New Dean Resources

MentorLINK: Connecting for Success is a personalized service that brings experienced deans together with deans looking for wisdom and support to overcome challenges and maximize impact. This structured, 8-month experience features guaranteed contact at least once a month, leadership development programming, career-plan development, and time for networking with your mentor at national AACN meetings. The mentoring relationships developed through this service reflect the principles of commitment, mutual respect, trust, empathy, self-assessment, and advocacy. Applications are due in the spring; matches with a seasoned mentor are established in the summer; and the mentorship commences in September. The first cohort will focus on AACN Deans.

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Books on Leadership

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Other’s Don’t 
by Simon Sinek, 2017

Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions 
by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber, 2016

The Leadership Challenge 
by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, 2017

The Essential Academic Dean or Provost 
by Jeffrey L. Buller, 2015

Reframing Academic Leadership 
by Lee G. Bolman and Joan V. Gallos, 2011

Executive Development Series for Deans
Designed for academic leaders who want to polish their executive-level skills. Explore mutual challenges and share winning solutions in a collegial, interactive environment. This program is exclusively for the Chief Academic Nursing Officer (Dean/Director).

This competitive, year-long program provides participants with a focused assessment experience, a range of content and case studies related to successful leadership, and the opportunity to establish networks with peers. Developed based on the success with the Leadership for Academic Nursing Program (LANP) this program is designed for aspiring deans and senior faculty in leadership roles.

Advancing Academic Leadership for New Deans
Geared toward new deans and those in the role for up to 2 years, this program provides an intensive 12-month experience led by the Center for Creative Leadership. This comprehensive program includes four- face-to-face meetings, three of which are tied to AACN meetings, as well as the expectation that participants will develop and implement a leadership project at their home institutions utilizing the principles they are learning. 

Summer Seminar
Our popular summer event provides chief academic nursing administrators, associate deans, and senior faculty with the opportunity to explore leadership development strategies in a setting far away from the pressures of daily academia. Themes and topics change each year, and creatively address the latest information in academic leadership.