August 31, 2017
The following article is from Public Now
Dr. Davida Haywood is one of 21 chosen to attend a college leaders forum in November.
Dr. Davida Haywood, vice president of Student Affairs at Alabama State University, was selected for the inaugural cohort of MSI Aspiring Leaders program at the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI) -- University of Pennsylvania.
Haywood is one of 21 impressive leaders from around the nation who will attend the first MSI Aspiring Leaders Forum in November.
'I am quite honored to have been selected for the program; and even more thrilled to do so as the vice president of Student Affairs at Alabama State University,' said Haywood. 'I look forward to engaging with other like-minded colleagues from around the nation who are committed to serving at and leading Minority Serving Institutions. I stand on the shoulders of many, and I am sincerely grateful for those who have poured into me, including my students and the Division of Student Affairs, here at ASU. I am excited about this opportunity and will represent ASU to the fullest.'
The forum and mentoring program will create a space for prominent Minority Serving Institutions' (MSI) leaders to engage with mid-career aspiring leaders from the education, nonprofit and business sectors. The aim is to cultivate future MSI presidents by strengthening pathways to leadership and building connections between peers with similar aspirations and abilities.
'This forum will celebrate the diversity of experiences from those in the nonprofit and education sectors and will cultivate collaborations that will build the next generation of MSI college presidents,' said Marybeth Gasman, director of CMS.
During the three-day forum, Haywood will attend discussion/workshop sessions on topics such as the presidential nomination process, managing relationships with faculty, using data to make decisions, fiscal management, strategic fundraising, assessing student learning and navigating the media.
She said following the forum, mentors and their mentees will participate in a one-on-one relationship over two years. CMSI will facilitate these relationships and provide benchmarks to be completed at various points throughout the two years, with the hope that these relationships may be part of a future longitudinal study to measure the influence of such mentorship on mentees' aspiring leaders' career trajectories.
The program provides a travel/housing stipend, meal and travel allowances, materials and forum fees.
The MSI Aspiring Leaders is supported by $765,000 in grants from the ECMC Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and the Penn Executive Doctorate program.
About the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions
The Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions brings together researchers and practitioners from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions.
For further information about CMSI, please visit www.gse.upenn.edu/cmsi.