Leadership Academy

2024-2025 AAVMC Leadership Academy

AAVMC launched the Leadership Academy in 2012 to provide leadership development for emerging leaders in academia and to provide a forum for building lasting ties between faculty members at veterinary schools and departments around the world. While there are many types of leadership development training available, the AAVMC Leadership Academy is unique in that it is focused on helping develop tomorrow’s leaders of academic veterinary medicine. The participants quickly bond with one another and will find that they have colleagues and friends they can communicate with as they progress through their careers.

Mission: We develop leaders for success in contemporary academic veterinary medicine.

Vision: To be the premier leadership development program in academic veterinary medicine.

Purpose: The development of enlightened, progressive, adaptable, and competent leaders ensures the health, vitality, sustainability, and relevance of the veterinary profession to effectively serve society. 

Values

We promote ethical, compassionate, and servant leadership attributes and characteristics.  

We embrace the fundamental virtue and strength of diversity in every dimension, and recognize that equity and inclusion are key drivers of excellence in leadership.

We believe in developing exceptional and inspirational leadership attributes and competencies.

We believe that everyone can lead and is a leader.

We are committed to experiential learning experiences for current and aspiring leaders.

Program Objectives

• Enhance “real-world” leadership competencies in order to address a broad range of issues frequently encountered in modern leadership roles
• Develop a working knowledge of theory, terminology, and practical application of “leadership” by exploring operational definitions of leadership, management, and followership theory
• Provide participants with contextual, current, and accurate information for discussion of important leadership frameworks
• Provide robust opportunities for participants to share their unique thoughts, observations, and perspectives involving leadership
• Create an expanded network of peers, colleagues, and experts who can provide information and discussions on new developments in knowledge and application.
• Provide the Veterinary Profession as a context relating to leadership at the educational institution and the professional traditions.
• Experience leadership realities from professional leaders and influencers through interactions and discussions
• Provide an experiential learning opportunity through the capstone project activities.

Program Outline

In-person Meetings:

• September 10 – 12, 2024; Denver, Colorado

• April 7 – 8, 2025: Washington, DC (immediately prior to Advocacy Day and the AAVMC Annual Conference)

Virtual Meetings:

• October 11, 2024
• November 15, 2024
• January 17, 2025
• February 21, 2025
• March 14, 2025

Additional asynchronous programming will also be available.

Capstone Experience

• The 2024-2025 AAVMC Leadership Academy includes a capstone experience. These capstone projects bring together small groups of participants on an ongoing basis to work on a self-identified project. Projects focus on exploring significant challenges facing academic veterinary medicine. For questions about the capstone experience, please contact AAVMC Leadership Academy Director Dr. Rod Bagley at rsbagley@iastate.edu.

Leadership Academy Topics

• Who am I as a Leader?
• Leaders vs. Managers
• The Impact of Followers
• Communicate Styles and Strategies
• Individual and Group Decision-making Strategies
• Planning Strategically
• The Dynamics of Team
• Crisis Management- the New Reality
• Stress and Resiliency for Leaders
• Lessons from the Leadership Trail
• The Leader Out Front 

Enrollment Information

For information about the Leadership Academy please contact staff liaison Monique Pierce, mpierce@aavmc.org. Nominations are received directly from the office of the Dean at our member institutions. Please contact your dean’s office for more information on your university’s specific nomination process.

Attendance Costs

Thanks to the generous support of Elanco, AAVMC can offer enrollment in the Academy with no registration fee.

Testimonials from Previous Participants

“If every unit leader was exposed to this educational experience, I think it would completely change the culture of academia for the better.”
“The Academy has been excellent throughout. The sessions provided were directly relevant to issues we are working through now.”
“I have strongly recommended it to my dean for others in my institution.”
“It was great to be able to get to know your teammates over time. I feel like I was able to make connections with the other attendees and that helped make the whole experience better. I got a lot out of all the sessions.”
“I heard this quote several times: ‘We all have the same problems and issues at our schools.’ It was common to discuss a project/directive someone was working on that someone else had just dealt with.”
“The experience on Capitol Hill has made me a believer in advocating for the profession and encouraging my colleagues to do the same.”