Academic Leadership

An Interview With Outgoing Chief Operating Officer George Weinstein

Next month, AAL will say goodbye to its most senior employee, George Weinstein. George has been with AAL since 2008, and has served in variety of different capacities within the company. Prior to his departure, George reflected on his service with AAL:

Describe the various roles you’ve held during your history with AAL.

When I joined AAL in 2008, my primary responsibilities were managing our professional development programs and assisting AAL President Dr. Karl Haden. Because of my writing ability, I soon took on the marketing duties. As AAL continued to grow, new hires allowed me to shift my focus to program management and marketing. In addition, as often happens with the most senior employee, I picked up other tasks along the way, from infrastructure/IT manager to chief of staff.

Dr. Felicia Tucker-Lively, a critical hire for AAL, proved herself so capable as my project manager that I stepped out of my programs oversight role, so she could become Director of Professional Development, where she has continued to excel. That move allowed me to focus in large part on marketing duties, from electronic and print advertising to website creation and improvements to the newsletter and The 9 Virtues of Exceptional Leaders book editor.

What have been the biggest changes you’ve witnessed during your tenure at AAL?

From its founding in 2005, the academy has had two areas of expertise: professional development and consulting services. AAL has grown in both areas due to important hires and increased interest from clients because of word-of-mouth reputation and, to a lesser extent, my marketing efforts. AAL’s extraordinarily capable staff and consultants have enabled us to serve more clients, perform a broader array of consulting services, and offer a wider range of professional development.

At the start of my tenure with AAL, we were exceptionally good at teaching teachers to teach better and showing leaders how to lead better. Now, we do those things even more effectively, but we also have become experts in guiding faculty through the conduct of research, writing for publication, crafting grant applications, career planning, and coaching for professional and personal growth. On the consulting side, we’ve helped a growing number of new professional schools get established and accredited, improved curricula and strategic plans in colleges not just domestically but in other countries, and made clinic operations more cost effective and profitable. In addition, we have invested in the use of big data to improve how programs assess student learning, determine who is achieving competency, and, for those who are not, pinpoint the precise subject matter where they need help. Through a partnership with Certum Informatics and access to their XComP™ product and grading tools, we can give education its long-overdue Moneyball moment.

On a personal note, anyone who works long enough in an organization develops close bonds with peers and those who benefit from the services on offer. My most profound regret about “retiring” from AAL is the loss of daily contact with the friends I’ve made over the years: Karl, Felicia, Marcia, Toby, Becky, Director of Accounting and HR Michele Hill, project manager and editor Jessica Merrill, our newest consultant and Certum senior product manager Wayne Flint, our dozens of other expert consultants, and the faculty, administrators, and staff whose lives literally have been transformed by our offerings. After more than thirty years of employment, I can state that my eight years at AAL has enabled me to participate in the most meaningful work I’ve ever done.

What plans do you have planned for your post-retirement future?

From a young age, I have expressed my thoughts and feelings best through the written word. In my twenties, I courted and wooed my wife-to-be with love letters. At her urging in 2001, I became a full-time writer and wrote four novels between 2002 and 2008, when I decided to join AAL and start earning money again (any authors reading this will attest to the difficulty of making a living solely through writing). So, it’s only natural that—again at my wife’s behest—I will return to writing fulltime in mid-April 2016.

My latest novel—a mystery this time—will be published later this year, and then I’ll embark on yet another book, its genre TBD. My goal is to finish a novel every year or two until I expire, hopefully at an advanced age with many more stories behind me. In addition, I’ve served the Atlanta Writers Club since 2000 and will continue to help emerging writers learn the craft and business of this unique and sometimes puzzling way to spend one’s time.

Those interested in my published works can learn more about them, and correspond with me, via my website: www.georgeweinstein.com.

—

We wish George joy and success in his next chapter.

Book Review: The Road to Character

by Jessica Merrill, AAL Project Manager

by Jessica Merrill, AAL Project Manager

In the introduction to David Brooks’ The Road to Character¹, the author calls upon a key distinction which will lay the foundation for the rest of the book. Referencing the work of Rabbi  Joseph Soloveitchik in Lonely Man of Faith², Brooks notes that the book of Genesis contains two differing accounts of the creation story. Without getting into specifics, the first account represents an entrepreneurial mentality Soloveitchik calls “Adam I,” while the latter represents a more subdued way of being: “Adam II.” Adam I embodies the striving aspects of our nature–he is ambitious;  career-focused; success-oriented. Adam I wants to conquer. In contrast, Adam II is the humbler, more inward-looking being, who is less concerned with accomplishments than he is with purpose. Adam II asks why we are here, and how he can be of value.

As the author states, “We live in a culture that nurtures Adam I and neglects Adam II.” The two modes of living represent the tension between what Brooks calls “resume virtues” and “eulogy virtues.”  It is the eulogy virtues that concern Brooks here. In Brooks’ own words, today’s world has “lost the understanding of how character is built”; in the “age of the selfie,” outward markers of success have trumped the inner work of developing a “moral ecology.” Brooks’ aim is to offer portraits of men and women throughout history who built their character the old-fashioned way–slowly and deliberately.

These portraits are diverse, following no clear through-line except for their subjects’ willingness to face their own vulnerabilities head-on. Some, like Catholic worker Dorothy Day, find their salvation in religious life; others, like author George Eliot (née Mary Ann Evans), renounce religion entirely.  Many have flaws that run counter to their legacy. Dwight D. Eisenhower, celebrated here for his self-restraint, had a notorious temper. Frances Perkins, who was galvanized to fight for fair labor laws after witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, had a fractured and complicated relationship with her own daughter. In each portrait, Brooks does not gloss over the less trumpeted aspects of his subject’s biography. Rather, he takes the long view, examining the “long obedience in the same direction”; the lifetime work of cultivating the inner self.

Not all of the portraits fit easily into Brooks’ value-driven narrative; at times, the characteristics that the author seeks to spotlight can feel shoe-horned on to his subject. And admittedly, Brooks’ transparent pining for the way things were can feel overly broad-brushed and simplistic (though he does openly admit that the halcyon days of true character struggle were a much more difficult time for minorities and women). Still, he has a point. At the risk of selling out my millennial contemporaries, there is a real need–perhaps especially in mine, but across all generations–for individuals to grapple with their own moral code, and spend time with the issues presented by Brooks here. The Road to Character is hardly a “fun” read, but like the long road to character itself, it rewards those who undertake it.

¹Brooks, David. The Road to Character. New York: Random House, 2015.

²Soloveitchik, Joseph B. Lonely Man of Faith. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

AAL in the News

The 9 Virtues of Exceptional Leaders: Unlocking Your Leadership Potential, coauthored by AAL President Dr. Karl Haden and AAL Fellow Rob Jenkins, focuses on lifelong character-building behaviors, with numerous practical exercises to help readers achieve those sought-after characteristics, or “virtues.” Leadership programs based on the book, a discussion guide, purchase information, and more are on the 9 Virtues website.

AAL is continuously working to provide our alumni with the best opportunities and platforms to remain connected and facilitate collaboration. With e-Connect, you can continue your learning engagement long after your program ends. Stay current on the latest educational trends with virtual bi-monthly events, led by program alumni and moderated by AAL. Access our discussion boards to communicate using forums asynchronously, tackle posted topics or create new topics for discussion, and share relevant resources and ideas. Stay tuned for more to follow in the upcoming weeks. If you are interested in leading a discussion, contact Dr. Felicia Tucker-Lively (f.tucker-lively@aalgroup.org) with your topic(s) of expertise or questions.

Newest ADEA/Colgate/AAL Institute for Allied Health Educators Course Most Popular Ever

The ADEA/Colgate/AAL Institute for Allied Health Educators (IAHE), a partnership between the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and AAL, with exclusive partnership by the Colgate-Palmolive Company, launched a new online course in October-November 2014: “Revitalizing Curriculum and Calibrating Faculty.” Historically, IAHE courses had attracted 40-60 participants on average. In 2013, the IAHE Clinical Teaching Best Practices course drew in nearly 120 enrollees, a new all-time high. The just-concluded Revitalizing Curriculum and Calibrating Faculty course shattered that record with 153 registrants.

Testimonials included the following:

“It is a great program with excellent content experts. It provides a valuable opportunity to learn with colleagues with varied backgrounds and experiences globally.”

– Dr. Harjit Singh Sehgal, Oregon Health and Science University

“This course was not only timely, but extremely helpful in educating our faculty on current millennial curricular and teaching trends. It has given us a refreshed perspective on where we want to go and how we will get there.”

– Dr. Cynthia L. Andrews, Dalhousie University

AAL Alumni Profiles

An occasional column profiling our high-achieving program alumni, in their own words:

Kalu U.E. Ogbureke, BDS, MSc, DMSc, JD, FDSRCS, FDSRCPS,  FDSRCSEd,  FRCPath

Position: Professor and Chairman, Department of Diagnostic and Biomedical Sciences

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Dentistry

AAL Programs Attended:  Chairs and Academic Administrators Management Program (CAAMP) I & CAAMP II

Professional Achievement: 

I was awarded the King James IV Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, existing as a  corporate body since 1505, established the King James IV lectureship at the turn of the millennium to be awarded annually to practitioners of Surgery and  Dental Surgery who have made significant contributions to the clinical and/or scientific basis of surgery, and have acquired a national or international reputation. As is evident from the pedigree of previous awardees of the Professorship, it is noteworthy that I am the first of African descent to receive this award; I am truly humbled by this honor. I am scheduled to deliver the 2016 King James IV Professorship lecture on Friday, April 22, 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

How the AAL programs have impacted my career:

They have provided me with a new insight and vision in the art of management and effective leadership.

My philosophy of teaching:

A true measure of effective teaching is that students learn something of value at the end of each class/course. To this point, recognition and awards are secondary matrices.

My philosophy of leadership:

Effective leadership continuously commands a requisite followership

Click here to download the press release.

Click here to download the press release.