BTAA Academic Leadership Program

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Academic Leadership Program (ALP) provides an opportunity for selected faculty to enrich their understanding of issues facing higher education and of higher education leaders through two kinds of experiences:

• Fellows from all participating institutions will participate in an online welcome session, attend two in-person seminars at Big Ten universities
• On the Columbus campus, fellows are scheduled to meet, as a group, for informal conversations with a variety of senior leaders. Fellows are also invited to attend the various academic leadership workshops sponsored jointly by the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) and Human Resources and to share their seminar experiences with other university leaders.

Nominated faculty should either be professors or associate professors who are close to achieving promotion and should have demonstrated leadership experience and interest in pursuing other leadership roles. They may or may not already hold a leadership or administrative appointment such as Senate committee chair, department chair, center director, associate chair or associate dean. All costs for the program are paid through the BTAA and OAA.

Individuals nominated in the past, yet not selected, may be nominated again. As a maximum of only five individuals can be selected for each academic year, we will not be able to include all of the nominees in any given year. Chairs should forward recommendations to their deans, though deans may make nominations without a chair’s recommendation. Nomination packets should include the following and will not be considered without each of these items:

• A cover letter from the dean in support of the nominee’s leadership
• A letter of interest from the candidate describing why the candidate wishes to participate
• A list of previous leadership programs attended by the candidate, including dates
• A current curriculum vitae

The nominee must be willing and able to fully participate in the program if selected. In particular, prospective nominees for the 2025–2026 academic year must commit to attending all online and in-person events if selected to be a fellow. OAA sends a formal call for nominations to deans and department chairs each spring with details on the following year’s program. Faculty members who already have commitments on any of the listed dates should not be nominated. Prospective nominees should also have a level of other commitments, or a unit head willing to reduce the level of commitments, that assures availability to participate in Columbus campus programs and meetings.

OAA requests that each college submit no more than three nominations. Colleges and departments are encouraged to conduct an internal review to determine which nominations to forward to OAA for consideration.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Helen Malone at malone.175@osu.edu.

Nominations are due Friday, April 25, 2025, and may be submitted via e-mail to facultyaffairs@osu.edu.