LEAD Program offers free leadership training to junior faculty
UT Southwestern is taking the lead to provide junior faculty exceptional leadership training and networking opportunities.
The Leadership Emerging in Academic Departments (LEAD) Program is designed to provide junior faculty with training in leadership via concepts such as communication, promotion of diversity, and self-discovery. Thirty-four applicants of diverse specialties were selected for the 2018 class of the program, which is offered through the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development.
The program, launched in 2013, promotes cultivating leadership skills at all stages of an academic career. The mission is to guide participants to use their influence as a means of creating opportunities and producing results.
“We look at applicants’ past records and potential for leadership,” said Dr. Helen Yin, Associate Dean for the Office of Women’s Careers (OWC) and one of the LEAD Program directors. “We also take into account that we wanted to encourage underrepresented minorities.”
The latest cohort of the LEAD Program began late last year and includes 10 monthly four-hour sessions on Fridays through December 2018. Participants also meet with an executive coach and complete an individual Capstone Leadership Project.
Assistant and Associate Professors are eligible to apply. Associate Professors must have fewer than four years in rank. Applicants are required to submit an online application, letter of nomination by a Department Chair or Center Director, and a curriculum vitae.
The program curriculum changes yearly to adapt to the needs of participants, thanks to collaboration with the OWC, Organizational Development & Training, Human Resources, the School of Health Professions, and faculty leaders at UT Southwestern.
“I regularly use the tools that I learned in the program that help me optimize team performance and resolve conflicts,” said Dr. Ava Pierce, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, a graduate of the 2013 LEAD Program. “I learned the traits that effective leaders possess. I learned how to become more resilient, adaptable, and craft more impactful and meaningful changes.”
The UT Southwestern LEAD Program is now highly recognized as a prestigious program and copied nationally, with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City adopting the program. Dr. Yin also provides consultation regionally and has shared the curriculum with several schools, some a part of the UT System. Inspired graduates of LEAD have gone on to create their own leadership organizations.
“LEAD is certainly the most extensive leadership program I’ve participated in,” said Dr. Blake Barker, Associate Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, who completed the Program in 2015. “I’ve found that even two years after completing the program, I’m more prepared to seek the information and skill building I need because of that healthy foundation provided by LEAD.”