Forty-one Fellows, including five from EKU, have completed the fourth annual Bluegrass Academic Leadership Academy. The EKU Fellows are Ida Kumoji-Ankrah, chair, Department of Art and Design; Karen Maloley, chair, Department of Curriculum and Instruction; Dawn L. Rothe, chair, Department of Criminal Justice and Police Studies; Michael Walach, associate professor, Department of Applied Engineering and Technology; and Kelly Watson, associate professor, Department of Geosciences.
The Academic Leadership Academy is a presidential initiative, led by the 12 presidents represented in the Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium, to build future academic leaders in the Bluegrass Region. EKU President Michael Benson and Berea College President Lyle Roelofs serve as co-chairs of the consortium.
Over the past four years, 175 Fellows have completed the program. The purpose of the academy is to encourage faculty and staff to consider leadership career paths and to provide guidance in developing the skills that are requisites for effective institutional leadership to ensure a sound and successful future for their institution and the Bluegrass Region. The consortium and the academy are managed by Bluegrass Tomorrow.
The Fellows participate in two full days of training where university presidents, vice presidents, provosts, deans and other key leaders present keynote addresses, panels and workshops. The final session was highlighted by keynote presentations by President John Marsden of Midway University, President Sandra Gray of Asbury University, and Aaron Thompson, vice president at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and former interim president of Kentucky State University.
Fellows also complete a research project for their specific institution between the spring and fall sessions. Completed campus projects were presented in four concurrent sessions at the final session at Asbury University. Presentations included “Best Practices for Student Recruitment Strategies at EKU.”