Twenty-six faculty members from a cross-section of campus recently completed the inaugural Faculty Leadership Institute at EKU.
The two-day institute “focused on practical skills that can enhance leadership across campus,” said Dr. Russell Carpenter, executive director of the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity and co-chair of the 2017 institute with Dr. Sara Zeigler, interim dean of the College of Arts, Letters, & Social Sciences.
Sessions covered a wide range of topics, including leadership assessment, budgeting and leadership, leading effective meetings, ethics and conflict management. “Communication skills were a major theme,” Zeigler noted, “as those are key to inspiring others to do their best work.”
The event “went well,” Carpenter said. “We had an outstanding, energetic group of faculty interested in developing leadership skills. In the process, we learned quite a bit that we can share with the University community and our new faculty in the future. The faculty members were deeply engaged with the topics, asking questions and seeking advice on how to contribute more to the University.”
The Institute planning team “took advantage of the expertise held by highly effective faculty leaders on campus.” Presenters included Shirley O’Brien, Bob Brubaker, Betina Gardner, Tiffany Hamblin, Yoshie Nakai, Lynnette Noblitt, Sheila Pressley, Jerry Pogatshnik, Amy Thieme and Garett Yoder.
The inaugural class of participants, with representation from every academic college, included Ogechi Anyanwu, Dominic Ashby, Mike Austin, Ryan Baggett, Julie Baltisberger, Michael Bradley, Christine Carucci, Marco Ciocca, Anne Cizmar, Jennifer Fairchild, Gregory Gorbett, Karen Hopkins, Gill Hunter, Sandy Hunter, Lisa Kay, Ida Kumoji-Ankrah, Michael Lane, Jim Larsgard, Amy Marshall, Nicola Mason, Keri New, Minh Nguyen, Randi Polk, Donghui Quan, Matthew Sabin and Rebekah Waikel.
“We hope that faculty will take away skills for implementation in a wide variety of leadership situations, from committee and department meetings to leading programs,” Zeigler said. “Ideally, we continue to offer the Faculty Leadership Institute and highlight outstanding faculty leaders on campus. If we do this well, the institute will not only provide professional development but make EKU a better place to work and grow.”
Information about the 2018 FLI will be posted later this year at studio.eku.edu/faculty-leadership-institute. Carpenter expects the application for the 2018 institute will be posted on the site by Fall 2017.