Advancing Next-Gen Faculty Leadership Fellow Program
Purpose
Academic Affairs offers yearly a faculty-oriented leadership program to advance institutional excellence through fostering a climate of innovative and transformative leaders, in order to achieve President Eighmy’s goals for the 3rd destination, Innovative Place to Work, Learn and Discover, in UTSA’s strategic plan. The program is designed specifically to enhance the career development of Fellows by providing an intensive one-on-one training and development experience to promote the next generation of faculty leaders in alignment with Provost Shipley’s goals in Academic Affairs to accelerate leaders within UTSA.
This program is individually tailored to the specific needs of the selected Next-Gen Faculty Fellow, to gain knowledge of university operations in specific areas and advancing leadership skills towards program development, as well as more broadly, across our higher education sector. Through mentorship and shadowing, the Fellow will gain perspective, guidance, and vision in relation to the administrative office(s) that s/he wishes to serve with the ultimate goal of promoting inclusive leadership. Faculty Fellows also will apply their new understanding of leadership principles to their current positions through work on specific projects.
Fellows will participate in a 1-year rotation, with the possibility of renewal for one additional year. The Next-Gen Faculty Leadership Fellow Program is administered under the Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and division of Faculty Success
Objectives
- To learn more about the academic organization, operations, and physical infrastructure
- To consider the skills and attributes of effective academic leaders, and the challenges and rewards of becoming an academic leader
- To consider current and future challenges and opportunities in higher education
- To recognize and implement the values of cultivating the excellence of its employees, self-awareness, and ethical leadership
- To meet and develop professional relationships with colleagues through on-campus activities
Outcomes
The overall outcome for this program will be to develop the next generation of university leaders. The Fellow’s outcomes will be the following:
- Acquire an understanding of contemporary issues in higher education in their historical and institutional context
- Engage in emerging topics related to instruction, student learning and innovation
- Advance faculty and their professional, scholarly, and personal development
- Learn skills for assessing competing priorities and managing time
- Reflect on leadership values, styles, and skills and to consider the range of opportunities in higher education leadership, both formal and informal
- Dissemination in the academic and broader community through various means such as publications, presentations, workshops, or programs, thereby contributing to a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Requirements
- Tenured faculty currently serving in an administrative role (Department Chair or Assistant Department Chair, Assistant/Associate Dean, Director) at the rank of associate or full professor, appointed in any department (associate must show evidence that they are making satisfactory progress toward promotion to professor) or full-time, fixed-term track faculty in administrative roles at the rank of Associate Professor of Practice, Instruction, Research, or Clinical Series or higher.
- Employed as faculty at UTSA for at least three years.
Process
Typically, the faculty will be appointed as a Fellow for one academic year. The Faculty Fellow will be expected to spend approximately 10 hours per week in residence in their unit, attending regular meetings of the unit, working with their mentor and completing a special project. In addition, the Faculty Fellow will receive funding to attend an external leadership conference during the appointment and one semester course buy-out.
Projects for AY 2024-2025
The projects are from various Vice President and Vice Provost units on campus and may include cross-unit collaborative projects. Each unit will provide a unique opportunity for the faculty fellow to gain knowledge of university operations and advance their leadership skills across the higher education sector. Participating units Academic Affairs and Research.
Application
Nominations by deans and other senior administrators are welcome, as are self-nominations.
The application materials should include the following:
- A 1000-word statement presenting evidence of interest in academic leadership, experience in academic governance or administration to date, and what the nominee hopes to accomplish with the support of the program.
- 500-word statement of which area(s) the applicant would be interested in during the fellowship period as their special project and may include initial thoughts/ideas for project(s).
- A letter of recommendation from the Dean or other senior administrator. The recommendation letter is limited to one page in length.
- A current CV
Application materials should be combined and submitted as a single pdf file.
Applications should be submitted electronically via this this application form by April 30, 2024, for academic year 2024-25.
Questions about this program can be directed to Kelly Nash, AVP for Faculty Affairs, at kelly.nash@utsa.edu.
2022-2023 Fellows
Lorenzo Brancaleon
Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
College of Sciences
Fellowship placement: Academic Innovation
Makiko Fukuda
Professor of Instruction
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Fellowship placement: Inclusive Excellence
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William Land
Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor of Record
Department of Kinesiology
College for Health, Community and Policy
Fellowship placement: The Graduate School
Michael Rushforth
Assistant Chair and Professor of Instruction
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Fellowship placement: Student Success
2021-2022 Fellows
M. Sidury Christiansen
Associate Professor
Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies
College of Education and Human Development
Fellowship placement: Academic Innovation
Teja Guda
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering and Integrated Design
Fellowship placement: Research, Economic Development and Knowledge Enterprise
Antonio Petrov
Associate Professor
School of Architecture
College of Engineering and Integrated Design
Fellowship placement: Westside Community Partnerships
Rebecca Schroeder
Associate Professor of Practice
Academic Inquiry & Scholarship
University College
Fellowship placement: Mutidisciplinary Studies Program
Heather Trepal
Professor
Department of Counseling
College of Education and Human Development
Fellowship placement: The Graduate School
2020-2021 Fellows
Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo
Cloud Technology Endowed Professor
Department of Information Systems and Cyber Security
College of Business
Fellowship placement: Research, Economic Development & Knowledge Enterprise
"The Next-gen faculty fellowship has been an eye-opening experience and I was really privileged to be under the tutelage of Bernard Arulanandam and Jaclyn Shaw. Although COVID-19 globally impacted many aspects of normal academia, such as travel and international collaboration, including this fellowship, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to engage with stakeholders from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey (ITESM) and Khalifa University on various research partnerships, which I will be continuing to develop after the fellowship."
Mark Giles
Professor
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
College of Education and Human Development
Fellowship placement: Inclusive Excellence
Terri Matiella
Senior Lecturer
Department of Environmental Science and Ecology
College of Sciences
Fellowship placement: Teaching & Learning Services/Academic Innovation
"Professionally, I was able to help more faculty by sharing weekly teaching tips and understand the needs of faculty through questions and comments during the webinars and panels. This helped me refine the teaching tips to be more effective for faculty. Personally, it was great to be involved with such a dedicated group of people in Academic Innovation and Teaching and Learning Services! They really care about their job providing faculty with as many resources as possible to help improve the classroom experience for both faculty and students."2019-2020 Fellows
Erica Sosa, 2019-2020
Associate Professor
Department of Kinesiology, Health and Nutrition
College of Education and Human Development
"Being a Next-Gen Faculty Leadership Fellow was pivotal in my development as a leader in higher education. I was able to receive professional development training, learn from university leadership, network with leaders at other Texas academic institutions and actively contribute to university initiatives. I appreciated the opportunity to contribute to UTSA while learning more about how decision-making and priorities are determined. The Fellowship experience contributed to my current role and inspired me to continue to pursue leadership opportunities throughout my academic career."
Lecturer III
Department of Biology
College of Sciences
