

Kino Crooke (he/him) is a mental health therapist specializing in crisis response and mental health stabilization during and following significant adverse life events. He works in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, both in the community and within a behavioral health hospital and emergency room.

Laura Nichols (she/her) is a mental health therapist and manager for crisis intervention specialists working within a psychiatric emergency room in Portland, Oregon. She runs Courageous Conversations and teaches classes on health equity and anti-racism. She is an adjunct professor in the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Counseling.

Is your inbox running you, or are you running your inbox? In this fast-paced, interactive Professional Edge workshop, you'll learn how to take full control of Microsoft Outlook and transform it into a productivity powerhouse. From smarter email management to calendar mastery and task integration, this session will introduce you to the tools that make Outlook more than just an email app.

This isn't about sending messages. It's about streamlining your day, organizing your priorities, and making Outlook work for you.

• Inbox management essentials: Learn how to declutter and organize your inbox using focused inbox, flags, follow-ups, and categories.  
• Automation with rules and quick steps: Discover how to automate repetitive tasks and streamline your workflow with custom rules and quick steps.  
• Calendar mastery: Get hands-on with scheduling tools, recurring events, time zone management, and calendar sharing to make planning effortless.  
• Search and organization: Use advanced search techniques, folders, and archiving to find what you need fast and keep your Outlook tidy.  
• Productivity boosters: Explore features like delayed delivery, email templates, voting buttons, and polls to communicate more effectively.  
• Tasks and Microsoft To Do integration: Turn emails into actionable tasks, use My Day and priority views, and sync with Microsoft To Do for seamless task management.  

This workshop is perfect for anyone who uses Outlook daily and wants to move beyond basic email and calendar functions. Whether you're managing a busy schedule, coordinating with teams, or just trying to stay organized, these tools will help you reclaim your time and boost your productivity.

Already mastered the fundamentals of relationship-based selling? Transform your sales fundamentals into strategic, client-ready expertise during this Professional Edge training. Take your skills to the next level with the Intermediate Sales training program, a hands-on, scenario-driven experience that transforms foundational knowledge into applied expertise.

This training is ideal for students preparing for roles in sales, marketing, consulting, or entrepreneurship who want to move beyond theory to practice the kind of advanced communication, persuasion, and problem-solving that define top-performing professionals. Designed for participants who have completed Sales Essentials, this program challenges you to think strategically, communicate persuasively, and close confidently.  

Prerequisite Training: Sales Essentials

To participate in this training, you must have completed the Sales Essentials training program and earned the microcredential.

If you are registered for the Sales Essentials training this term, you may register for this program concurrently, pending successful completion of Sales Essentials prior to the start of Intermediate Sales.  

Schedule

• Week 1: Friday, February 13, 9:00–1:00 p.m. (in-person)
• Week 2: Friday, February 20, 9:00–1:00 p.m. (in-person)

Participants who attend both days of this program and fulfill all requirements are eligible to earn a digital microcredential.

This portable, verifiable credential can be shared on platforms like LinkedIn, showcasing your expertise to potential employers and offering tangible proof of in-demand competencies.  

Why Participate

In this 8-hour, two-day program, you'll deepen your understanding of the sales process through interactive simulations, roleplays, and peer collaboration. You'll learn how to define an ideal customer profile, conduct effective discovery conversations, and tailor value propositions that resonate with specific decision-makers. You'll also create and deliver a professional solution pitch deck and practice overcoming common objections using industry-informed tactics.

Through realistic, technology-enhanced exercises, you'll refine your ability to think on your feet, read your audience, and position solutions that drive results.  

What You'll Gain

• Earn a marketable skills microcredential: Advance your professional toolkit by earning the Intermediate Sales microcredential from the Lundquist College of Business, proof of your ability to engage in complex sales scenarios with strategy and confidence.  
• Build strategic sales competence: Develop advanced skills across the full sales cycle, including defining customer profiles, crafting value propositions, creating solution pitches, and closing the sale with actionable follow-ups.  
• Practice sales scenarios: Engage in realistic discovery conversations, handle objections effectively, and adapt your messaging to different client roles and needs.  
• Create a portfolio of applied work: Leave with tangible artifacts—including an ideal customer profile, discovery transcript, value proposition, pitch deck, and action plan—that demonstrate your readiness for client-facing sales roles.  

About the Instructors

Jason Ford has more than 30 years of experience and a notable track record in assessing and recommending complex technology solutions and products across various sectors, including Fortune 500 companies, the public sector, healthcare, education, and small and medium businesses.

Craig Tiffany is a seasoned enterprise sales professional with more than 25 years of experience at both large corporations and small companies. He specializes in building strategic relationships and driving growth in complex business-to-business environments. He also serves on the CASA of Clackamas County board of directors, advocating for children in foster care.