CPE's Academic Leadership Development Institute kicking off another successful year

March 28, 2020

The Academic Leadership Development Institute (ALDI) has launched a second year of professional development sessions to prepare a group of 17 minority faculty and staff members for leadership roles in Kentucky higher education.

ALDI – a program sponsored by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education – is providing a series of highly-interactive sessions and small group seminars led by faculty and administrators from across Kentucky and other states. The goal is to create a learning community of early career, underrepresented minority faculty and staff who are on track for professional advancement.

Dr. Dawn Offutt, director of Initiatives for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Council, is facilitating the program with her team.

This year's cohort consists of 17 professionals – six from Kentucky's four-year institutions and 11 from institutions in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Institutional leaders nominated candidates for the yearlong initiative based on their leadership ability, interest in advancement, and dedication to higher education. Participants cannot have previous administrative experience.

With a theme of "In the KNOW" (Knowledge for Next-level Opportunities in the Workplace), the 2020 ALDI program will consist of four sessions.

The first session, held in March at the University of Kentucky, focused on "Know Yourself." It included:

• A workshop with CPE President Dr. Aaron Thompson on effective and dynamic leadership.
• A panel discussion featuring Dr. Sonja Feist-Price, University of Kentucky's vice president for institutional diversity; Dr. Palisa Williams Rushin, Bluegrass Community and Technical College's vice president of student development and enrollment management; and Dr. Linda Strong-Leek, provost for Berea College.
• A keynote address from Dr. John Inazu, author of the book "Confident Pluralism" and professor of law and religion at Washington University in St. Louis.

Participants also completed a personality assessment to discover how their personality styles affect how and whom they lead.

"I learned a lot about what leadership truly is," one participant said after the session. "I learned more about myself in terms of personality and what kind of leader I want to be."

Another said, "be prepared and purposeful in achieving your goals in case you are tapped on the shoulder for leadership. Be ready!"

In 2019, the Lumina Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to the Council to aid efforts in closing Kentucky's achievement gaps as outlined in the statewide diversity policy.

These efforts include implementing the Academic Leadership Development Institute as well as facilitating the Cultural Competence Certification Workgroup, which is developing a minimum set of standards and knowledge requirements that all faculty, staff and students in Kentucky's colleges and universities would be expected to possess to demonstrate cultural competence.

Lumina is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all.