The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach has selected participants for the 2013-14 Vivian H. Fisher PSO Leadership Academy, an eight-month leadership curriculum structured for high-level performers. The J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development will facilitate the academy, which includes 17 faculty and staff from public service and outreach units, Extension and academic units.
“Our leaders are our future, and we look forward to helping groom this select group for even greater roles in advancing PSO’s work around the state. We are in every county, connecting community and state needs with university resources, helping create jobs and developing leaders,” said Jennifer Frum, vice president for public service and outreach. “The talent and commitment of faculty and staff like these make us a national leader in university outreach.”
The leadership academy was initiated in 2006 to prepare individuals within UGA’s public service and outreach units to fill short- or long-term leadership positions and promote professional growth and development. In 2012, Frum, a member of the inaugural class, officially renamed the academy to honor Vivian H. Fisher, a former associate vice president of PSO who was instrumental in designing the program prior to her death in 2008.
Participants for the 2013-14 class are Susan Allen, Georgia Center for Continuing Education; Suzanne Barnett, Small Business Development Center; Stacy Bishop Jones, Carl Vinson Institute of Government; Lawton Brantley, Vinson Institute; Carolina Darbisi, Fanning Institute; Angel Jackson, Archway Partnership; Lydia Jones, Small Business Development Center; Bernard Meineke, Small Business Development Center; David Meyers, Fanning Institute; Gwen Moss, Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach; Diane Murray, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication; Wade Parker, UGA Extension; Laura Perry Johnson, UGA Extension; Lori Purcell Bledsoe, UGA Extension; David Tanner, Vinson Institute; Karen Tinsley, College of Family and Consumer Sciences; and Hong Zeng, Vinson Institute.
Many participants from previous classes subsequently were promoted and have assumed leadership positions and have completed terminal degree programs and certifications. Class members continue to partner on projects and research, drawing on the personal relationships created in the PSO Leadership Academy.