CRA-W CAPP Workshop – November 2012

Effective Leadership & Effective Leadership & Creating ChangeCreating Change

Nancy Amato, Texas A&MNancy Amato, Texas A&M

CRA-W CRA-W Computer Research Association Committee on the Status of Computer Research Association Committee on the Status of

Women in Computing ResearchWomen in Computing Research

Mission Mission increase the participation and increase the participation and success of women in computing researchsuccess of women in computing research

www.cra-w.org

What does CRA-W do?What does CRA-W do?Individual & Group Research MentoringIndividual & Group Research Mentoring

Graduate StudentsUndergraduates

Academic careers

Industry/government

Undergrads: Undergraduate Research ExperiencesUndergrads: Distinguished lecture role models Grad Cohort: group mentoring of grad studentsGrad Students: Discipline Specific Research workshops PhD Researchers: group mentoring of early & mid career @ CMW, CAPP, Hopper & Tapia

600+ students and PhD researchers a year

www.cra-w.org

Leadership OpportunitiesLeadership Opportunities

• Formal Leadership Roles– Internal & external: e.g., department

head/chair, officer in professional society, …

• Leading New Initiatives– non-permanent activities that may, but

don’t have to, become institutionalized

• Building New Programs– permanent & institutionalized activities

Formal Leadership RolesFormal Leadership Roles• University leadership positions

– Department head/chair, dean, provost, president, etc.

• External leadership positions– Rotator at NSF, professional society officer,

conference program/general chair, etc.

• Obtaining & Succeeding in these roles– build up: do a good job on shorter term and

smaller projects (initiatives & programs)– discover what fits you best & focus there

The Facilitators Share…The Facilitators Share…• One leadership opportunity I’m glad I One leadership opportunity I’m glad I

took.took.• One thing related to a leadership One thing related to a leadership

opportunity that I wish I had done opportunity that I wish I had done differently?differently?

Leading New InitiativesLeading New Initiatives

• Initiatives are non-permanent activities that may, but don’t have to, become institutionalized– On-line departmental grad admissions,

Campus-wide alliance of bioinformatics researchers, pilot program for peer teaching evaluations, college ombudsperson

• Why would you want to lead one?– To get something done you believe in

Leading New Initiatives:Leading New Initiatives:Key ElementsKey Elements

• Your passion for it – Won’t work well if you do it because others want it,

you have to care about it

• Clear statement of objective– Get feedback and buy-in from others

• Determine & obtain needed resources– Time, financial, staff, space & a supporter/champion

• Run with it, iterating on above steps as needed• Understand when it’s time to move to next

stage

Initiatives ExerciseInitiatives Exercise

• Get in pairs• Discuss/brainstorm about initiatives you

would like to lead– Select one initiative each– Identity resources needed for it and who

might be your supporter/champion

Initiatives Exercise Initiatives Exercise DiscussionDiscussion

• Share your ideas and see who here might have relevant experiences to share with you

Building New ProgramsBuilding New Programs

• has political and technical aspects• Requires leadership

– one or more committed advocates who are willing to do the work

• The results may take much longer than you think they should

Building New Programs: Building New Programs: Key ElementsKey Elements

• Have a convincing rationale for change– preferably with data

• Build consensus as needed– within department, college, university

• Understand what is required– Know the approval process at your

university– Insinuate yourself into key committees

Building New Programs: Building New Programs: Consensus ExerciseConsensus Exercise

Choose a scenario• Let’s start an honors

program!• Let’s introduce a new

course in Robotic Rabbits!

• Let’s start a new degree program in digital forensics!

Choose a role• The proposer• The only antagonistic• The apathetic• Nothing but negative• A supporter (at most

one per group)

Building New Programs:Building New Programs:Consensus Building DebriefingConsensus Building Debriefing

• What worked?• What tips do you need?

Discussion QuestionsDiscussion Questions

• I see growth potential in our department. How should I promote change? Strategies to make it happen.

• Are there certain roles or positions that are better/worse to take if I’m interested in future advancement? E.g., chairing undergraduate curriculum committee vs. faculty search?

Come to our BOF: Come to our BOF: We Need Your Input!We Need Your Input!

• BOF: Designing a Senior Faculty Career Mentoring Workshop: Let’s Brainstorm– Friday October 4, 2013– 3:45-4:45pm, MCC 200-D-G– Description: The goal of this BOF is to learn what resources would help

academic women continue growing their careers after Full Professor. CRA-W runs career-mentoring workshops for undergraduate, graduate, early and mid career researchers. Building on these successful workshops, CRA-W is considering developing senior academic leadership materials. We want to learn from the community what training would help women continue to climb the academic career ladder.

CRA-W Wants Your FeedbackCRA-W Wants Your Feedback• Please give us your feedback about this session and any

other CRA-W mentoring sessions you have attended– http://alturl.com/z4gp9