Felicia McGhee, interim head of the Department of Communication, is one of nine people nationwide to be selected to participate in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Institute for Diverse Leadership in Journalism and Communication.
The institute is focused on increasing the number of people of color and women who serve as chairs, deans, directors and endowed chairs in journalism and communication education.
It also works to increase the number of women and people of color who hold professorships as well as sit on educational and professional board seats with journalism and communication organizations.
“I am so excited about this unique opportunity,” McGhee says. “As interim head of the Communication Department, I am in a leadership role, but I believe there is so much more for me to learn.
“This fellowship will help me develop my leadership style, identify my strengths and weaknesses, as well as establishing effective problem solving skills.”
The institute, according to its website, “fosters the philosophy that change comes from the top and that by making journalism and communication administration more multicultural, there will be more emphasis on making student bodies, faculties, staffs, organizations, and curricula more diverse.”
Over the course of her yearlong program at the institute, she will attend conferences and seminars. She also will be assigned a mentor, who will be a dean at an Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications school. They will communicate throughout the year and McGhee will spend a week at the mentor’s institution.
“It is my sincere hope to take all of the skills I learn from this fellowship and apply them here at UTC,” McGhee says. “ I love this institution and I want to be the best leader I can, for our department and the university.”
No surprise here. Dr. McGhee is a star! Way to go, Felicia!