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• IU Bloomington names Academic Leadership Program fellows

IU Bloomington names Academic Leadership Program fellows

• Aug. 5, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington has selected five faculty members to serve as 2015-16 fellows for the Academic Leadership Program, which helps develop leadership skills of professors who may pursue careers in academic administration.

The program is sponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, made up of the 14 universities in the Big Ten conference and the University of Chicago. Participants will attend three seminars hosted by Committee on Institutional Cooperation universities and will take part in campus-based meetings and programs with administrative leaders.

IU Bloomington fellows are:

• Pnina Fichman, associate professor and chair of information and library science in the School of Informatics and Computing.
• Shawn Gibbs, professor of environmental health and executive associate dean of the School of Public Health-Bloomington.
• Maria Elizabeth Grabe, professor of communication science and associate dean of the Media School.
• Michael McGuire, professor and executive associate dean of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
• Jamie Prenkert, professor and chair of business law and ethics in the Kelley School of Business.

“At IU Bloomington we know that we must invest in faculty in order to remain viable and competitive,” said Eliza Pavalko, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs. “The Academic Leadership Program leverages the resources and expertise of CIC member institutions to develop the leadership necessary to maintain a community of excellent scholars and teachers.”

Pnina Fichman is director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics. Her research in social informatics focuses on the interaction between information and communication technologies and cultural diversity in online communities. She studies online deviant behaviors, such as trolling and discrimination. She has co-edited/authored five books and has published dozens of journal articles, book chapters and conference papers on these topics. She has a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina and is the chair of the Department of Information and Library Science.

Shawn Gibbs conducts research in industrial hygiene and environmental exposure assessment, focusing on environmental microbiology, including the disruption of the transmission of highly infectious disease. He was a 2006 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Egypt and has done research in Libya, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria and Armenia. He is an activity director for the National Ebola Training and Education Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.

Maria Elizabeth “Betsi” Grabe is the associate dean of the newly formed Media School and a research associate of the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She does research at the intersection of news user demography (social class and gender) and message variables to understand informed citizenship. She has a Ph.D. in mass media and communication from Temple University.

Michael McGuire is a scholar of public affairs and administration who focuses his research and teaching on how public managers operate and lead collaborative networks of organizations. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He served as the managing editor of the journal Public Administration Review from 2011 to 2013. He has a Ph.D. in public policy from Indiana University.

Jamie Prenkert is an Arthur M. Weimer Faculty Fellow and professor of business law in the Kelley School of Business. His research focuses on employment discrimination and whistleblowing, workplace harassment, retaliation, and business and human rights. He has a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Before joining the IU faculty, he was a senior trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and practiced with the Baker & Daniels law firm.

About the Academic Leadership Program

Established in 1989, the Academic Leadership Program has developed leadership and managerial skills of nearly 1,000 fellows, many of whom have gone on to serve with distinction as college presidents, provosts and deans. The program is oriented to address the challenges of academic administration at major research universities and to help faculty members prepare to meet them.

Related Links

• Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs