Dr. Laura Gelfand, associate dean of the Honors College, recently graduated from the HERS Denver Institute, held Aug. 1-7, Sept. 9-11 and Oct. 21-23 at the University of Denver in Colorado.
HERS Institutes are residential professional-development programs dedicated to advancing women leaders in higher education administration.
Since 2007, the HERS Institute for Women in Higher Education at the University of Denver has annually offered women faculty and administrators the opportunity to participate in an intensive program that prepares them to be leaders in higher education.
The 55 participants selected for this year’s Institute represented 46 institutions across the United States. Responding to the current environment for higher education globally, the Institute had a special focus this year on “Women’s Leadership in Times of Crisis: Leveraging Our Responses for Institutional Renewal.” Topics studied included:
- “Understanding Our New Economic Environment,”
- “Planning Our Strategies beyond Recovery,” and
- “Empowering and Sustaining Leadership."
Dr. Gelfand has been at The University of Akron since 1997. A professor of art history, she was named associate dean of the Honors College in 2009. A specialist in medieval and northern Renaissance art, Gelfand is co-editor, with Sarah Blick (Kenyon College), of two volumes titled, "Push Me, Pull You: Imagination and Devotional Practices in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art" and "Push Me, Pull You: Physicality and Devotional Practices in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art." The volumes include essays by 34 authors and will be published by Brill, a Dutch publisher, in 2011.
Dr. Gelfand’s participation in the HERS Denver Institute was sponsored by the Office of the Chief Academic Officer, the Honors College, and the College of Creative and Professional Arts at The University of Akron.
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Media contact: Laura M. Massie, 330-972-6476 or massie1@uakron.edu