The collaborative design of a faculty administrator leadership development program in academic health: concepts and applications

The challenges facing academic health and medicine are abundant and require effective leadership across institutions. This article highlights the design of a collaborative leadership development program for faculty administrators that seeks to address many of these leadership challenges. The article begins with an overview of existing research to situate the reported case study, including literature on the contemporary context of leadership development within academic health centers and the relevant connections to leadership and communication processes that are fundamental for any leadership training and development effort. It continues with an overview of our focal case, the Academic Leadership Program at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences—a collaborative leadership development program for faculty administrators across the academic health center. Our experiences in the joint design of this program, coupled with the ongoing research on leadership development, leadership practice, and leadership dynamics in higher education and academic health centers, make clear the value of an integrative framework for the design and delivery of leadership development efforts in higher education.