Emerging Leaders Academy

Graduates of the spring 2012 Emerging Leaders Academy celebrate their graduation at the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence.

The Emerging Leaders Academy is a succession planning program targeted to promising, non-managerial staff to help them prepare for leadership roles in their departments and agencies. Participants meet together ten times over five months, with classes designed to help them hone their skills for positions of increasing responsibility while also growing their effectiveness in their current roles.

ELA participants gain knowledge and skills in leadership, organizational dynamics, communication, and career planning to help them identify and achieve their professional goals while equipping them with tools to make even stronger contributions to their organizations. Agencies who invest in sending staff to ELA gain a more prepared and engaged talent pool to draw from as they plan for the future.

We offer ELA twice each year, with one session in the spring and one in the fall. For fall 2013, we'll be offering the Emerging Leaders Academy in Wichita for the first time thanks to a partnership with the Hugo Wall School at Wichita State University. The Wichita class will begin in August and run through December. Click here for the Wichita ELA schedule.

The fall 2013 Kansas City area and Topeka classes will begin in September. The meeting schedule is available here. Contact Noel Rasor, ELA Program Director, if you'd like to be notified about dates for future sessions of ELA.

Dawnishia Canady (center), contact representative with the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Resource Center, receives her ELA certificate from Charles Jones, director of the KUPMC, and Noel Rasor (right), program director for the Emerging Leaders Academy. Click here for more photos from the June 2012 ELA graduation on our Facebook page. (Click here to see them on Flickr.)

Why ELA?

Developed by practitioners for practitioners, the Emerging Leaders Academy is more than just a series of professional development classes. Each class builds on the ideas from previous meetings to create a broad, practical understanding of working in public service environments that meet the needs of our communities and state. Grounded in hands-on activities, each meeting offers valuable takeaways focused on both immediate practical use and long term career success.

Benefits to Participants

Participants in ELA:

• Position themselves to move into positions of increasing responsibility within their organizations
• Meet with and learn from experienced practitioners
• Broaden their scope of understanding of elements crucial to successful careers in public service
• Identify new ways to apply their strengths in their workplaces to increase job satisfaction while strenthening their contributions to their organizations.
• Prepare themselves to handle tomorrow's challenges with a stronger understanding of the public sector/public service environment
• Better understand how they can positively influence organizational culture to achieve the agency's mission
• Prepare themselves to compete for promotional opportunities and to be successful in taking on new responsibilities

Benefits to Sponsoring Agencies

• A prepared "next generation" ready to step up as baby boomers retire
• Staff members who recognize the importance of and opportunities in knowledge management and succession planning
• Increased engagement of promising staff who recognize the organization's commitment to their growth
• Employees with greater understanding of the breadth and scope of public service
• A stronger understanding of the skills and goals of your team members and what they need from you to be effective

Enrollment Information

Enrollment in the Emerging Leaders Academy requires submission of a complete Application Form , a letter from the applicant indicating the intent to participate fully and complete all program requirements, and a letter of recommendation from the applicant's supervisor. Please send application materials to the address or fax number on the application form.

Program Cost

The program fee for the Emerging Leaders Academy is $1,150; the KU staff rate is $875. This fee covers all class meetings and related materials. The additional cost to organizations sending staff is the staff time away from the office for the 10 days of training. The PMC recognizes this challenge so we work to ensure an immediate return for agencies in skill enhancement and engagement. ELA graduates bring new ideas and a renewed sense of commitment to their work, and this is evident to their supervisors. Once an organization or department sends one or two staff members to ELA, they generally prioritize sending additional staff to future sessions because of the results they see.

Questions? Please contact Noel Rasor at 913-897-8460 or noel@ku.edu.

ELA Curriculum
ELA Schedule
Comments from Past Participants