UCLA Academies Will Prepare Innovative and Courageous Leaders for K-12, Universities

Applications for the 2022 Women’s School Leadership Academy (WSLA) and the 2022 University Women’s Leadership Academy for Mid-Career Women are now being accepted. The application deadline is Nov. 1, 2021. The academies are designed to provide leadership professionals in K-12 and universities with the tools, support, and mentoring needed to increase their impact on their institutions and enhance their own career trajectories.

The UCLA Women’s School Leadership Academy is committed to championing women’s leadership in K-12 schools, and districts. The five-month program helps participants to realize their own voices and to shape their own stories. Leadership capacities that are emphasized include problem-solving, mentoring and sponsoring, career building, coaching, and collaborating for change.

UCLA WSLA participants learn from each other and from instructors who are expert practitioner leaders in K-12 schooling. The program embraces social justice and is designed for experienced leaders. 

The program’s four through lines are 360 degree leadership, communicating for impact, navigating public and private lives, and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. The through lines are informed by four themes of leading as a woman in times of calm and crisis; making decisions considering multiple social, cultural and political perspectives; women supporting women for professional growth; and navigating professional and private lives.

The WSLA will consist of two in-person Saturday sessions at UCLA (COVID-19 conditions permitting) on January 8 and June 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, ten virtual meetings will take place from 6:30-9 p.m., Tuesday evenings, on January 11 and 25; February 8 and 22; March 8 and 22; April 5 and 26; and May 3 and 17.

For application materials for the UCLA Women’s School Leadership Academy, visit this link. 

The UCLA University Women’s Leadership Academy is designed to assist mid-careerprofessionals who want to expand their leadership and value to universities. The program re-imagines the roles and impact of women in their current and future university positions. Activities and instruction are led by experts from varied types of universities in areas that include human resources, academic personnel, business, student services, information technology, and operations. Content also focuses on soft leadership skills. Some of these include facilitating meetings, career-building, negotiation, mentoring, problem solving, and collaborating for change. The academy promotes interaction between participants. 

Among the objectives of the University Women's Leadership Academy are enhancing the value of university women’s voices and contributions; engaging women in sustaining institutional change; expanding women’s capacity to lead; enlarging women’s ability to navigate the overt and covert university; encouraging professional options in wide-ranging roles across the university; embracing equity, diversity, and inclusion across the university; and elevating women’s confidence in their own abilities.

The virtual sessions will be held on six Saturday mornings, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on January 22, February 5, March 5, April 2, May 7, and June 25; and on six Thursday evenings, from 6-8:30 p.m. on January 27, February 24, March 24, April 28, May 26, and June 16.

For application materials for the University Women’s Leadership Academy, visit this link. 

For more information on the Women’s School Leadership Academy or the University Women’s Leadership Academy, Linda Rose, Ph.D., director, at lrose@g.ucla.edu.