Representation
The Leadership Empowerment Program
The Leadership Empowerment Program (LEP) is a rigorous, cohort-based professional development program designed to support the career advancement of underrepresented staff and faculty at UCF. Monthly seminars are facilitated by senior leadership (e.g., Vice Presidents, Deans) and topics are focused on developing leadership skills and career mapping. Participants also develop a research project and work in collaboration with other cohort members to host a leadership institute for the university community towards the end of their program, as a way of disseminating what they have learned. Additionally, LEP participants are granted virtually unlimited access to all levels of leadership at the university to strengthen their network capital. Those who successfully complete the program are awarded a one-time waiver of search for a future position at UCF. With the growing awareness of UCF’s emerging HSI identity over the last four years, intentional recruitment efforts led to increased Latino representation amongst program participants. From 1996-2021, 315 staff and faculty members have completed LEP and 49 (15.6%) of those participants have been Latino.
Inclusive Excellence Faculty Fellow
Inclusive Excellence (IE) Faculty Fellows lead the development and implementation of an inclusive excellence plan together with the Provost and Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence. To date, there have been three IE Faculty Fellows, and their focus has been examining UCF’s climate through faculty focus groups, facilitating inclusive leadership workshops for department chairs, and developing an inclusive excellence webpage with materials and resources available to the campus. The representation of a Latina Associate Professor (Dr. Jennifer Sandoval) as IE Faculty Fellow from 2019-2021 contributed positive momentum in support of Latino students. She attended the “Creating Hispanic SERVING Identity Through Faculty Hiring Institute,” hosted by CUE and Excelencia, served as a panelist for “Understanding and Serving UCF’s Latino/a/x Students” during UCF’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Winter Conference, and facilitated a book club session for faculty during HSI Week, using Gina Garcia’s edited book “Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice: Defining ‘Servingness’ at HSIs.”
Dr. Jennifer Sandoval, IE Faculty Fellow 2019-2021