After kicking off in the fall of 2018, the Women in Leadership (WiL) Initiative, under the direction of Michele Wheatly, special advisor to the Chancellor and President and professor of biology, is now entering its fourth year and recently concluded a strategic planning exercise. WiL also announces an expanded steering committee tasked with catalyzing the personal and collective advancement of women at ϲ.
Programming this fall launches with an opportunity for faculty and staff to reconnect through a collaborative brainstorming “design think.”
“WiL wanted to create a space where community concern will be focused on the recent experiences of women and nonbinary faculty and staff, empowering them to process the emotional response to their experiences during the pandemic, to overcome the overwhelm, if you like,” says Wheatly. “We want to convene our community in a way that validates their feelings and reinforces the interdependence of faculty and staff. WiL will use these learnings to inform programming that will leverage skills developed during the past 18 months to propel women to leadership opportunities.”
The WiL Initiative seeks to build strong leaders that can adapt rapidly to change and adopt new skills to keep teams and organizations moving forward. All members of the ϲ and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry campus communities are invited to participate in these events. The initiative’s fall lineup will again include course offerings in two tracks: an academic track and an administrative track.
Community Reset
Coming Together: A Collaborative Brainstorming “Design Think” About Women and Nonbinary Faculty and Staff
Sept. 30 | 4-5 p.m. ET or Oct. 1 | 10-11 a.m. ET
Facilitators: Michele Wheatly, special advisor to the Chancellor and President and professor of biology, and Pam Gavenda, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, associate director, organizational development and training, Office of Human Resources
Before proceeding with administrative and academic programming, WiL felt it was important to convene faculty and staff (virtually) who seek to acknowledge and validate the unifying experiences of women and nonbinary faculty and staff during the pandemic. In small groups, participants will discuss skills they acquired during the past 18 months and WiL programming that will assist them in honing these skills for earlier leadership success.
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Academic Track
Two virtual Academic Track clinics and a virtual Shared Reading Experience Conversation will be offered.
Clinic on Promotion From Assistant to Associate Professor
Oct. 5 | 3-5 p.m. ET
Facilitators: Jamie Winders, professor of geography, and Michele Wheatly, special advisor to the Chancellor and President and professor of biology
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Clinic on Promotion From Associate to Full Professor
Oct. 12 | 3-4:30 p.m. ET
Facilitators: Melissa Luke, Provost Faculty Fellow and Dean’s Professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services, and Michele Wheatly, special advisor to the Chancellor and President and professor of biology
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Shared Reading Experience: Women Leading Change in Academia—A Conversation With Co-Editor Amy Bonomi
Nov. 18 | 3-4:30 p.m. ET with an optional Q&A from 4:30-5 p.m. ET
Facilitators: Amy Bonomi [PDF] and Elisa Dekaney, associate dean of research, graduate studies and internationalization and professor of music education
You are invited to join Amy Bonomi, co-editor of “Women Leading Change in Academia: Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Cliff, and Slipper,” and Elisa Dekaney, professor of music education and associate dean of research, graduate studies and internationalization, for a discussion about this book, a groundbreaking collection of the perspectives of diverse women academic leaders. Participants will have the opportunity to come together in a virtual space to listen to Amy Bonomi’s professional and personal experiences, discuss the book in small groups and pose questions during a large group discussion. A more informal Q&A period will follow the guided discussion.
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Administrative Track
One in-person Administrative Track “deep-dive” series option will be offered.
Women in Leadership—Crucial Conversations
Fridays, Oct. 8-Nov. 19 | 9:30- 11:30 a.m. ET (Seven-part series)
On-campus location TBA
Facilitator: Certified program leader Pam Gavenda, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, associate director, organizational development and training, Office of Human Resources
This seven-week series will offer participation in the skill building Crucial Conversations program, which teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional or risky topics at all levels of an organization. These are conversations around work quality, time management, productivity, performance, sensitive issues, conflict or a strained relationship, for example. By learning how to speak and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), you will begin to surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions and then act on the decisions with unity and commitment in a respectful way.
Skills learned each week build upon skills from the previous week, so it is critical that participants are able to attend all seven sessions.
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Refresher and Preview Session
Thursday, Sept. 23 | 9-10 a.m. or 1-2 p.m. ET
Facilitators: Amy P. Kelly [PDF] and
The virtual Refresher and Preview Session will cover four leadership development topics: positive mindsets, character strengths, personal style and emotional IQ. Workshop attendees from the spring 2021 cohort are invited back to share their learning and situational application of the session topics, and individuals who are curious about WiL programming for the spring 2022 semester are invited to participate to gain insight into the program and to hear the experiences of previous participants.
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Women Leaders X-Rising Stronger Together Virtual Convention
Sunday, Oct. 10-Monday, Oct. 11
Again this year, WiL announces sponsorship for 100 ϲ women to attend the virtual Women Leaders X—Rising Stronger Together Convention scheduled for Oct. 10-11, 2021. The convention is the annual event for the Women Leaders in College Sports organization, whose mission is to develop, connect and advance women working in college sports and beyond.
Speakers at this year’s Women Leaders X Convention include Erica Dhawan, author of “Digital Body Language”; Amy Morin, editor-in chief of Verywell Mind; and Jill Sharp, master-level performance coach.
The event schedule also includes panel sessions, live connection breakout sessions and a talk with .
Registration also includes a one-year membership to Women Leaders in College Sports.
HOW TO REGISTER: ϲ faculty, staff and students who work or research in and around sports, or aspire to learn more about opportunities in this field, are encouraged to . Registration will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
Watch For: Inspire Events—Fall 2021
Inspire Speaker(s) will be announced for fall 2021.
New and Returning Steering Committee Members
The WiL steering committee includes the following members:
*Indicates a new steering committee member
Questions about fall 2021 programming may be submitted to Mallory Mitchell at womeninleadership@syr.edu.
