Fourth Duke Leadership Academy Class Graduates

As Shanna Fitzpatrick listened to a discussion about supportive leadership in one of the Duke Leadership Academy sessions, her mind raced with ideas. She opened a binder and scribbled notes: "invest in strategic planning for unit. Don't allow leader to be the only one with knowledge."

Six months later, Fitzpatrick's team has welcomed the challenge to do more strategic planning. 

"Team members have already started implementing new audit procedures and financial award notification processes, rather than just waiting for the next project to arrive on our plates," said Fitzpatrick, director of budgets and finance for Duke's Graduate School.

Learning ways to engage team members is among the skills Fitzpatrick carried away after the end of the latest Duke Leadership Academy, an intensive year-long program designed to stimulate personal and professional growth and nurture a pipeline of future leaders at Duke. 

Last week, she and 22 other Duke staff and faculty members celebrated their graduation from the academy, which is based on best practices from the Fuqua/Coach K Center On Leadership and Ethics (COLE). Starting in January 2013, class members met monthly to hear directly from leaders at Duke about their leadership perspectives and experiences. Participants also had monthly readings and assignments that focused on critical leadership behaviors.

President Richard H. Brodhead, the guest speaker at graduation, described the academy's role in spreading best leadership practices from one area to another. 

"One of the goals of this academy is to take talented individuals from each of the subworlds that make up Duke, give them broader horizons and additional tools, and put them together to reflect on leadership," Brodhead said. "Through this academy, you have created social bonds that are like neurons that allow all sorts of messages to go from zone to zone. I hope you will become part of the infrastructure that helps Duke disseminate its best ideas."

Keisha Williams, director of Duke's Learning and Organization Development, said the academy, now in its fourth year, has become a vital part of Duke's effort to nurture emerging leaders. 

"Duke Leadership Academy provides core information about how we function at Duke, and we want to continue that tradition and take more advantage of the networking and community that the program offers," Williams said. 

Deans or vice presidents nominate class members for the program each year; the 2014 class will begin in January.  The 2014 curriculum will be similar to the 2013 curriculum, but it will include a focus on action learning project teams.

For Joe Gonzalez, dean of residence life for Housing, Dining and Residence Life in Student Affairs and member of the 2013 class, the combination of a supportive community and self-reflection has been key to the success of the academy.

"I met people I never would have crossed paths with if it hadn't been for the academy," he said. "And yet it also compelled me to spend some time by myself giving consideration to leadership and how I was achieving it. For most of us, that just doesn't happen without support."

The graduates of the 2013 Duke Leadership Academy are: Richard Biever, Office of Information Technology; Krista Bofill, Fuqua School of Business; Denise Comer, Arts & Sciences; James Daigle, Office of Information Technology; Greg Dye, Duke Lemur Center; Shanna Fitzpatrick, Graduate School; Erin Gasch, Fuqua School of Business; Joe Gonzalez, Student Affairs; Denise Haviland, Marketing and Strategic Communications; Liz Hutton, Graduate School; Jon Jackson, Athletics; Amanda Kelso, Arts & Sciences; J. Alan Kendrick, Graduate School; David Lindquist, Divinity School; Lupita McMillan, Pratt School of Engineering; John Michnowicz, School of Medicine; Leanora Minai, Human Resources; Alison Rabil, Financial Aid; Marnie Rhoads, Pratt School of Engineering; Greg Rives, Financial Services; Beth Sizemore, Financial Services; Tom Szigethy, Student Affairs; Brett Walters, Alumni Affairs.