This episode explores The Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award, which honors women in Michigan who lead with care and purpose. Guest Marlanna Landeros is in studio to share how the award started, why it matters, and how to nominate someone through the Michigan ACE Women's Network.

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Website: LCC Women's Network

Website: MI-ACE Women's Network

Hello and welcome to Leading the Way: Women in Higher Education, a podcast dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in higher education across Michigan.

Hello, I'm Dr. Cynthia Rooker and today we're shining a spotlight on one of the most prestigious honors in our state's academic community, the Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award. Presented annually by the Michigan ACE Women's Network.

This award recognizes Michigan women who have provided outstanding leadership to women in their institutions, in their profession and in society at large. It celebrates those who have gone beyond their formal roles and to advocate for women and serve as catalysts for change.

Okay, Marlanna, can you please share the origin story of the Distinguished Women in Higher Education Leadership Award and what inspired Michigan ACE to create this recognition?

Sure. I'll start out by just sharing a little bit about myself. So I'm Marlanna Landeros.

I currently am at the University of Michigan in Michigan Medicine in our community program in a unit called Adolescent Health Initiative. And so we teach providers across the US how to be adolescent friendly.

Previous to that, it was 20 plus years in public safety, law enforcement, specifically handling our student programs. And all with that brought to the University of Michigan under that public safety umbrella.

And I'm also on faculty at the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus and Schoolcraft College.

So, you know, a lot of extensive 20 plus years in higher education period and more recently in Michigan AC I am currently the dwa, which we're here to talk about today, Chair.

So to answer your question, when we think about, like you said, the origin of it, the war was created to recognize and honor those individuals who have distinguished themselves year after year after year over the course of years by providing outstanding leadership to women in their institutions and their profession and just the society at large.

The award is designed to recognize work that's on the behalf of women in higher education that is actually beyond the scope of their formal staff position or faculty job responsibility.

Some of those things would include, you know, mentoring others to enhance their leadership skills in higher education, also teaching those to increase responsibility roles. What does that look like? How do you manage it? Implementing and planning programs, conducting research, also presentations. Also just advocacy overall.

I think what's important to realize is with that advocacy, it's about the individual, it's about the institution, and it's about policy changes. It's about knowing current climate and actually saying, hey, something needs to be done about that.

It's also helping guide those through their educational pathways. Sometimes there's people that we all need when we do the work out here. And so I think some of these women, you know, are part of that.

And that's why the award was put together to say, hey, we need to highlight these women who are doing the work in higher ed. And its creation actually spoke to current climate always.

So since the late 70s into present, you know, it's been Michigan AC has been something that has led the focus for higher education.

So again, women leaders doing the work, continuing to do the work today, they continue to do it day after day, creating history, laying the foundation for that, and actually opening up conversations on college campuses across the board where women leaders are actually able to showcase their impact. And so the award does that in a formalized way.

Oh, fantastic. There's a lot involved in that. So what, what actually. So what makes this award so unique among leaders honored in higher education?

Like, how does it reflect Michigan ace's values and mission?

Sure. So I talked about before, just thinking about how there is a unique intersection in higher education.

It's a very unique place that there's a lot happening. So what makes this award unique is that it highlights the work being done outside of the day to day. Right.

It showcases the passion of each of the awardees, you know, the work that they're doing, how they're doing it, inspiring others to do it. It's like a call to action for others to get involved or to learn. And I think year after year, we've been able to do that through.

The DWA award is actually bringing forward women leaders who are doing the work that's again, beyond their day to day, but saying like, hey, even though this is beyond your day to day, it's important to realize that the work has to be done and they have a unique perspective and passion to get it done. I think what makes it unique also is that it's an honor at our annual conference.

So it's in front of others in higher education, it's in front of your institutional leader and other invited guests.

And then with the Michigan ACE vision, mission and values, it's just a reminder of the work, like I said, that women leaders are doing beyond their day to day, highlighting their involvement in the community, the differences that they're making, to empower themselves, to empower others, to empower their communities, their institutions, and then also just empowering career success and bringing a greater voice to whatever their passion is. So that includes quality leadership, teamwork, mentorship, inclusive participation in the community, and leadership in general.

And then many times, it's about building a network and having colleagues that you can reach out to that May hold positions and be able to just have a conversation like we're doing here, just for overall support many times. So that's a uniqueness.

Fantastic.

Well, you mentioned a lot of things in reference to the contributions, leadership and qualities as far as looking at them as nominees, the number of nominees that you probably have, I would imagine to go through.

Can you walk us through that nomination selection process if possible, and just kind of explain how the candidates are identified and what role do the institutional leaders play in that process?

Yeah, so just touching a little bit on what are we looking for in the selection process and what is the selection process. Things we're considering is do they have a philosophy of helping women that goes beyond their job duties?

Do they themselves have a reputation on their campus or in the community that brings that together? Meaning, you know, the community is benefiting because of them being represented and just their actions, period.

Do they have a positive impact on women and leadership? Like I said, it goes beyond just what they're doing on their campus, but actually in the community and with people.

Publications, presentations are part of that. Are they providing new information on women and leadership and higher ed?

Also thinking about, are they creating events or programs that benefit women across the board in higher education and then just overall, are they presenting evidence of advancement of women in general by breaking even gender barriers? Right. Thinking about what roles are they serving, what are they bringing forward?

Or specifically thinking about non traditional or groundbreaking career roles?

If we were to use that terminology and then just thinking a little bit about the selection process, we do focus on providing about three awards every year at minimum. We would have people from a two year institution and a four year institution. So normally that's what we would have.

So we do distinguish between the two and the four year institutions just to make sure that we. We know that sometimes resources may not be as rich in a two year versus a four year and it may look different.

So we want to make sure we're highlighting those opportunities for both of those institutions and then also walking through it a little bit more. We received the nominations from presidents or chief campus executives who are part of Michigan ace. So I put out a call to action as the chair and.

And then we ask for campus leaders to submit nominations formally. The nominations are done through a formalized process that includes a Michigan ACE Award committee.

The committee is made up mostly of me as the chair and then other previous past state chairs and then those that have historically been vetted in the award, maybe previous recipients.

But all of these people are part of the Michigan AC Executive Board overall, as I mentioned before, those leaders that are submitting the nominations, once we get those nominations through a document that I received, that is basically a criteria of the university leader laying out, here's the reason, here's why, I believe, and laying out the why.

And then another reference that also adds to this is why I'm putting forth this nomination with all those things coming together and the resume or CV of the nominee, we go through that and the committee goes through the process of reading those. And then in a formalized way also, once we get back all that information together as a team, then we make a decision.

And then we put forth names from institutions with the nominations to the board for voting. And just as a plug, we're looking for those nominations to go out later on this year and to then get them back by the beginning of the year.

So all of those would come back to me as the chair.

Excellent. Well, glad that you. You had. You took the opportunity to put that plug in for you. That's. That's fantastic. Well, great.

I put it on people's minds earlier because we know sometimes you want to nominate people, you want to put together packets, but sometimes we just don't have the time to do it.

And I think that's another big one, too, which thank you to you all at Lansing Community College and having the, you know, forethought to say, hey, let's get this on people's minds. So there's a lot of people doing the good work out here, but they also need someone to write the nomination letter.

That obviously takes some time. That's great.

Yeah.

Well, can you tell us, do you have a story or an example of a past honoree whose work truly embodied the spirit of this award? And what impact did their recognition have?

So Sister Nancy Damaras from Madonna University and Sophia Brewer, who's a librarian from Grand Rapids Community College, they both shared in their acceptance speeches during the conference that they didn't even see themselves as leaders worthy of this award because all the differences that they made on their campuses and local communities, they just considered themselves just being themselves.

But no matter what was happening on their campus or current climate, they both found ways to have creative problem solving through engagement and dialogue, acts of service, and they didn't even know that they were actually modeling servant leadership.

So those two stand out to me, as earlier this year during the conference, as those that just shows the heart of the award that just shows that people are just being themselves. But them just being themselves is so impactful and they themselves don't even know how impactful it is.

And so it's just nice to see and hear individuals who maybe may not have been highlighted in other places because people may not put focus on what they're doing, but through this opportunity, those people are able to actually receive the recognition that they should.

Fantastic. That's a great example. I do remember seeing them up on the stage and that was beautiful to see.

So how about looking ahead, tell us, how do you see this award evolving, like to continue recognizing groundbreaking leaderships in Michigan's colleges and universities?

Yeah. So I am in a position where I am the chair. This will be my first year leading it.

So it's an adjustment time too where we've been able to say, okay, here's how we plan, here's what happened before and we were able to tweak it.

And so I think this is an example of what we're doing right now that with Michigan ACE membership increasing, getting the interest out there and then, you know, great foundations being set by Lansing Community College, you know, being the conference host and getting the word out on platforms like this and other ways, I think we're going to just continue to evolve into what are the needs of those that are in higher ed? And how do we evolve based on current climate? How do we evolve based on the feedback from prior recipients?

And then just like I said, women in higher ed. And so we're open to any and all ideas in the world around us.

And it's changing and we know that higher ed is something that we have to make sure that we're maintaining and that everyone can thrive in that space. But again, trying to highlight those that have historically made a difference and continue to make a difference.

So I think we're going to have to just continuously to make sure that we're paying attention to what current climate is and we're adjusting. Some of those things, I use the terminology, are just as easy as technology.

I mean, it's just that simple, that we actually open up more opportunity and get the word out by just leveraging technology to do it. Like I said before on platforms this way and then also the ease.

And you also heard me mention about people have to take time out to write the nomination. If you have a cumbersome process that makes it harder or if it's not evolving with the time that makes it harder.

So you just taking a hard look at some of those things and evolving it that way and I think that will then also open up the opportunity for others to do more work.

Absolutely. And once you move any of those barriers or obstacles and make it easier for you people is always, always much better.

Wow.

Well, thank you so much Marlena, for sharing your insights, helping us understand the significance of the Distinguished Women in Higher Education Award.

This honor not only celebrates individual achievement, it uplifts the collective progress of women in academia and reminds us that the power of advocacy, mentorship and leadership.

If you'd like to learn more about Michigan ACE or nominate someone for this award, visit miacenetwork.org thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way Women in Higher Education until next time, keep leading, keep learning, and keep lifting others along the way. For more information, please visit our website at lcc. Edu Women's Network.

Thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way: Women in Higher Education. To listen to this episode and others, visit LCCconnect.com. Until next time, keep leading, keep learning and keep lifting others along the way.