LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 20, 2014) – The Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium announced that 42 Fellows have completed its inaugural Bluegrass Academic Leadership Academy on Friday at Eastern Kentucky University.
The Academic Leadership Academy is co-chaired by Dr. Bonnie Banker, academic dean at Asbury University, and Dr. Sherry Robinson, executive assistant to the EKU provost and academic affairs.
The Academic Leadership Academy is a presidential initiative, led by the 12 presidents represented in the consortium, to build future academic leaders in the Bluegrass Region. The purpose of the academy is to encourage younger, mid-level faculty 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 the institution.
Faculty from BHEC member schools receiving an Academic Leadership Academy certificate of completion are: Scott Arias, Kristie Blevins, Russell Carpenter, Matthew Sabin and Randall Swain of Eastern Kentucky University; Holly Barbaccia, Joy Bowers-Campbell of Georgetown College; Alan Bartley, Ellen Cox, Melissa Fortner, Mike LeVan of Transylvania University; Bruce Branan, Kevin Brown, Janet Dean, Josh Fee, Amanda Goodwin and Michele Wells of Asbury University;
Allison Connolly, Brian Cusato, January Haile, Benjamin Knoll, Christopher Paskewich, Lesley Wiglesworth, and Ian Wilson of Centre College; Yasemin Congleton, Kevin Dunn, Iddah Otieno, Melanie Williamson and Ben Worth of Bluegrass Community & Technical College; Adam Evans, Ronald Hockin, Sacha Pruitt, Jerry Sims, and Jeffery Stone of Sullivan College; Nichole Huberfeld, Joneen Lowman, Gregory Luhan, Lien-Hang T.Nguyen, Mark Prendergast, and Kelly Webber of the University of Kentucky, and Marieta Simeonova-Pissarro of Morehead State University.
“The desired outcome“is to create a cohort of leaders for Central Kentucky’s 12 institutions of higher education that have the proficiencies to work with their colleagues by effectively employing quality leadership skills and being able to have insight into the overall role of the university so as to strategically lead the next generation of learners,” Banker said.
The Academic Leadership Academy also addresses one of the goals the presidents set in the signing of the charter agreement for the consortium last year: “To design professional development/leadership development opportunities for administration, faculty and staff.”
The class experienced two full-day sessions on Feb. 14 at Georgetown College and May 16 at Eastern Kentucky University. Interim reading and projects were also completed with faculty working together in teams to develop papers, posters and presentations on such topics as Experiential Learning, Finance & Budget, Human Resources, Legal & Ethical, Technology, Community Partnerships, College & Career Readiness and more. One of the key objectives of the curriculum is to expand understanding of the environment in which institutional decisions are made in the 21st century.
Competed works from the class will be posted at bluegrasstomorrow.org, under the Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium tab.
The Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium was chartered in 2012 with the mission of advancing the region both economically and educationally. The 12 participating regionally accredited four-year institutions are: Asbury University, Berea College, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Centre College, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Midway College, Morehead State University, Kentucky State University, Sullivan University, Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky. The presidents of each institution constitute the executive committee of the board of directors.
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