ELATES Leadership Program from Drexel University Welcomes Class of 2024-2025
Built on a decade of success, Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES at Drexel) program announces the selection of its 11th cohort of Fellows, making up the 2024-2025 class. Participants will take part in an unparalleled professional development program designed for senior women STEM faculty, and faculty allies of all genders.
This year’s ELATES class at Drexel includes 46 faculty from 35 institutions across the United States and Canada. The 11th cohort consists of diverse and dynamic leaders with backgrounds in biology, computer and information sciences, geology, mathematics and a variety of engineering disciplines.
Five of this year’s Fellows were awarded a scholarship by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) – a partnership of 64 colleges and universities across the US with a shared mission to reach all undergraduate engineering students with an entrepreneurial mindset, and which Drexel has been a member of since 2018. KEEN scholarship recipients are Sara Atwood, Elizabethtown College; Linda Kliment, Wichita State University; Jessica Sparks, Miami (OH) University; Brooke Mayer, Marquette University; and Amanda Bao, Rochester Institute of Technology. This is the second cohort supported by KEEN, as it is supporting bringing concepts of the engineering mindset to higher education leaders.
Each accepted fellow was nominated by their dean or provost and brings with them immense administrative experience on top of their scholarly accomplishments. Through the ELATES program, they will contribute to institutional change initiatives and expand their leadership skills. The ELATES class of 2024-2025 will join an extensive alumni network of more than 230 faculty leaders from dozens of institutions across North America.
ELATES at Drexel is a one-year, part-time program that focuses on increasing personal and professional leadership effectiveness, leading and managing change initiatives within institutions, using strategic finance and resource management to enhance organizational missions, and creating a network of exceptional women who bring organizational perspectives and deep personal capacity to the institutions and society they serve. Facilitated by leaders in the fields of STEM research and leadership development, the curriculum includes classroom immersions with experiential modules, virtual instruction, coaching and mentorship, and an applied project at each Fellow’s home institution.
Sharon L. Walker, PhD, Dean of Drexel’s College of Engineering and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, is also Executive Director of ELATES at Drexel.
“We are excited to welcome one of our biggest classes of Fellows into the ELATES community,” said Walker. “Each Fellow participating in the 11th cohort of ELATES brings a wealth of expertise, knowledge and experience as well as a unique perspective that will enhance and enrich the overall experience of the program and further our mission of advancing and supporting women as leaders in STEM.”
Fellows will go through a rigorous curriculum that includes leadership training, mentorship, and strategic career planning. The program aims to equip these leaders with the skills and networks to drive positive change within their institutions and the broader STEM community.
Over the course of the year-long program, Fellows will engage in a series of intensive sessions, workshops, and projects designed to enhance their leadership capabilities and prepare them for higher levels of institutional responsibility and influence.
The in-person work for the 2024-2025 cohort begins in August with community building activities and self-reflection and continues through the year with themes of strategic leadership and finance, communication, and communities of practice. The program will conclude on March 20, 2025, with a symposium organized around institutional action projects that Fellows will develop and present in collaboration with the leadership of their organizations, and a graduation ceremony attended by their deans, provosts and other university leaders.
About ELATES at Drexel: For more information on the ELATES curriculum, faculty and participants, please visit ELATES at Drexel.