The 2012-13 class of the ACE Institute for New Chief Academic Officers assembled in St. Louis, MO, this month for the first session of a yearlong program that provides practical executive leadership development.
Designed for CAOs in their first three years on the job, the Institute is a highly participatory program that meets three times during the program year.
The topics tackled in St. Louis included leading change; managing key relationships; and recruiting, retaining and promoting faculty. The next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 10-11, 2013, in Albuquerque, NM.
Meanwhile, the application process for the 2013-2014 class will open in late fall. ACE selects up to 35 new CAOs to participate and invites four or five experienced CAOs and presidents to participate in sessions as facilitators.
The sessions include case studies presented by program participants, conversations with peers and briefings by national experts. The goals of the Institute are to identify issues of immediate concern to new academic vice presidents and provide the means to address them.
As one recent alumnus put it, the Institute for New Chief Academic Officers is “exactly what I needed at this time. I've got some very good 'big picture' concerns to ponder and some wonderful suggestions for tackling the challenges of the everyday.”