Three administrators from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Valdosta State University attended the Academy for Academic Leadership’s (AAL) 2014 Chairs and Academic Administrators Management Program (CAAMP), held at the Georgia Institute of Technology Conference Center in Atlanta. Over the course of three days they worked to develop their leadership abilities through peer feedback, assessments, and individualized, professional coaching.

Dr. Sheri R. Noviello, who was named interim dean of VSU’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences on July 1, said it was Dr. Brenda S. Dyal, assistant dean of the School of Nursing, and Dr. B. LaGary Carter, assistant dean of the School of Health Sciences, who identified CAAMP as a valuable tool in further strengthening their commitment to academic leadership. Neither of them had ever attended the program before.

“… I felt that it was an opportunity to network with the two assistant deans,” noted Noviello, “in establishing a strong leadership team for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.”

CAAMP was created in 2009 by Atlanta-based AAL to address the unique challenges and opportunities encountered by department chairs and academic administrators from medicine, dentistry, nursing, allied health, pharmacy, as well as other health professions programs offered at colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. Noviello, Dyal, and Carter were among 55 educators who attended the 2014 program, which included informational sessions on such topics as learning to lead, managing new tasks and challenges, conflict management, work-life balance, faculty performance and assessment, strategic planning and budgeting, and legal issues in academia.

Dr. Karl Hadden, president of AAL, said that one of the major benefits of CAAMP is the opportunity for different professions to learn from each other. He said that most of the challenges that these leaders face in their schools and professions are similar.

Offered in partnership in the American Dental Education Association, the focus of CAAMP is on interprofessional leadership development. 

“There was also a 360 individual assessment summary that provided insight for each attendee into how they are perceived by supervisors, peers, and direct reports and how those findings compare to a self-assessment,” Noviello shared. “The three of us were also able to network with other higher education administrators across the U.S.; actually, we had a couple of international attendees.”

“Each session of the conference stimulated robust discussion about how things had been done in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and how we could optimize efficiency and performance through adoption of concepts presented,” she continued. “The conference certainly provided basic knowledge for developing leadership skills.”

Contact Dr. Sheri R. Noviello at (229) 333-5959 or [email protected] to learn more.