UARK Leaders Program Celebrates Success of Fourth Cohort

Congratulations to the graduating members of the fourth cohort of the UARK Leaders Program. UARK Leaders is an immersive six-month leadership development program for faculty and staff who manage multiple people and oversee large-scale projects or programs. The program develops campus leaders through experience, exposure and education - preparing them to effectively lead people at the U of A and help the university reach its goals related to the three strategic pillars of student success, research excellence and employer of choice.  

The cohort represents a broad cross-section of the campus community and was selected from nominations and interviews that were conducted in 2023. The group started their journey together in October with a kick-off and action learning project assignments. Over the course of six months, they participated in four days of professional development, completed a self-assessment, participated in coaching sessions and collaborated in discrete subgroups to address real-life campus issues through action learning projects. Through the action learning projects, each group was assigned a large campus-wide issue to address.  

"The action learning project is an important component of the program because it allows participants to apply their knowledge with practical experience, build their networks and make an impact on the university," said Ashley Ingram, director of talent development. "It is incredible to see the participants grow individually and collectively from the time the program starts and they are assigned their topics, to the time that they present to the Strategic Operations Group and their cohort peers." 

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) was a topic for one of the groups. A recommendation from that group was to create a cross-campus task force to work toward generating guidelines and best practices for faculty, staff and students. As a result, a decision has been made by university leadership to begin to form such a task force to work on this important need.  

Cohort five of the UARK Leaders Program for the 2024-25 academic year is slated to begin in October, with nominations set to open in the summer of 2024. To learn more about the UARK Leaders Program, please reach out to Anne Shelley, assistant director of talent and leadership development.