Laura Meadows Among Inaugural Class of UGA Women’s Leadership Fellows

IHE alumna Laura Meadows (EdD 2013) was among nine women chosen for the inaugural class of the University of Georgia’s Women’s Leadership Fellows Program.

The new program is designed to help the fellows hone their leadership skills and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities confronting research universities. The members of the first cohort will attend monthly meetings with senior administrators on campus as well as visiting speakers from academia, business and other fields. The program will conclude with a weekend retreat in June.

“The inaugural class of Women’s Leadership Fellows have already accomplished so much in their careers, and they are poised to make an even greater impact on the University of Georgia,” said Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Meadows is the director of UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Her career in public service has included work on issues such as planning, housing, infrastructure, community development and economic growth. Prior to joining the university, she served in various positions in state and federal government, including as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. She recently was honored by UGA’s Graduate School with an Alumni of Distinction Award.

The other 2015-2016 Women’s Leadership Fellows are Valerie Babb, director of the Institute of African-American Studies and Franklin Professor of English; Marsha Davis, associate dean of outreach and engagement for the College of Public Health and professor of health promotion and behavior; Ellen Evans, director of the Center for Physical Activity and Health and professor of exercise science in the College of Education; Susan Fagan, assistant dean of the College of Pharmacy’s Augusta campus and Distinguished Research Professor; Jean Martin-Williams, director of the Lilly Fellows Program through the Center for Teaching and Learning and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; Peggy Ozias-Akins, director of the Institute for Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, associate dean for research and graduate programs in the Terry College of Business and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Legal Studies; and Usha Rodrigues, associate dean for faculty development in the School of Law and M.E. Kilpatrick Chair of Corporate Finance and Securities Law.

“The university is pleased to welcome the members of the inaugural class of Women’s Leadership Fellows,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “This program is an important way to cultivate talent throughout UGA’s colleges and departments located across the state. It will offer valuable professional development and networking opportunities to the participants while strengthening the leadership capacity of the institution.”

The Women’s Leadership Fellows were chosen from nominations from deans and other senior administrators as well as from self-nominations. The program is part of the Women’s Leadership Initiative, which was launched in spring 2015 by Morehead and Whitten. In addition to creating new opportunities for leadership development, the initiative is addressing recruitment, retention and hiring as well as work-life balance. To learn more about the Women’s Leadership Initiative, see http://provost.uga.edu/index.php/news/news-features/womens-leadership-initiative.