by Kathy Johnson

Three University of Kentucky professors have been named Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium (SECAC) 2011-2012 Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) Fellows.  They are Anna Bosch of the College of Arts and Sciences and Martha Peterson and Diane Snow, both of the College of Medicine.

The three will participate in this year-long leadership program consisting of both on-campus and off-campus activities including workshops that will bring them together with other ALDP Fellows from SEC schools. Workshops can focus on a variety of topics such as budgeting and finance, diversity, communication, strategic planning, fund raising, media relations, trends in higher education, and leadership strategies.  A workshop will be held at UK in October 2011 and at Auburn University in February 2012.

In notifying the recipients of the fellowship, UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy said the leadership program is designed to develop the most promising individuals into future leaders in higher education.

"The provosts within the SEC universities developed ALDP to prepare interested faculty for the challenges of an academic administrative position," Subbaswamy said.  "We see the challenges of higher education continuing and increasing in intensity, necessitating a more proactive leadership and effective management throughout the academy."

Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Heidi M. Anderson administers the ALDP at UK and enjoys the opportunity to assist faculty in this type of professional development.

“In my role as liaison and mentor I’ve observed our faculty enhance their academic leadership skills and talents," Anderson said.  "It has been a pleasure to work with all of the UK Fellows since the inception of the program."

UK's 2011-2012 ALDP Fellows are:

• Anna Bosch, associated dean for undergraduate programs in Arts and Sciences, joined UK in 1990, and has been an associate professor of linguistics and English since 1996, serving as director of the Linguistics Program from 1997-2006. Bosch earned her doctorate in linguistics at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include phonological theory, field methods and dialectology (primarily Scottish Gaelic and North American). In her role as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, Bosch oversees curricular and program changes, implementation of the General Education curriculum, programmatic assessment, academic advising, undergraduate scholarship selection, online education, and interdisciplinary programs.

• Martha Peterson is a professor in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics.  She has been a part-time associate vice president for research for the past four years. Her research is focused on the regulation of gene expression at post-transcriptional levels, including alternative RNA processing, and has used the IgM and AFP genes as model systems. She received her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received postdoctoral training from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

• Diane Snow is a professor in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine's Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, an endowed chair of UK's Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), and UK's director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. Her research is focused on cellular and molecular factors regulating neural regeneration. She received her doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and received postdoctoral training from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn.

SECAC began its first Academic Leadership Development Program in October 2008 and each year since a new group of ALDP Fellows has been chosen. Following are UK faculty members and administrators who have served as ALDP Fellows in previous years.

2008-2009:

Lynda Brown Wright, College of Education

Chris Frost, College of Law

Lawrence Holloway, College of Engineering

2009-2010:

Beth Barnes, College of Communications and Information Studies

Scott W. Kelley, Gatton College of Business and Economics

Michael B. Reid, College of Medicine

Jennifer Swanberg, College of Social Work, Gatton College of Business and Economics and College of Public Health

2010-2011:

Linda A. Alexander, College of Public Health

Sharon Stewart, College of Health Sciences

Benjamin C. Withers, College of Fine Arts

For more information on ALDP visit www.uky.edu/Provost/APFA/ALDP/SECAC.php.