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Founded in 2015, the New Leadership Academy (NLA) embarks on its second full year at the University of Utah—since its move in 2021—with its largest class of NLA Fellows everIn this short video, NLA Advisory Board member Brighid Dwyer (Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at University of Pennsylvania) and NLA alumni Dilip Das (Vice President of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at University of Toledo) and Patricia Pérez (Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty at California State University, Fullerton) reflect on the importance of knowledge, tools, and courage—and share how the program has enriched and empowered them to pursue their own leadership goals.

Please visit the New Leadership Academy website to learn more about the Fellows’ program curriculum.

Transcript


Amy Fulton: The New Leadership Academy is a new approach to leadership development that is rooted in research and particularly focuses on developing leaders to lead through a lens of equity. The New Leadership Academy was originally founded at the University of Michigan in 2015, in partnership with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. And NLA, since its founding and through today, has sought to change leaders, leadership, and leadership development for one, to change who the leaders are in higher education so that they more greatly reflect the diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, and look like and understand the students we serve, particularly in this rapidly changing demographic space, to change how leadership is perceived of and thought of, so that we are not rooting our perceptions of leadership in historically exclusive leadership theories like “trait theory” or the “great man theory.”

And then finally, that leadership development needs to integrate an approach to equity throughout the curriculum and throughout the leaders who come out of the New Leadership Academy. NLA, as we like to call it, is comprised of a six-month program. It is hybrid and in-person, culminating in a one-week, in-person retreat here in Salt Lake City, Utah. The program integrates a hybrid curriculum that is online learning materials, webinars that happen monthly, as well as executive coaching, small group facilitation, peer mentoring, and then in-person case study and case clinic experiences. And at its core, the New Leadership Academy values and delivers knowledge, tools, and courage.

Brighid Dwyer: Knowledge, tools, and courage are critical components to all jobs, and knowledge is the foundation. We have to have, the knowledge and the information we need in order to move things forward in our society. Tools is quite related, so we can have the information in our heads, but we also need to be able to translate that and have specific ways in which we can implement all the great information that we’ve collected, the research that we’ve learned, and translate into actionable results into our campuses, our universities, and college communities. And courage is that ability to really take that leap and do something different, to really implement things that need to be done that not everybody wants to do. It’s much easier to do the same thing that we’ve done before, but it takes tremendous courage to create something new that is going to produce transformation and just phenomenal results on college and university campuses.

Dilip Das: We have to have courage to encourage the kind of cultural shifts that must occur. And there have been some shifts already, particularly in the last ten to 15 years, and they’re destabilizing to people to see shifts because what looks like a positive change to us—that includes equity and justice—is threatening to others who feel that their power may be diminished. And so it does take courage to have those conversations.

Amy Fulton: NLA Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds, not just higher education, but from associated policymaking areas, philanthropic areas. We have had a state senator in our Fellowship before. We also have Fellows from diverse higher education backgrounds that include community colleges, research institutions, tribal colleges, minority-serving institutions, as well as both in the private and public sector.

We find that the New Leadership Academy is most appropriate for those who have formal or informal leadership roles that relate to institutional change around equity, diversity, and inclusion, and those that are looking to really deepen their own leadership journey and reflect on where it is that they have been and where it is they plan to go.

We also want to make sure at the New leadership academy that you really have the time and energy—we know we’re all busy in higher ed—to really dedicate to the program so that you can get the most out of your experiences within NLA.

Patricia Pérez: After participating in NLA in 2020, it gave me, I think, the confidence to say, ‘Okay, I think this is something I want to pursue. I’m going to go for this position.’ Before I was just thinking about it, not really sure if I was ready for a larger role. And NLA definitely gave me the courage to say, ‘Yeah, you’re more than ready. Go for it.’

Amy Fulton: The upcoming application cycle for the New Leadership Academy will kick off at the end of June, beginning of July, in which applications will be available on the NLA website. The application cycle runs for several months with an early-bird deadline in mid-September and a final deadline in October. All details about the application process—as well as forms—can be found on our website.

New Leadership Academy