The American Council on Education announced that Juli Wade, the associate provost for faculty and academic staff development at Michigan State University, has been named an ACE Fellow for the 2018-19 academic year.
She will spend 12 weeks distributed over that period at a host institution to be identified this summer, and will be mentored by their president and other university officials.
Established in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing faculty and staff for senior positions in college and university administration through its distinctive and intensive nominator-driven, cohort-based mentorship model. Following nomination by the senior administration of their institutions and a rigorous application process, 45 Fellows were selected this year.
More than 2,000 higher education leaders have participated in the ACE Fellows Program over the past five decades, with more than 80 percent of Fellows having gone on to serve as senior leaders of colleges and universities.
"For more than a half-century, the ACE Fellows Program has been a powerful engine fueling the expansion of a talented and diverse higher education leadership pipeline," said ACE President Ted Mitchell. "We are excited to welcome this new class of Fellows and look forward to each enjoying a transformative experience that will help advance individual leadership readiness while also enriching the capacity of institutions to innovate and thrive."
As associate provost for faculty and academic staff development at MSU, Wade coordinates the Academic Advancement Network and serves as head of its Leadership Development node. Wade is a professor in the Departments of Psychology and Integrative Biology and a member of the interdepartmental graduate program in neuroscience. She served as chair of the Department of Psychology from 2010 to 2017 and as a co-coordinator of the department's undergraduate honors program from 2006-10. She is a recipient of MSU's Teacher-Scholar Award (2002) and Distinguished Faculty Award (2013).
Wade began as an assistant professor at MSU in 1995 following a postdoctoral research position in the Department of Psychology and Brain Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 and her A.B. from Cornell University in 1987.
"I am grateful for this opportunity to learn from the diverse perspectives of the individuals and institutions involved in this tremendous program. I hope to gain insights on a range of issues facing higher education. Areas of particular interest, which will inform my work at MSU, include leadership development and enhancing support for academics outside of the tenure system," Wade said.
The program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, visits to campuses and other higher education-related organizations, and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single year. During the placement, Fellows observe and work with the president and other senior officers at their host institution, attend decision-making meetings, and focus on issues of interest. Fellows also conduct projects of pressing concern for their home institution and seek to implement their findings upon completion of the fellowship placement.
At the conclusion of the fellowship year, Fellows return to their home institution with new knowledge and skills that contribute to capacity-building efforts, along with a network of peers across the country and abroad.