The Leadership Educator Podcast

Leadership Pathways with Dr. Melissa Rocco: Bridging Student Affairs and Academia

In this episode,  Dan and Lauren are joined by Dr. Melissa Rocco, Senior Lecturer of Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration in the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont. They delve into Rocco's transition from student affairs to a leadership faculty member, discussing the challenges and unique insights she gained from her diverse roles in consulting, academia, and professional associations. The episode highlights Rocco's contributions to leadership communities through her work with ILEC, ACPA, and NCLP, as well as the 2024 Leadership Educators Academy and Leadership Educators Institute. 

Classroom Management and Faculty Wellness with Constanza Bartholomae

In this episode, Dan and Lauren are joined by Constanza Bartholomae, Associate Director of Teaching Support from Bryant University. Constanza shares her background in classroom management and faculty wellness. All discuss ways to engage with students post-pandemic and how faculty can cope with the changes occurring in the classroom. 

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Exploring Communities of Practice with Dr. Lisa Endersby

In this episode, Dan and Lauren talk with Dr. Lisa Endersby, an educational developer at York University, who blends roles across faculty, student, administrator, and researcher, to enhance student engagement and learning. Her work focuses on bridging educational development with research on communities of practice, emphasizing the impact of her experiences on educational innovation and the development of professional identities through the journey from peripheral to full participation. Lisa discussed her dissertation which explores communities of practice and the importance of finding community for meaningful engagement. She advocates for the power of these communities in fostering professional growth and the critical role of tacit knowledge in this transformative process.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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Building Engaged Classrooms: Insights from Dr. Clare Forstie on Inclusive Practices

In this episode, Dan and Lauren talk with Dr. Clare Forstie, an Education Program Specialist. She provides programming and consulting, with a particular interest in inclusive teaching principles and practices at the University of Minnesota. They discuss creating or joining faculty communities of practice, fostering engagement in the classroom, and balancing flexibility with structure in teaching spaces.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Teaching to Transgress (to learn more about classes as communities)
• All About Love (to learn more about connecting care with action for change)
• CJ Pascoe's book: Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High
• Creating Significant Learning Experiences with Dr. Dee Fink
• Subscribe to the POD Network Open Discussion Group at discussion@podnetwork.org 
• Heather Dubrow, English professor at Fordham University, who described a teaching practice involving students' reflections on each others' contributions in class. It was highlighted in this Chronicle teaching newsletter 

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Transforming Campus Dialogue: Riaz Patel on Meaningful Discussions

In this episode, Dan and Lauren host Riaz Patel, a two-time Emmy-nominated producer and director to discuss his work at Connect Effect. Patel explores the art of having conversations about controversial topics with civility—a vital skill for leadership students and participants to have. He provides insights into how his program is producing meaningful and life-changing discussions at college campuses across the U.S. This conversation from this episode offers a valuable perspective from someone actively shaping the conversation landscape within higher education.

Welcome to Season Nine, Part Two

In this episode, Dan and Lauren pick up following winter break. Both share their semester plans and then preview some of the topics to be discussed this Spring.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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The Season Pauses Here: Semester Wrap-Up and 2024 Preview

In this episode, Dan and Lauren discuss what they have learned about generative leadership from this season's guests. Dan highlights discovering more about how ChatGPT can build leadership learning practices and how collaboration is essential to good research practices. Lauren expands on how Bert DeCoutre's comments about digitizing leadership sparked new ideas and experiences in her teaching practice. Both confirm the continuation of the generative leadership learning theme into the new year and preview future topics.

Mentions in this episode include:

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Exploring the Dynamics of Toxic Followership with Dr. Wendy Edmonds

In this episode, co-hosts Dan and Lauren discuss toxic followership with Dr. Wendy Edmonds. Wendy, a past ILA Followership Member Community Chair and current assistant professor at Bowie State, describes her experience collecting data and writing her dissertation on the Jonestown Massacre and how it led to a book on the topic. She provides strategies for addressing and preventing toxicity in the workplace.

Adapting Leadership Training in the AI Era: Insights from the Center for Creative Leadership’s Bert De Coutere

In this episode, co-hosts Dan and Lauren discuss generative leadership education with Bert De Coutere from the Center for Creative Leadership. They explore how the CCL has adapted its leadership training methods post-pandemic and in the AI era. Bert shares his curiosity about digitizing leadership training and development and provides insights on maintaining a generative approach in leadership development amidst evolving challenges.

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Using Dialogue to Find Common Ground Amongst NCAA Leaders with Dr. Liz Darger

In this episode, Dan and Lauren sit down with Dr. Liz Darger, Senior Associate Athletic and Senior Woman Administrator at BYU Athletics and a member of the Leadership Team of the NCAA Common Ground initiative. They dive into the groundbreaking work Common Ground is doing to bridge gaps between LGBTQ+ and faith-based communities in college sports and higher education. Liz shares her own experiences leading and participating, and how it's shaped the student-athletes, coaches, and administrators that have participated.

Reflecting with ILA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Dr. Sonia Ospina

In this episode, Dan and Lauren are joined by Dr. Sonia Ospina, one of the 2023 ILA Lifetime Achievement Award Winners. The recently retired Ospina served as Professor of Public Management and Policy at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and former Faculty Director of the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA). She is a sociologist by training and an expert in participatory and qualitative research methods. Her interests in the participatory, inclusive, and collaborative dynamics of democratic governance have produced research on social change leadership, engaged scholarship, social innovation, public accountability, and public sector reform, both in the United States and in Latin America.

Reflecting with ILA Legacy Award Winner, Dr. Bruce Avolio

In this episode, Dan and Lauren listen as Dr. Bruce Avolio shares his experience as one of this year's ILA Lifetime Achievement Award Winners. Avolio is the Mark Pigott Chair in Business Strategic Leadership within the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. In the Foster School, he also serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Leadership & Strategic Thinking. He is recognized as being among the top 70 most highly cited researchers in the United States in Economics and Business and among the top 3,000 across all sciences around the globe (Thompson Reuters).

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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International Leadership Association Global Conference - Vancouver Recap

In this episode, Dan and Lauren recap their attendance at the ILA 25th Global Leadership Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from October 12-15, 2023. Both discuss meeting new people, attending sessions on research, AI and generativity, and future conversations for the podcast.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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Ethical Uses of ChatGPT in Leadership Classes and Programs

In this episode, Dan and Lauren hear from Dr. Joey Crawford, Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Tasmania and Editor of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice. Joey explains the findings from his recent co-authored piece titled, “Leadership Is Needed for Ethical CHATGPT: Character, Assessment, and Learning Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Learning Using Artificial Intelligence (AI).”

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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Mapping Out Your Leadership Education Courses With Innovative Teaching Strategies

In this episode, Dan and Lauren speak with Dr. Libby Bischoff, a Professor of History, the recently adorned University Historian, and the Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Bischoff focuses on innovative teaching approaches following the pandemic era. Additionally, she shares how she incorporated integrating generative writing, AI, and imaging tools into her courses, and that reflection is increasing in value in classrooms. 

What Should Faculty and Staff Know About the Future of Higher Education and Leadership Education, Training and Development?

In this episode, Dan and Lauren talk with Dr. Ralph Gigliotti, Assistant Vice President for Organizational Leadership in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University. Ralph, a leading researcher in crisis leadership in higher education, updates us on where we are now and how we can use leadership theories and frameworks for making decisions for your classes and programs.  

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

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Season 9 Intro: Generative Learning for Leadership Educators

In the first episode of the ninth season, Dan and Lauren explain this season's theme: "Generative Learning for Leadership Education". With all of the changes happening in higher education and society, the pair will explore how leadership educators focus on cultivating generative thinking and behaviors in leaders. The hosts, alongside other leadership educators and scholars, will discuss topics such as integrating artificial intelligence into leadership teaching, navigating complex ethical challenges, understanding new social phenomena, teaching during disruptions and adaptive challenges, and other emerging trends and issues affecting leaders in this space. This season's broad question is - how are leadership educators processing what's happening as they are trying to develop curriculum, teach, evaluate leadership learning, and build community?

NDSL #178 - Deepening Leadership Identity Development with Dr. Julie Owen

In this final installment before Season 9 kicks off, Dan and Lauren are joined by Dr. Julie E. Owen, an Associate Professor of Leadership Studies in the School of Integrative Studies at George Mason University. The conversation sheds light on Julie's leadership in the reevaluation of the Leadership Identity Development (LID) model, tracing back to her contributions as a member of the team overseen by Dr. Susan Komives. Julie discusses the subsequent research stemming from the initial efforts and outlines her aspirations for future investigations pertaining to the model.

You can check out "Deepening Leadership Identity Development" in Volume 2023, Issue 178, of New Directions for Student Leadership.

Other resources mentioned in this episode include:

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Ethical Leadership: Understanding Ethical Failures and Researching Consequences for Practice - Priority #8 of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda 2020–2025

In this episode, Dan and Lauren hear from Dr. Gail Latta, Professor and Inaugural Program Director of the Leadership Studies Doctoral Program in the College of Professional Sciences at Xavier University. She shares her experience working on the priority area of ethical leadership for the National Leadership Education Research Agenda. The authors in this Priority argue for increased scholarship and new methodologies and the inclusion of followership in future research and practice.

Latta is the lead author for Priority #8 of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda. 

This episode is part of a series of conversations with the lead authors of the nine priorities of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda (NLERA) 2020-2025, published in Volume 14, issue 3, of the Journal of Leadership Studies.

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Emergent Methodologies: New Approaches for Integrating Theory and Practice: Priority #9 of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda 2020–2025

In this episode, Dan and Lauren are joined by Dr. Thomas Yannuzzi and Dr. Deborah Smith. This chapter serves as a call to action for reimagining the field and bringing about meaningful advancements in leadership education. Both discuss how the writing group collaborated for this priority, and how it informs future research. 

Yannuzzi is the lead author and Smith is part of the writing team for Priority #9 of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda. 

This episode is part of a series of conversations with the lead authors of the nine priorities of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda (NLERA) 2020-2025, published in Volume 14, issue 3, of the Journal of Leadership Studies.