We welcome any and all current and aspiring department chairs and program directors to participate in this course. If you’re looking to gain confidence in your ability to be an authentic and effective leader, this program is for you!

See the Full Curriculum

Week 1: Develop Your Leadership Superpower: A Focus on Self-Awareness 

Starting: April 1, 2024

Format: On-demand videos and self-guided activities / Approximate Time Commitment: 2 hours 

You’ll begin the course by exploring four common archetypes of self-awareness, and you’ll use this framework to reflect on how you approach your own self-awareness, as well as the ways you can deepen your practice of self-awareness.

Week 2: Understand Your Leadership Style: The Five Paths to Leadership℠ Assessment 

Starting: April 8, 2024 | Live Session: April 11, 2024 (12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET) 

Format: On-demand videos, self-guided activities, and live discussion / Approximate Time Commitment: 4 hours 

To deepen your understanding of your strengths and gaps, you’ll complete the Five Paths to Leadership℠ Assessment. This tool examines five forms of intelligence, including intellectual, emotional, intuitive, action, and reflective—as well as how you can achieve greater balance among those five forms. Its purpose is to help you understand how your natural leadership style shows up in both normal and stressful situations, as well as how you can adapt your leadership approach to different situations and people as needed, thus enhancing your leadership effectiveness. Through videos and live discussion, you’ll discover how your results can guide your work as department chair.

Week 3: Embrace Your Leadership: The Balancing Acts of Academic Leadership

Starting: April 15, 2024  

Format: On-demand videos and self-guided activities / Approximate Time Commitment: 2 hours 

Leadership requires the constant evaluation of a series of trade-offs. For instance, you may ask yourself questions like, “Do I lead as a faculty member or as a department head?” “Do I focus on the immediate or the long-term?” “Am I a colleague or a supervisor?” How you choose your position is largely dependent on your natural leadership style and how well you understand the impact of your leadership on others. You’ll also be introduced to the “balancing act” or “seesaw” as a framing device that will help you to navigate these inherent trade-offs.

Week 4: Define and Refine Your Leadership Style: Revisiting Self-Awareness 

Starting: April 22, 2024 | Live Session: April 25, 2024 (12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET) 

Format: On-demand videos, self-guided activities, and live discussion / Approximate Time Commitment: 3-4 hours 

Here, you’ll bring together everything you’ve learned and create a personal definition of leadership that reflects your understanding of your leadership and how it impacts others. Through discussion with your peers, you’ll also identify ways you can apply that definition to a current leadership challenge to help you determine the best way to move forward.

Learn more about the program, how it works and who it was designed for.