The third time’s a charm, the saying goes, and the administrators leading the GW Academic Leadership Academy (GWALA) would agree. The yearlong program’s third cohort of students enjoyed their graduation ceremony on Friday at the GW Textile Museum.
Provost Christopher Alan Bracey, one of GWALA’s founders, kicked off the celebration with comments on the program’s history and on the pleasure of having assembled in person throughout the full year for the first time since the first cohort was launched in 2019.
GWALA was designed to cultivate leadership from within by helping participating faculty members cultivate core competencies such as conflict management and effective communication.
“This program began as a twinkle in the eye of Forrest Maltzman, a prior provost,” Bracey said. “We said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there were some sort of training academy available so that we could have home-grown leadership that understands GW values and what it means to be an administrator at this institution?’”
They enlisted Sara Melita, who had helped the Provost Office create GW's annual New Academic Leader program. Bracey thanked Melita “for being there from the very beginning and sticking with it.”
He also thanked members of the third cohort for dedicating their time to GWALA. “I want to thank you all for your participation in this program, because I know how difficult it is to do your day job. You're already stretched.”
Bracey said he hoped the faculty members of the third cohort would reap the benefits of the time they invested.
“You’re now ambassadors who get to go out and share your instincts and leadership skills with colleagues who haven't had a chance to participate in a leadership academy like this.”
Emily Hammond, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor at GW Law, administers GWALA and leads the program. They too spoke of their pleasure in assembling in person with colleagues in the third cohort.
“I was thinking back to when I first got an inkling that maybe I wanted to be a professor, and if I could achieve that, what it would be like,” Hammond said. “The thing that I really did envision was sitting around with amazing colleagues from all of the different schools, maybe with a fire burning. We’re probably all wearing sweaters. And we’re bringing all kinds of different perspectives to bear on whatever the topic might be. As I think about that ideal that I had in mind decades ago, and I think about this group, it's not over the top to say that you all have really made my dream come true.”
Several members of the third cohort agreed that the program helped them make connections across the university and said they would recommend the experience to colleagues. Adriana Glenn, director of the RN–BSN program and assistant professor at GW’s School of Nursing, welcomed the chances to network since she is based on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
“Being able to come once a month and network with people helps us understand that no matter where we are at, a lot of us have very similar problems,” Glenn said.
Her comments were echoed by Erika Nicole Pont, interim associate director of the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program and coordinator of the Dean’s Fellow Program at GW Law, where she is associate professor of fundamentals of lawyering.
“By far, the most rewarding part of GWALA was getting to know educators from across the university,” Pont said. “I loved learning from others who have different specialties, approaches, strengths and perspectives.”
While participating in GWALA, cohort members work on projects. Glenn’s project was to evaluate the diversity of materials presented to students in the crucial first weeks of her program. Pont co-chaired a committee at GW Law that is responsible for implementing recent revisions to the American Bar Association ABA standards. Her project was drafting a plan to implement those revisions, requiring her to communicate among many faculty and staff stakeholders to generate support for the plan and make sure all ideas were represented.
“I used all of the skills I learned from GWALA,” Pont said, “including conflict management, effective communication and emotional intelligence to get this over the finish line.”
Maryam Z. Deloffre, associate professor of international affairs and director of the Humanitarian Action Initiative in the Elliott School of International Affairs, is already implementing lessons she learned.
“An unexpected and delightful outcome of my time in GWALA has been my ability to pay it forward by sharing lessons on effective communication, constructive feedback and conflict management with my graduate students,” Deloffre said. “GWALA has made me a better advisor and mentor.”
Nominations for GWALA’s fourth cohort are now open. Given GWALA's overwhelming success, Bracey encourages eligible faculty members of the faculty to apply for next year’s cohort.
"We now have three cohorts' worth of fellows extolling the professional and personal benefits of participating in GWALA. I hope eligible faculty are inspired by their colleagues' positive experiences to submit nominations or self-nominations so that they can also participate in this incredible opportunity," said Bracey.
