Leadership Opportunities

Colman Leadership Program for Ph.D. Students

In spring 2012, John and Jane Colman established the Colman Family Endowed Fund for Leadership within the College of Engineering Office of Inclusive Excellence to establish the Colman Leadership Program for Ph.D. students in engineering and other related STEM fields. In summer 2015, the Graduate School Office of Inclusion & Student Engagement established a partnership with the College of Engineering to launch a June offering of the Colman Leadership Program open to Ph.D. and M.F.A. students from across all graduate fields.

Every January and June, the Colman Leadership Program seeks to enroll up to 30 students in an intensive four-day program focused on providing participants with skills and knowledge that will support their development as leaders in graduate school and beyond. Doctoral students from all backgrounds (domestic and international) and disciplines are strongly encouraged to apply.

Program Goals

The Colman Leadership Program introduces students to a range of practical skills, theory pertaining to leadership, and special topics relevant for application in both academic and professional contexts. With a varied format including readings, interactive group activities, case studies, discussions, student presentations, and professionally conducted workshop sessions, program participants will learn about leadership, develop practical skills for negotiation and conflict resolution, and discuss modes of translating collaborative teamwork and the positive, productive employment of the diverse perspectives and backgrounds students bring to the program. Specifically, program participants focus on the following:

Self-awareness as a leadership skill
Extending self-awareness to effective interpersonal dynamics
Appreciating fundamental group dynamics
Understanding how to create teams from groups
Differentiating between role authority and leadership in an organizational context
Learning skills of integration and synthesis

Program Schedule

The online application for the June program opens in late April.

For more information or questions about the Colman Leadership Program, contact:

Sara Xayarath Hernández, Associate Dean for Inclusion & Student & Faculty Engagement, Cornell Graduate School: sh267@cornell.edu, (607) 255-5417
Cindy Mosqueda, Associate Director, College of Engineering Office of Inclusive Excellence: cmm522@cornell.edu

Postdoc Leadership Program

Leadership involves working effectively with other people to shape social reality and achieve organizational goals. It is a critical factor in organizational and career success. Every postdoc, no matter what field of endeavor, will face a variety of difficult leadership challenges. How these challenges are met will have a significant impact on the postdoc’s career and life.

Sponsored by the Office of Postdoctoral Studies, this highly interactive program uses lectures, discussions, simulations, and cases to introduce postdocs to key concepts and skills of leadership in today’s complex environment. It provides a practical forum to assess and develop personal leadership skills in self-knowledge, individual and group dynamics, power, the importance of organizational structure and context, and the role of communication in conflict resolution, team function, and change.

Schedule: October through March

Program Objectives

Create virtual network of Post Docs—help you build social capital
Enhance awareness of your style and impact on others
Explore decision-making strategies, resonance with your style and appropriateness of each style in different contexts (both cultural and organizational)
Expand your awareness about how to create a high-functioning team
Provide tested strategies for effective meetings
Experience a framework to help you understand and resolve conflicts
Heighten your awareness about conflict in work groups and ways to avoid/resolve it
Set the stage for you to tailor your next steps in leadership development to your own style, career context and organizational level

For more information or questions about the Postdoc Leadership Program, contact:

Christine Holmes, Director of Postdoctoral Studies: ch18@cornell.edu, 607-255-5823