CRA Leadership Academy for Faculty

May 22-23, 2023

Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel
Chicago, IL, USA

Event Contact

Sandra Corbett

The CRA Leadership Academy seeks to help inform and cultivate future leaders in computing and computing research through a one-day in-person workshop, and a few follow-up virtual meetings among the Leadership Academy cohort.  Participants will learn new skills and perspectives on leadership, hear from leaders in the field, test out leadership skills with scenarios, and build up  their network of fellow leaders. There will be required pre-reads before the in-person workshop that participants will find interesting and useful.

Topics will include:

  1. What types of leadership positions are there, and how do you get one (e.g., conference program chair, chair of a department, program manager at NSF/DARPA, dean of a college, national committees, or other leadership positions)?
  2. Once you have a leadership position, what skills do you need to be an effective leader?  There are soft skills such as inspiring others, seeking input and feedback, finding/being a mentor, creating career paths for others, building consensus, and effectively dealing with difficult people/situations.  There are day-to-day skills such as managing email, being an ask-once person, meeting management, working with a leadership team, working with staff and volunteers, and finding resources available in your organization to help you lead.
  3. Leading in academia:  what are the different budget models in universities, and how do they incentivize/disincentivize collaboration, the art and science of recruiting faculty/staff, reference checking, and managing up, laterally, and down?

The in-person workshop will be held at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton airport starting at 4 pm on May 22nd and ending at 3 pm on May 23rd, with a few one-hour virtual meetings among the academy cohorts following the workshop.  Nominees must commit to participating in all activities. CRA will cover food/beverage and other local expenses; participants will cover their travel/hotel expenses. Note that limited scholarships are available for attendees whose department/college/unit cannot support their travel expenses.