University of Georgia Program Aims to Train Women Faculty Members for Leadership Posts

The University of Georgia has announced its first cohort in the Women’s Leadership Fellows Program. The goal of the program is to have women faculty members hone their leadership skills in order to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities available to women at leading research universities.

As Leadership Fellows, the women faculty members will attend a monthly meeting where they will learn leadership skills from top executives at the university as well as from visiting speakers from the academic world, business, and other fields. A weekend retreat will be held in the spring for additional leadership training.

The nine women selected as the initial fellows are:

• Valerie Babb, the Franklin Professor of English and director of the Institute for African American Studies.
• Marsha Davis, professor of health promotion and behavior and associate dean for outreach and engagement in the College of Public Health.
• Ellen Evans, professor of exercise science and director of the Center for Physical Activity.
• Susan C. Fagen, a Distinguished Research Professor and assistant dean of the College of Pharmacy campus in Augusta.
• Jean Martin Williams, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music.
• Laura Meadows, director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
• Peggy Ozias-Akins, director of the Institute for Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics.
• Marissa Anne Pagnattaro, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Legal Studies.
• Usha Rodrigues, who holds the M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law.