Leadership Academy Works Together for Success~by Trey Bailey 2/8/2011

All 15 Members of the Leadership Academy

by Trey Bailey

WVU Parkersburg faculty and staff are once again working to improve student’s individual college experiences.

The Leadership Academy is one part of that improvement process. 

The Leadership Academy is a course that faculty and staff take to help build leadership skills and also to improve the WVU Parkersburg campus for everyone.

The Academy tackles projects throughout the school year to possibly make changes for the following year.

The Academy meets at various times to learn from the Leadership Challenge 4th Addition by James M. Kouzes and Berry Z. Posner.

The 13 members who are currently a part of the Leadership Academy pair to tackle issues that need improvement on campus.  The President's council makes the decision on which projects the Leadership Academy will work on during the year.

Dr. Cindy Kelley, co-facilitator of the Leadership Academy said,  “The leadership program does a lot of research on how to improve students and faculty experience here.”  She said these research projects are “important” to improving our school for years to come.

Some of the areas on campus identified as needing improvement consist of the honors college, exploring course offering opportunities, improving communications with financial aid services and developing entrepreneurial ideas for the downtown center.

The Leadership Academy “actually just started back this school year.  There was no academy last year,” Kelley said.

The Leadership Academy operates from August til June and is open to faculty and staff to apply in May.

A State Leadership conference is set to take place on campus March 31.  Students and faculty from around the state will be invited to take part.  The Annual Leadership Today Conference will also take place on campus April 1.

For any information on the Leadership Academy, contact Cindy Kelley or Denise McClung both of which have offices located in rooms 1022 for McClung and 1026 for Kelley.