APT to Lead is cohort-based professional development program for Academic Professional Track (APT) faculty members in or pursuing academic leadership positions.
Approach: Faculty Learning Communities Plus Appreciative Inquiry
Well-designed faculty learning communities (FLCs) engage participants in focused professional development and provide opportunities to practice transferable leadership, peer mentoring and community-building competence.
With APT to Lead, participants will explore how to thrive as faculty members using Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a positively oriented framework for planning that builds on strengths. Appreciative Inquiry begins with inquiry into the best of what is, imagines what could be, considers obstacles and moves toward a motivating design for future.
Faculty accepted into this program commit to:
- Preparing for and participating in eight facilitated interactive Appreciative Inquiry work sessions to produce a high quality draft of an individual strategic plan for the APT leader (12 - 3 p.m. across the indicated Fridays in the 2026 Spring semester).
- Jan 23
- Jan 30
- Feb 6
- Feb 13
- Mar 20
- Mar 27
- Apr 10
- Apr 17
This program is offered via hybrid delivery to facilitate participation by faculty from our branch campuses. We expect College Station faculty to participate in-person. Lunches will be provided for those attending in-person.
Individual Strategic Plan
Participation in work session activities and discussions will facilitate holistic self-evaluation and composition of a well-elaborated individual strategic plan including:
- Vision Statement
- Mission Statement
- Core Goals
- Action Plans
- Long term goals
This plan spans all aspects and relationships in the life of the faculty member. Further, an integral aspect of this plan is excavating the unique value the APT faculty member brings as well as the factors with potential to either enable or erode faculty member success.
Program Outcomes
- Practice the skills essential for collegiality and leadership (e.g. active listening, constructive dialogue, strength appreciation, growth mindset, team-building).
- Learn the language and concepts associated with leadership roles in academia.
- Cultivate the agency of individual faculty to constructively confront challenges, seek necessary development and practice resilience.
- Establish a cohort of support.
- Promote meaningful and productive communication among APT faculty and their leadership.
- Encourage relationships with leadership in Faculty Affairs.
- Identify systemic barriers for APT faculty common among participants, allowing for design of proactive institutional measures, and proactive and timely faculty development opportunities for APT faculty.
Eligibility
The 2026 APT to Lead community will accept up to 24 full-time APT faculty who are in a titled leadership position or have received one promotion, and have been at Texas A&M University for five years.
Facilitators
- Cindy Blackwell, PhD, Director of Academic Faculty Development
- Heather Wilkinson, PhD, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, trained Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator, certified Clifton Strengths Coach, certified in Conflict and Change Management with the Thomas-Kilmann Instrument, and Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)
Selection Process
Applications will open November 10, 2025, and close December 12, 2025. Participant selections will be communicated no later than December 19, 2025.
The application requirements include some general information about the faculty member and a short description of how they predict their participation in the opportunity will be meaningful for them and others in the cohort. In addition, ensure an email from the department head to facultydevelopment@tamu.edu is sent by the close deadline, in which the department head conveys both approval for participation by the faculty member and the ways in which they expect the experience will be beneficial.