Written by Jordan Richardson, sophomore

Tom Gill, a faculty member of the Department of Agriculture Leadership, Education, and Communications and chair of the Smith Center for International Sustainable Agriculture has been selected to participate in the LEAD21 development program. Gill is one of four people from UTIA participating this year. The others include Bill Klingeman, Assistant Dept. Head, Plant Sciences; Ty Petty, Eastern Region, Agriculture Program Leader, UT Extension; and Carla Bush, Central Region, Family and Consumer Sciences Program Leader, UT Extension.

The LEAD21 program is a leadership development program for higher education administrative professionals in agriculture. It’s intended to meet the future needs for leadership development of faculty, specialists, program and team leaders, research station and center directors, district and regional directors, department heads and chairs, and others in land-grant universities’ colleges of agricultural, environmental, and human sciences and USDA/NIFA. The primary purpose of LEAD21 is to “develop leaders in land grant institutions and their strategic partners who link research, academics, and extension to lead more effectively in an increasingly complex environment, either in their current position or as they aspire to other positions” (lead-21.org).

I recently sat down and discussed the program with Gill. Here is what he says about his involvement:

Specifically, what did you do during the first training session in Chicago?

“The first week they say is about you, or us as individuals. We did some assessments like Myers-Briggs and something called an EQI, emotional quotation index, like an IQ but looks at different aspects of your character. These tried to assess strengths and weaknesses, but it was mainly focused on you as an individual, who you are as a leader, where you are at right now, and the things you individually want to work on.”

The program will provide two more trainings, one in October, which is all about working with a team, and the next in February, which is putting everything together into practice in Washington D.C.

How did you get started or learn about the LEAD21 program?

“I’ve known about it during my time at UT, but you have to be nominated by the deans, and this year I was nominated by Dean Beyl.”

Gill has known other UTIA faculty members who have gone through the program throughout the years, including our department head, Dr. Christopher Stripling.

How will your involvement with this program help you, the ALEC department, or the Smith Center in the future?

“The main hope is that it will help us build robust global engagement here at UT and that we can lead that through the Smith Center, and I can lead that through my faculty role in the department.”

Gill hopes to refine his skills, as it’s good to know where your strengths lie and where others see them. He mentioned that they had a “360” done during the training, where you ask peers that you work with to fill out an assessment on you. He says, “It’s anonymous, and I get all the feedback and see how they score me, which is useful if you want to grow as a leader. Because if you are only going on what you are aware of, you’re only seeing it through your subjective lens, so it’s useful to get that real-time feedback from those around you.” His name has also been put forward for the Executive Leadership Institute, a leadership program within the UT System. “To be able to grow as a leader within the university so we can take UT to the next level.”