Vogt Fellows have excellent opportunities for development and networking. They develop their leadership and reflection skills through self-assessment and a change project. Fellows initiate this year-long project to apply their leadership learning to a real problem within their institutions. Along the way, they build a peer-advising and coaching network that can last well beyond the Fellowship year. Fellows develop personal learning plans to guide them and engage with their Fellowship sponsors who support them in accomplishing their goals. To further their development, each Fellow has the opportunity to be paired with a leadership coach or mentor from within the Vogt alumni network.

Colleges and universities enjoy numerous benefits from their participation in the Vogt Leadership Fellows Program, including the ability to:

• Foster employee capacity to lead effective and meaningful local change;
• Initiate an important change project at their school;
• Retain and reinvigorate highly valued employees;
• Improve collaboration among individuals in their own institution participating in TBC activities;
• Develop stronger connections among the TBC institutions;
• Enhance the value of membership in TBC.

If selected for the Susan Vogt Leadership Fellows Program, each Fellow will:

• Participate in the twelve session Leaderful Series (including Orientation and Convocation) taught by Northeastern University Professor Emeritus Joe Raelin and facilitators Mark Braun and Jennifer Thomas-Starck.
• Initiate a change project.
• Contribute to a “network of agitators for the good” within and across member institutions.
• Convene, connect, and coordinate TBC participants within their own institution following the extraordinary example set by Susan Vogt at Wellesley College.

To support this agenda, Fellows will:

• Meet with other Fellows as a learning team throughout the year;
• Develop a personal learning plan customized to their goals and project;
• Enlist a sponsor from their institution;
• Have access to higher education leaders in a variety of functions, such as CFO, VP of Human Resources, and CIO.

The Change Project is a central component to each Fellow’s learning.

Guidelines:

• The proposed change project needs to be significant and challenging enough that it will extend for the duration of the Fellowship, providing the fellow with the opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills acquired during the sessions and learning teams.
• Have strategic value in the sense of having impact on the direction of the sponsoring unit and, subsequently, systemically across the entire institution.

Additional options:

• The change project can be linked to a planned or ongoing change effort or initiative.
• Projects may involve fellows in endeavors outside their own department. These projects often require the support and commitment of other colleagues and managers.

The sponsor may be an immediate supervisor or someone else in the organization who is a senior stakeholder in the fellow’s change project.

Responsibilities:

• Role model the need for learning as well as expectations for a successful change project
  Encourage the Vogt Fellow to use his/her new learning in situations on the job
  Establish success criteria that are both a) task-oriented and b) learning-oriented

Examples:
1. The change project’s cross-campus shared function should save x dollars due to synergies in distribution.
2. Fellow has shown demonstrated improvement in handling conflict in her unit and in being more responsive to feedback from their staff.

• After the initiative, help create opportunities for the fellow to continue developing skills
• Create an open, supportive, and challenging environment for the initiative. 
  Be willing to have their own assumptions about the organization, the culture, and the change project challenged.
  Treat mistakes by the fellow as opportunities for the fellow to learn.
• Lend support in the form of resources and commitment. 
  Explicitly ask what the fellow needs;
  Encourage the fellow to accept responsibility;
  Ensure that the fellow’s manager supports the time commitment.

All member institutions are encouraged to participate in the Fellowship. Each institution may sponsor one fellow with an opportunity to send additional fellows if space is available. Additional fellows will be considered by receipt of their application. Sponsoring institutions pledge to support their candidate’s full participation in the yearlong program by providing release time (approximately two days per month) and regular salary. The institution will also pay a tuition fee per Fellow.

Candidates should demonstrate a deep commitment to higher education, their institution, and TBC. They should have a strong interest in their personal and professional development and in the development of others. Candidates should be capable of guiding transformative change within their institution.

Please return to this page for updates on the next cohort of the Vogt Fellowship Program.

Follow the link below for a list of Vogt Alumni.

View Vogt Alumni