Dr. Nily Dan, associate professor of the Chemical and Biological Engineering department, has received a $49,925 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her efforts on the “Workshop: Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering (ELATE), Winter 2012 - Spring 2013, Philadelphia, PA” project, along with co-PI, Dr. Diane Magrane, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the College of Medicine, Executive Director of the International Center for Executive Leadership in Academics and Director of the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering.
The grant funds will support the participation of national leaders in engineering and technology, as eight university representatives will join ELATE members for career consultations and two Conversations About Leadership seminars during the summer and winter sessions of the 2012-2013 ELATE fellowship year. ELATE Conversations on Leadership programs bring Fellows together with national experts to explore the lessons learned from navigating their experiences in their own leadership paths, such as the transition from scholar to leader and the use of politics and power in academic organizations. Through stories of blunders and successes, open discussions and inquiry, Fellows gain understanding of how these opportunities to influence and to be influenced by others support leadership initiatives.
Following a brief framing of the importance and nature of navigating organizational politics, each of the leaders will introduce herself through a brief narrative of her leadership journey, enjoy a dinner with informal conversation, and then discuss resumes with the panelists, imparting lessons of politics and persuasion that Fellows can carry home to apply to their own leadership effectiveness.
The panelists for the winter session on Power and Politics will include:
- Elizabeth Cannon, President, University of Calgary
- Linda Katehi, Chancellor, University of California, Sacramento
- Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College
- Laura Steinberg, Dean, Syracuse College of Engineering
The panelists for the summer session on Transitions to University Leadership will include:
- Linda Abriola, Dean of Engineering, Tufts University
- Fran Berman, Vice President for Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Pamela Eibeck, President, University of the Pacific
- Cherry Murray, Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
ELATE at Drexel™, a program of the International Center for Executive Leadership in Academics at Drexel University College of Medicine, is a one-year, part-time program that addresses the need to increase the diversity and leadership capacity of engineering, computer science and related fields within academe. This need is well established - although women receive 21.5 percent of engineering Ph.D.’s awarded in the United States, they account for only five percent of full professor positions and only 11 percent (41 of 379) go on to become engineering department heads (data from NSF and ASEE).