Nominations for 2021 Inclusive Leaders Academy Program Now Open

Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) is now seeking nominations for the fifth cohort of the Inclusive Leaders Academy.

Launched in 2017 by IDEI’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement (SDIE) unit, the Inclusive Leaders Academy (ILA) facilitates the growth of campus managers – in becoming “Culture Champions.” The ILA works to build a leadership community that will positively shape the campus culture through modeling inclusive excellence. The community has grown to over 300 members and has exposed over 500 managers to various modules.

“It’s encouraging during this double pandemic to hear and see greater interest from our executives to continue cultivating inclusive leadership capacity,” said Pearl Alexander, SDIE’s executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement. “Leaders own the culture of the Institute, and accelerating our progress toward inclusive excellence requires proactive, intentional, and focused efforts among the various levels of administrators and managers here. Top-down development is essential to support the Institute’s values and goals.”

Cheryl Cofield, SDIE’s director of inclusion and engagement, added, “Through e-learning modules, interactive dialogues, storytelling, and group coaching sessions, this all-virtual experience will help leaders to proactively consider their legacies.”

Curriculum content for the program is curated from the NeuroLeadership Institute on the neuroscience of teams, unconscious bias, and research on inclusion. The 2021 cohort will also study “Dare to Lead,” written by and based on the research of Brené Brown, New York Times bestselling author. Participants will practice integrating these concepts and tools to learn competencies that support inclusive and overall effective leadership.

The Inclusive Leaders Academy program is designed for those who supervise others as direct reports (including deans, associate deans, school chairs, vice presidents, executive directors, senior directors, directors, and department heads); and leaders of large-scale programs or projects (including program and project managers, communications managers, executive assistants, administrative managers, Employee Resource Group officers, Staff Council, and diversity council leads).

The 2021 program will run from February through May. Participants will be expected to complete 18-20 hours of curriculum.

Nominations, including self-nominations, will be accepted through November 13, 2020.

For more information and to nominate, visit the program's website at: sdie.gatech.edu/InclusiveLeadersAcademy.