Schedule
Course Content
Participant Selection Process & Criteria

The Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE), inaugurated its new Leadership Institute on June 19, 2007, at Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Institute is designed for individuals who have several years of experience as communicators or information technologists and aspire to, or are new to, mid-level management.  It will provide knowledge and skill building that help participants develop the vision, leadership abilities, and management competencies that are needed to excel as a leader in these professions.

To respond to current budget constraints and travel restrictions, the Institute is being redesigned for a totally online learning environment using current distance learning strategies and technologies.

Those selected to participate make a one-year commitment that includes frequent online interactive learning and collaborative work sessions, interactive learning modules, a self-directed project, and learning opportunities to be arranged at each participant’s workplace.  The program will teach participants to:

• Grow as communications and information technology professionals, expanding professional contacts and learning to better meet the needs of their institutions
• Plan strategically for communications and information technology initiatives
• Identify issues, trends, opportunities, and challenges that affect the communications and information technology professions
• Communicate more effectively about what communications and information technology units do, including their value to the larger organization
• Increase understanding of the unique characteristics and circumstances of communications and information technology units

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants who successfully complete the year-long Institute learning program will be able to do the following:

Manage Resources

• Plan, organize, and budget
• Manage human capital, including managing performance, resolving conflicts, and supporting professional development of staff
• Understand own strengths and weaknesses (conduct a realistic self-assessment)
• Align resources to priorities, including business planning and entrepreneurship
• Run effective meetings

Plan and Manage Strategically

• Plan for effective communication and technology initiatives, focusing on measurable results more than process
• Understand, foster, and manage innovation
• Support plans and recommendations with decision data
• Accurately assess and articulate the outcomes and value of communication and technology initiatives
• Understand methods for identifying, defining and solving problems and leading others through this process
• Understand the process and importance of identifying trends and issues within and outside the organization

See the “Big Picture”

• Recognize and understand cultural/ethnic differences

• Understand and share the vision and mission of the larger organization and develop a corresponding vision and mission for the communications/IT unit.
• Identify stakeholders and engage them in decisions
• Project the impact of decisions upon stakeholders
• Understand the political environment
• Take a “systems” perspective – inputs, outputs, rules, impacts, and processes
• Understand culture change in an organization
• Identify and fulfill needs for promotion of the organization

The participant’s administrative sponsor plays a key role in the Institute’s leadership program.  This person helps ensure institutional support for the program, facilitates participant involvement in college and university leadership environment, provides an understanding of the larger organization, and helps identify and guide the participant’s project.