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[engineer_adrift]

Any comments on the pros and cons of participating in the American Council on Education Fellowship Program?

[aandsdean]

I haven't done it (a former VPAA promised to nominate me, but that went away for reasons that I can't get into here), but everyone I know who has has found it an extremely rich experience.  You get to participate in confidential discussions, large planning initiatives, etc., that you don't normally get to see until you're a VP or similar.

It would probably be of pretty limited utility, though, if you don't aspire to a senior leadership position, either at your current institution or a new one.

[sinatra]

I know someone in the Midwest who went through it, and she loved it. As aandsdean suggested, she has her eye on moving up from a deanship into a provost position at some point in the next five years. So her close work with a president of another institution on a project of relevance to that institution gave her a lot of practical experience that search committees generally appreciate. One consideration that may crop up in this economic climate is that your home institution may not be able to meet the financial obligations associated with the fellowship (paying your salary, hiring someone to cover your position, etc.). Additionally, if you are doing a great job in your position, your institution may not want to play along with the fellowship idea since the ACE opens a lot of doors administratively for participants, and they may not want to lose you. But the prestige factor for the college or university usually offsets this. Your family situation should be another factor in the decision whether or not to pursue the fellowship since you will need to spend a lot of time reading and preparing for the experience. But generally, if your institution is willing to play along and you have administrative career goals, you should try to get into the program.