Name Change | ELATES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM EMBRACES ‘SCIENCE’ WITH NAME CHANGE
ELATE at Drexel will now be ELATES at Drexel, Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science.

PHILADELPHIA (SEPTEMBER 2018) - Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) program, a national leadership development Fellowship designed to advance senior women faculty in STEM fields into effective institutional leadership roles, is updating its name to acknowledges its value for science faculty within schools and universities.

ELATE at Drexel was designed to prepare and build community among women faculty across academic STEM disciplines. With nearly 30 percent of the Fellowship alumnae in natural science, health science and mathematics, the addition of science to the Fellowship name will make it clear at the outset that our leadership training program is aimed at science faculty as well as those from engineering and technology fields.

Koren A. Bedeau, PhD, Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Drexel University and Executive Director of ELATES hopes that the change will help further increase the diversity of disciplines represented in each cohort. “Potential participants in science and math fields often ask whether the program is appropriate for them. We know that faculty from all STEM fields find the program valuable, and we want to make it more immediately clear that the program welcomes women from those fields. We envision extending our reach well beyond engineering and technology to significantly increase participation of women leaders from other science disciplines.”

Since its inception, the program has focused, and will continue to focus, on four competencies—strategic finance and resource management, personal and professional leadership effectiveness, organizational dynamics, and communities of leadership practice—which are broadly applicable to women faculty across the full breadth of STEM disciplines. Adding science to the program name reflects the applicability of the curriculum to leaders from a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

Wayne M. Raskind, PhD, Associate Provost for Special Programs at Wayne State University said, “I am delighted by the name change to ELATES to reflect the greater inclusion of the physical sciences into the mission of inspiring, training and mentoring women in STEM fields for leadership positions in academe. Wayne State University has had eight faculty participate in ELATE, and all have either assumed leadership positions or will likely in the near future. As former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, I have seen firsthand how women serving as associate deans and chairs of departments can enhance the leadership corps of the college.”

ELATES at Drexel will take effect with the 2019-2020 Fellowship cohort. Applications for 2019-2020 open November 1, 2018.