Academic Administrators Engage in Leadership Development

ATLANTA - Sept. 16, 2015 - PRLog -- Academic Administrators Engage in Leadership Development

Atlanta, GA – The Academy for Academic Leadership (AAL) held the 2015 Chairs and Academic Administrators Management Program (CAAMP) on July 30-August 1 at the Georgia Tech Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Sixty-four academic administrators from institutions from the U.S. and abroad attended this interprofessional, open-enrollment program designed for leaders managing an academic department or program.

CAAMP was created in 2009 by AAL, an international consulting and professional development organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, to address the unique challenges and opportunities encountered by department chairs and other academic administrators within colleges and schools of the health professions. Since its inception, nearly 350 department chairs and academic administrators from programs in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and other professions in and out of healthcare have participated in CAAMP.

“I enjoy serving two critical roles at CAAMP, a presenter and an advisor,” said Pamela Zarkowski, J.D., M.H.P., AAL Senior Consultant and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit Mercy. “I am impressed by the engagement of all the participants and their thoughtful questions and comments during my presentation. The interaction is beneficial to everyone in the room. I am privileged to be able to meet many of the participants in one-on-one advising meetings to discuss with them the challenges and opportunities they have in their current positions as well as their future plans.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Geraldine “Polly” Bednash, former Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Dr. Bednash addressed role of leadership and collaboration in interprofessional engagement. She also spoke about the means by which department chairs and other academic leaders can ensure that interprofessional collaboration is working.

“CAAMP continues to grow in numbers and the professional diversity of participants,” said Dr. Karl Haden, AAL President. “One of the major benefits of CAAMP is the opportunity for different professions to learn from each other. Most of the challenges that these leaders face in their schools and professions are similar. As interprofessional education continues to gain more momentum, participation in programs like CAAMP that bring educators together from different disciplines, fields, and institutions will continue to grow.”

CAAMP participants developed their leadership abilities through assessments and through peer feedback and individualized, professional coaching. Sessions included learning to lead, building high performance teams, change management, faculty recruitment and retention, strategic planning and budgeting, conflict management, work-life balance, working with senior administrators, and legal issues in academia. “It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of CAAMP,” said Hershey S. Bell, M.D., M.S., FAAFP, AAL Senior Consultant and Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. “I have been teaching in the program for the past five years and each year the quality of the speakers, the material presented, and the interplay between the participants themselves rises to new levels. In addition to the group discussions and workshops, the individual coaching offered to each participant is incredibly valuable. AAL has created the gold standard in administrative education for deans, chairs and other aspiring academic leaders.”

AAL holds CAAMP each July/August in Atlanta, Georgia. To learn more about the program, visit www.aalgroup.org/CAAMP.