Provost Leadership Program

About the Program

A faculty leadership panel shares strategies on conflict management

The Provost Leadership Program (PLP) began in Fall 2021 with the goal of developing academic leaders who will guide MU into the future. Through the program, members are able to come together for development and growth as leaders, while expanding and enriching their professional networks on personal and institutional levels. Upon completion of the program, PLP members will have gained practical skills to:

Offer guidance and support to the faculty
Strategically plan for the future of an academic school or department
Work with a network of peers to tackle leadership concerns
Build commitment among department colleagues toward academic excellence and the MU mission

The main components of this program are: readings and discussions on leadership topics; faculty panels; assessments; peer coaching; an exploration of leading within the MU context; and regular lunches with current MU leaders. The current PLP curriculum includes an exploration of the following topics: leadership identity; inclusive leadership; building teams; conflict management; and making change.

PLP consists of 8 sessions between September and April on the MU campus.

Members of the current PLP cohort participate in small group activities

Cohort Directory, 2023-2024

Benjamin Black, Child Health
Erin Bullett, Psychological Sciences
Carli Conklin, Kinder Institute/Law
Kristofferson Culmer, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Natalie Downer, Biological Science
Julie Elman, Women’s & Gender Studies
Brandi French, Neurology
Lisa Goran, Special Education
Alisa Hutchison, Veterinary Medicine & Surgery
Laura Johnston, Journalism
Christopher Josey, Communication
Benjamin Knapp, Natural Resources
Joanne Kramer, Veterinary Medicine & Surgery
Crystal Lim, Health Psychology
Mengshi Lin, Food Science
David Mendoza Cozatl, Plant Sciences
Pilar Mendoza Middelkoop, Education Leadership & Policy Analysis
Julie Miller, Nursing
Taylor Nelson, Medicine – Infectious Disease
Stevanie Neuman, Accountancy
Scott Rector, Nutrition and Exercise Physiology
Jerod Skyberg, Veterinary Pathobiology
John Tummons, Applied Social Sciences
Doug Valentine, Honors College
Roseanna Zia, Engineering

Former PLP Member Testimonials

“I would just remind anyone that hopes to be a leader that you would never start a new line of research without preparing and putting in the groundwork and having a framework that sets you up for success. Same thing if you’re going to be a leader, you need to put in that time. You need to have a framework of context within the whole campus and university system to understand where your unit fits and why your unit is affected by decisions the way it is so that you can be an effective leader…If you have any goals of being in leadership in academia, I think that this is one of the better experiences you can have in terms of preparation for that.“

Jeffrey Bryan, professor of Oncology, Department of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery, and director of Comparative Oncology Radiobiology and Epigenetics Laboratory

“It will actually be enormously useful to you if you engage with the evaluations they offer – at first it might seem hokey to explore your own personality, but the things you discover both about yourself and about how people work together can give you an enormous edge when trying to harmonize teams and decision making. It helped me better understand and predict who would have what kinds of objectives – and objections – in decisions we have to take, and how to assemble a team that will challenge each other to produce valuable work for our department.”

Megan Moore, chair, School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures and professor of French

“I appreciated how the different leadership evaluations all gave differing insights into aspects of my work and leadership styles. I think the 360 evaluation was most helpful. I can often be my own worst critic, and the feedback in that evaluation was pretty uplifting and helped me to see some areas that members of my team appreciated that I wasn’t aware of…While it can be challenging to find the time to participate, it’s a valuable experience that will help you grow your campus network, learn more about yourself, and expand your leadership knowledge and potential.”

Lauren Brengarth, Management assistant teaching professor, assistant dean of student programs and director of the Trulaske Edge