Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business announces three endowed positions associated with the WomenLead program. WomenLead was established by the Robinson College of Business as a university-wide program. Two of the endowed positions will be filled by faculty members within Robinson, and one of the positions will be filled by a faculty member whose departmental home lies outside Robinson. The three positions will start in fall 2019.
The three positions include:
- The Ray and John Uttenhove WomenLead Professorship
- The Meredith M. Leapley WomenLead Professorship
- The Connie D. McDaniel WomenLead Chair
Established in 2015, WomenLead has been a pivotal program to empower female students to aspire to and achieve leadership roles. About 600 students representing 50 different academic majors across eight colleges and schools have successfully completed this professional experience course.
Initially starting with a business focus, the WomenLead program has been expanded to include a focus in science as well as in policy and politics. The program will expand again in 2019-20 with a new course, WomenLead in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Further expansions are anticipated into other career disciplines.
Activities through WomenLead that champion female leadership will continue to expand beyond academic coursework to include scholarly research and creative learning environments.
Qualifications for the endowed positions include:
- Tenured status at the rank of associate or full professor.
- Evidence of high-quality scholarly research in the candidate’s area of expertise and scholarly pursuits, including research and publication that contributes to the resolution of major issues relevant to the respective discipline(s) and specialization(s).
- Evidence of excellence in leadership roles to include on-campus and/or academic and professional community leadership.
- Evidence of a professional commitment to mentoring students and championing student success.
- Evidence of teaching effectiveness and the ability to inspire students through classroom and out-of-classroom contact.
- The ability to articulate a vision for the continual expansion of WomenLead programs and initiatives on the Georgia State campuses and beyond to other universities through the creation of a model that could be emulated nationwide and across the world.
- Evidence of ability to advocate and inspire engagement for WomenLead activities throughout the campus, with external constituencies and with donors.
Frequently Asked Questions
All tenured faculty are eligible to apply.
The broader question is what special attributes do youbring that reflect your achievements and will be inspirational to others? The endowed positions are not necessarily expected to teach in the WomenLead program. There should be interest in serving as a role model for tomorrow’s leaders whether that is through classroom presentations, sharing research interests to WomenLead student groups, participating in WomenLead signature experiences or working on projects through the WomenLead Center. These are new opportunities involving innovation and creativity in how each endowed position could potentially champion the spirit of the WomenLead program.
There is no expectation that research be focused on women. It is expected that applicants will have a broad range of research specializations that will reflect significant achievement of high quality scholarly work.
The two professorship endowments are funded at $250,000 each, equating approximately to an annual fund of $10,000 for each faculty member selected. The chair endowment is funded at $500,000, which equates approximately to an annual fund of $20,000 for the faculty member selected.
The endowment income can be used for salary supplementation (such as summer support) and for other professional support of the holder of the endowed position, including assistance in research (travel, conferences, for example) of the holder.
The three positions are not limited in term length. The positions will follow Board of Regents’ guidelines for similar positions which involve a review typically every five years to confirm continued faculty accomplishments. It is expected that there will be little fluctuation in the three positions over time.
Nominations and self-nominations will be accepted for the endowed positions.
For those nominating other individuals, the nominator should confirm the potential applicant’s approval before submitting the nomination. The nominator should briefly (in one or two paragraphs) explain the reasons for the nomination as related to key qualifications of the individual. Once the search committee receives and reviews the nomination, they will contact the nominated individual and request that all application materials be submitted.
The application materials include an up-to-date CV and a letter of application that should include the reasons for interest in the WomenLead endowed positions, articulation of key qualifications and a short vision statement for the WomenLead program. Specific identification of one of the three endowed positions is not needed in the application process.
Members of the search committee include:
- Debby Cannon, Director, Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration (search committee chair)
- Margot Brinton, Regents’ Professor, Biology
- Tamer Cavusgil, Fuller E. Callaway Professorial Chair and Professor
- Steve Kaminshine, Professor and Former Dean, College of Law
- Stephen Shore, H. Means Davis Professor of Risk Management & Insurance
- Veda Storey, Tull Professor of Computer Information Systems
The selection process will include the following stages:
- The search committee will begin reviewing applications the week of May 13. (The announcement of the positions states that “preference will be given to applicants submitting nominations by May 10.” Since the goal is to complete the selection process in May, interested candidates are strongly urged to submit application materials as early as possible.)
- A short interview may be requested of applicants selected as finalists.
- The search committee will provide, for each finalist, a list of pros/cons to the Dean of the Robinson College of Business, Dr. Richard Phillips.
- Dean Phillips will confer with other Georgia State deans as needed.
- Selected candidates must be approved by the provost, president and Board of Regents.
The goal is to have the selection process finalized, with needed approvals, by the beginning of fall semester 2019.
Application Process
Nominations and self-nominations will be accepted for the three endowed positions. Specific identification of one of the three endowed positions is not needed in the application process.
Nominations should include a letter of application and an up-to-date CV. The letters of application should include the candidate’s reasons for interest in WomenLead, articulation of key qualifications and a short vision statement for the WomenLead program. Preference will be given to applicants submitting nominations by May 10. Submit application materials electronically to Dr. Debra Cannon, search committee chair, at dfcannon@gsu.edu.