Pilot Program Develops Emerging Talent Among School of Medicine Staff

Initiative combines Duke Learning & Organization Development instruction with mentorship

Two women talking.
Duke Surgery Administrative Coordinator Irish Hamilton, left, a mentor in the Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program, speaks with mentee Wendy Holt, right, a Duke Surgery Staff Assistant, at the program's kickoff meeting. Photo by Stephen Schramm.

In nine years at Duke, Deirdre Woodard has gone from a Patient Services Associate staffing Duke Clinic reception desks to a Staff Assistant in Duke Cancer Center’s Thoracic Oncology Clinic.

On August 27, in a sunny fourth-floor Trent Semans Center classroom, Woodard took another step in her professional journey during the Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program’s kickoff meeting.

“I’m looking for a way to grow in my career and network with people who have more knowledge and wisdom about this work than I do,” Woodard said.

Duke Surgery Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator Rodney Reeves speaks to participants of the Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program. Photo by Stephen Schramm.

Supported by a Duke University School of Medicine Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Catalyst Fund grant, the Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program offers nine School of Medicine staff and administrative assistants the opportunity to enroll in the Certified Executive Assistant Professional (CEAP) professional development program and combine it with mentorship and hands-on experience working alongside senior colleagues.

The School of Medicine partnered with Duke Learning & Organization Development, a unit in Duke Human Resources, to teach the CEAP program. Designed to sharpen administrative professionals’ communication, collaboration and leadership skills, the CEAP program features eight courses and gives graduates a nationally recognized certification.

“This approach is very smart,” said Senior Learning & Organization Development Consultant Marjorie Siegert, who oversees the CEAP program. “We have a program that works in the CEAP, and they thought to add things to it to make the experience even better.”

For mentors like Department of Surgery Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Program Coordinator Rodney Reeves, who spent 12 years as a staff assistant at Duke, the chance to help colleagues grow was too valuable to pass up.

“I received a lot of guidance and had a lot of positive role models here at Duke,” Reeves said. “I’m not going to be one of those people who gets help and then pulls the ladder up behind them. If somebody helps me, I want to help somebody else behind me.”

Duke Department of Medicine Divisional Administrator Pam Keels helped envisioned the Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program. Photo by Stephen Schramm.

The Duke Administrative Career Advancement Program was envisioned by Duke Department of Medicine Administrative Director Pam Keels prior to the COVID pandemic. Conceived as a way to create equitable and inclusive career advancement opportunities for staff, the idea steadily gained backers among the Moments to Movement Staff Advisory Committee and the Department of Surgery’s SEEDS staff professional development workgroup, the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Emergency Medicine.

The Catalyst Fund grant awarded in April allowed Keels’ idea to become a reality.

“Oftentimes staff assistants and administrative professionals are overlooked,” Keels said. “The ones who are the best at their jobs make it look easy. To give them an opportunity to think about their careers and invest in them benefits them and our organization.”

After encouragement from school leaders and a discussion of the schedule – the program ends in April 2025 – participants finished the kickoff meeting by chatting with their mentors for the first time.

“She said ‘I can tell you catch on quickly and learn fast,’” Woodard said after meeting her mentor, Department of Surgery Executive Assistant Melanie Kranz. “I said, ‘I do! And I’m ready to get started.’”

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