Scholar-in-Training, Leader-in-Training: The Rutgers University Predoctoral Leadership Development Institute

• In Event: Instructional and Developmental Lessons in Intended and Unintended Messages

Abstract

Leadership education at the doctoral level is often peripheral to the graduate school experience. New PhDs, the future of academic leadership, lack both expertise and experience with leadership in higher education. This issue merits both scholarly and applied attention. In approaching this topic via a communicative perspective, a deeper understanding of leadership as both content and process is possible.
As graduates and current members of PLDI, a two year certificate program developed at Rutgers University taught by an interdisciplinary staff from higher education administration and faculty, the authors offer a unique perspective into academic leadership training at the doctoral level. Drawing on the literature, this paper offers a model for graduate student development that focuses on both developing scholars-in-training and leaders-in-training. This paper outlines key elements of the Pre-Doctoral Leadership Development Institute (PLDI) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, including program goals, stakeholders, and program components.

Authors

• Surabhi Sahay, Rutgers U

• Maria Dwyer, Rutgers University

• Ralph A Gigliotti, Rutgers University

• Christine Goldthwaite, Rutgers U

• Brian Agnew, Robert Wood Johnson U Hospital