Program Goals

The overall goals of the 2010 - 2011 SEPHLI Institute are:  to enhance the leadership skills and abilities of senior and mid-level managers in state and local public health agencies and community health centers; to develop a network of public health and community health leaders in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States; and to strengthen the relationship between public health and community health practitioners and scholars working in health affairs schools and programs.

SEPHLI Year 8 Scholar Lucy Caldwell presents her Symbol of Leadership

Program Format/Skills and Competencies

This six-month program begins in March and ends in September 2011. Face-to-face interactions between the scholars and guest faculty will occur two times during the program year: at the beginning and at the end. Between these scheduled meetings, Institute activities will take place via distance learning using a mixture of both real time and asynchronous delivery modalities. Scholar are requirements to attend a conference call or webinar each month, March through August.  

The Institute's curriculum is designed to develop the skills and competencies of leadership in eight broad core skill areas (see below).

• Self-Awareness and Personal Development
• Visioning and Futuring
• Critical Thinking - Systems Thinking, Problem Solving
• Partnerships and Collaborative Efforts
• Communication
• Political and Social Change Strategies
• Coaching and Mentoring
• Ethics

These competencies will be developed and enhanced by a variety of instructional methodologies. Since a central belief of the Institute is practice by doing, participation in structured activities will form the basis of the program. Readings and didactic instruction will be used in addition to the activities, to establish a basic level of knowledge in each of the topic areas. The key learning activities are described below.

Individual Development Plan
Scholars will be required to develop a plan that identifies personal development goals for the year. Goals are expected to reflect areas highlighted for development through the 360-degree feedback process, and to include skills that the scholar would like to build in two of the eight core competency areas during the year.

Leadership Project
Each scholar will be required to complete a leadership project. This includes a home-based community public health project, in which the scholar is in a leadership position on a community team. Scholars will be required to write a final report for their project, the focus of which will be on the scholar's leadership development during the year, highlighting the experiences that helped build skills in the SEPHLI competency areas. (Scholars may also work together as a team on a project that allows each person personal growth.) See some example leadership projects.

Learning Teams
Scholars will be placed randomly in learning teams. Team members will provide support and technical assistance to each other for the individual projects. Each team also will be required to complete four assignments or a team project. These assignments will build on content material presented at the scholar retreats.

Leadership Competencies