Year-long cohort program of monthly hybrid workshops and two full-day in-person sessions for new and returning academic leaders at Carnegie Mellon University.
Lead Well: Foundations of Academic Leadership is a year-long, cohort-based program run by Carnegie Mellon University's Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty in partnership with Academic Impressions. It's built for new and returning department heads, associate deans, and other academic leaders who haven't participated before, and it runs from August through May. The whole thing is designed around practical leadership tools, peer learning, and strategies for managing complexity, building trust, and leading with intention and impact across the university.
The curriculum builds a leader's capacity across four areas. First is Self, which covers personal leadership and self-awareness. Then comes Interpersonal, focused on giving and receiving feedback and building trust. Third is Team, about leading high-performing collaborative groups. And finally, System, which is about navigating the university landscape and organizational culture. Each area builds on the last, so you're working through your own approach before moving out to your team and the wider institution.
It's a long-haul commitment, not a one-off workshop. The program consists of monthly 90-minute hybrid workshops, two full-day in-person sessions—one to kick things off and one at the midyear mark—a day-long opening session in August, and a closing celebration in May. Because it's cohort-based, you'll be moving through it with the same group of peers throughout the year.
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Lead Well sits within the office's broader Faculty Forward professional development series, which offers sessions on teaching, research, and service. It runs alongside Academic Leadership Dialogues, a year-long program for senior administrators supported by the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation. If you're in a leadership role at CMU and looking for a structured way to work through the interpersonal and organizational side of the job, this is the one to keep on your radar.
