Southern Company Faculty Fellow Jamie Coble was named a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the IAspire Leadership Academy, a leadership program aimed at helping mid-career STEM faculty from underrepresented backgrounds ascend to leadership roles at colleges and universities.
The competitive program, which is part of the Aspire Alliance’s Institutional Change Initiative (IChange), helps address the national need to broaden diversity and increase inclusion in STEM fields and higher education leadership.
—Wes Hines, Department Head
Fellows will learn effective executive leadership skills for increasingly complex higher education environments as well as how to build confidence to influence institutional transformation in their current and future leadership positions.
“As part of the inaugural cohort of IAspire Leadership Academy fellows, Coble has distinguished herself as a leader in STEM and we’re thrilled to have her as a participant,” said Howard Gobstein, co-director of the Aspire Alliance and executive vice president at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). “Diversity starts with faculty and university leadership and this academy will help cultivate inclusion and diversity in the next-generation of university faculty and leaders.”
“We’re thrilled to provide leadership training to some of the most promising faculty from across the country,” said Suzanne Barbour, professor of biochemistry and biophysics and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Georgia. “Advancing diversity and inclusion in STEM is an urgent national challenge and we simply can’t address the problem without a strong base of leaders who represent the demographics of the country.”
The academy, housed at the University of Georgia, is one pillar of diversity and inclusion work underway through the Aspire: The National Alliance for Inclusive & Diverse STEM Faculty. The National Science Foundation-backed alliance is working across post-secondary institutions to develop more inclusive institutional cultures supporting the access and success of all undergraduate STEM students, especially those from underrepresented groups. APLU and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are leading the efforts of the Aspire alliance.
Learn more about the IAspire Leadership Academy.