A professional development program for University faculty and staff that recently graduated its fifth cohort has improved leadership skills and the relationship between GW officials and faculty, program alumni said.
The GW Academic Leadership Academy, started by former Provost Forrest Maltzman and Provost Chris Bracey in 2019 to develop leadership talent at GW, is a yearlong cohort-based program with monthly sessions where attendees hear from University leaders on topics, like conflict management and emotional intelligence. New graduates and program alumni said the networking opportunities and assignments helped them make connections across the University and improve their confidence in taking leadership positions.
Participants in the free program are selected through a nomination process, either from self-nominations or from a fellow GW colleague. In addition to the monthly sessions, participants complete a project of their choosing, usually with the goal of improving their department. The projects are presented to all of the cohort members at the end of the program via verbal presentation, written blog or poster.
University spokesperson Katelyn Deckelbaum said the University remains “committed” to the academy’s growth and refines the curriculum each year.
“Our primary goal is to offer a transformative learning experience that enhances leadership skills through self-reflection, continuous development, and a collaborative culture—ultimately empowering faculty and staff to become leaders who uplift and support others across the institution,” Deckelbaum said in an email.
Each of the monthly sessions — which attendees said last between an hour and a half to two hours — generally consisted of talks delivered by GW officials, like Bracey, deans and discussions led by the program’s facilitator, Sara Melita.
Before each meeting, attendees are generally instructed to complete an assigned reading or assignment related to the session’s topic.
Melita said assignments before a session are “minimal” and that the project component of the program ensured participants could “immediately” apply what they learned to real-world challenges.
“Participants consistently said the opportunity to learn from one another was the most meaningful part of the experience,” she said in a LinkedIn message.
Melita said she worked closely with Maltzman and Bracey when developing the curriculum and consulted with Ellen Goldman, a School of Medicine & Health Sciences professor who spearheaded a similar nine-month cohort-based program started in January 2018 to boost leadership skills for SMHS faculty and staff.
Sherrie Wallington, a professor in the School of Nursing, said she benefited from conversations with GW officials to discuss their projects and get feedback on improving their departments. She said Bracey spent a lot of time with the group, which she said she appreciated because she knows he’s “so busy.”
“Some of the best meetings and conversations were when Provost Bracey and Sara Melita would invite other senior leaders across the campus,” Wallington said.
Ahdeah Pajoohesh-Ganji, an associate professor of anatomy and cell biology and a graduate from the last year’s cohort, said she grew from getting “360 feedback,” a part of the program where participants receive constructive criticism about their leadership style from everyone they work with, including deans, colleagues and staff. She added that programs like these are valuable because many people who are promoted to leadership positions, including herself, don’t inherently have the skills necessary to automatically be effective leaders when they step into a leadership role.
“You’re getting the leadership role because it’s now time for you to get those roles, but you’re not really being properly trained for it,” Pajoohesh-Ganji said. “And I think that is pretty true in a lot of institutes. So this program gives you that leadership training.”
Gergana Jostova, a professor and chair of the finance department who graduated from this year’s cohort, said she learned different leadership techniques, like how to properly motivate a team. She said the leadership academy allowed her to interact with and talk with people across different schools and with different roles on how to tackle an issue.
“We tend to be in silos sometimes, in our business school, law school, international affairs, but now we were all together and thinking about the issue from so many different perspectives,” Jostova said. “And so I think the fact it was so interactive made it very impactful.”
Members of the second cohort had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Bracey near the end of the academy for a 30-minute mentoring session, according to Leslie Ward, a former data director for the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
Ward, who is now the director of institutional research and assessment at Trinity Washington University, said the leadership skills she developed during the academy made the transition to her new job easier because she felt more confident taking a leadership position.
“Before my audience was faculty. Now my audience is the provost, president and deans,” she said. “I definitely accredit GWALA with helping me develop the confidence to kind of apply for something outside of the scope of what I had been doing.”
Christopher Cahill, a professor and chair of the chemistry department, said he focused his project on implementing his department’s strategic plan, which called for increasing the number of graduate students and research funding. He said the work was manageable since that was something he was already working on as chair and benefited from the 360 feedback.
“You were doing some task that was required of you with everybody else watching, meaning you had feedback, had comments and the like,” he said. “It was a very productive experience.”
Ayman El Tarabishy, a professor of management and the department’s deputy chair, said the program allowed for “open collaboration” among cohort members through the assignments and discussions, which he said “empowered” them to share ideas freely and improve their projects.
“That’s the benefit of this program, collaboration and cooperation with an underlying push for innovation to help the whole University,” he said.
El Tarabishy said he keeps in touch with his peers from the first cohort and has leaned on that network since graduating from the program. He said he has given advice to fellow cohort members and faculty from the School of Engineering & Applied Science, who were considering adding courses on innovation and entrepreneurship and said their past conversations during the academy helped establish the connection.
“It helped facilitate, create a nurturing slash friendly climate between schools,” he said.
Xiaoke Zhang, an associate professor of statistics and a graduate from the last year’s cohort, said he thinks the leadership academy should be expanded by requiring it for all faculty moving into leadership positions, like vice and associate deans. Zhang said this could be in addition to the current model, where faculty and staff must be nominated to be a part of the program.
Zhang said being a part of the academy and connecting with faculty and staff across GW helped him understand the challenges that other departments across the University are facing. The collaboration between faculty and staff that the academy fosters will be helpful in the future as the University works to strengthen shared governance principles, Zhang said.
“As a University, we want to have some shared governance that will involve faculty, students and also other shareholders,” Zhang said. “I think understanding what issues, different aspects, different divisions of the University is having, I think that’s definitely very helpful.”
