Welcome to the fifth edition of The ACAD Leader. This is an exciting year for ACAD as we embark on a celebration of 75 years as a conference of deans. I would encourage you to read the 50th anniversary speech from 1993 included in this edition. It talks about our founding and provides perspective on where the Academy was 25 years ago.
We’ve had a lot of great programming since our last edition in April. We co-sponsored the “So You Want to be A Dean?” seminar with the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a huge success with over 40 participants. We plan to co-host another one in July 2020 in Toronto.
We also began a new partnership with McAllister and Quinn to provide free webinars about grant writing. Our first webinar in April had more than 120 registrants; our second in October surpassed that number with nearly 150 registrants. McAllister and Quinn will also provide a pre-conference workshop at our Annual Meeting in January on cultivating a grants culture with NSF grants.
Two other big events happened since April. We selected our third recipient of the Award for Excellence in Academic Leadership, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, Dean of the Burnett Honors College (BHC) and Professor of Public Administration at University of Central Florida (UCF). We also launched our inaugural ACAD 75th Anniversary Fellows Program. We have over 40 applicants for five Fellows positions. Congratulations to our inaugural cohort of Fellows: Lev Gasparov, Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement, College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Florida, Jacksonville; Margaret Hunter, Associate Provost for Recruitment and Student Success, Mills College; Michael Soto, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Trinity University; Precie A. Schroyer, Associate Dean, Monroe Campus, Northampton Community College; and Ron Buckmire, Associate Dean of the College for Curricular Affairs and Director of the Core Program, Occidental College.
The next six months look to be just as exciting as the last. We’re looking forward to celebrating our 75th Anniversary at our Annual Meeting held in Washington, DC, from January 22 to 25, 2020. If you’re planning on attending, please stop by the ACAD booth and check out our Anniversary swag. We love to talk to our members, and others, about ACAD and our work.
As always, we appreciate any feedback about how we can better serve you. Feel free to contact us at info@acad.org and share any questions or comments you may have.
We hope you have a successful academic year!
