2016 Annual Conference

In this roundtable we will share the experience of the Colorado State University Adult Education and Training Program's Distributed Leadership model. We'll cover how we share work, hold ourselves accountable, make decisions, the challenges we've had, and the power of working together to complete our administrative and leadership duties.

Our target audience is anyone interested in or involved with administration and leadership of academic programs at community colleges as well as undergraduate and graduate institutions.

Between 2008 and 2010 the number of Adult Education and Training (AET) Specialization students grew from 50 to 190. With this growth came many new challenges and increased administrative needs. In 2010 a DL model was initiated and two faculty began sharing leadership and administration of the program including aspects such as answering questions, making decisions, working on program progress, and nurturing university-wide partnerships. Both faculty members had different strengths and divided the work to match their skillset. The DL model has continued to develop and in 2015 three different faculty members rotated into leadership position within the program.

A DL model allows each faculty member to contribute according to their area(s) of strength and expertise. This innovative approach can result in positive program outcomes and acknowledges that faculty in higher education are best served by not all being required to bring the same skill set to the workplace. Yet, there are still challenges to consider with a DL model. Shared responsibilities mean more faculty have a larger percent of administrative time, taking them away from other faculty responsibilities and resulting in increased program costs. Nevertheless, the outcomes related improved leadership and administration outweigh the costs.