About the Program
The Provost Leadership Program (PLP) began in Fall 2021 with the goal of developing academic leaders in formal administrative or academic leadership roles—such as associate or department chair, center or institute director, assistant or associate dean, or director of undergraduate or graduate studies—who are positioned to guide MU into the future. While the program values leadership in many forms, PLP is specifically designed for faculty whose roles include programmatic, personnel, or unit-level responsibilities rather than leadership of individual projects or scholarly teams. 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 major components of this program include assessments, faculty panels, topics for reading and discussion (such as owning your story & journey as a leader, building teams, conflict management, etc.), MU-specific topics (such as budget, legal issues, communications, etc.), and leadership lunches.
PLP consists of 8 sessions between September and April on the MU campus.
2026-2027 Session Dates:
- September 9
- October 14
- November 12
- December 1
- January 27
- February 11
- March 9
- April 6 (10AM-12PM)
- All sessions except for April run from 10AM-3PM.
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
View a list of all former program participants.
Questions?
For questions about the Provost Leadership Program, please contact Carrie Nicholson (nicholsonc@missouri.edu) or Candace Kuby (kubyc@missouri.edu).