Administrative Fellowship Program names nine fellows

Continuing the legacy of a flagship leadership development fellowship for high potential academic administrators of color, the Administrative Fellowship Program (AFP) has selected nine new fellows for the 2009-10 class. Two fellows are visiting fellows, and seven are resident fellows. Visiting fellows are talented professionals drawn from business, education, and the professions outside the University, while resident fellows are exceptional professionals currently working at Harvard, identified by their department and selected by the fellowship program review committee as having the leadership potential to advance to more senior administrative positions.

Coordinated by the Office of the Assistant to the President, AFP launched the program year with a one-day orientation at the Harvard Faculty Club in September. President Drew Faust welcomed the sponsors and nine new fellows and proceeded to lead a lively discussion on Harvard’s ongoing commitment to diversity within its pursuit of academic and administrative excellence, and her continued support of the program. Following her remarks, Marilyn Hausammann, vice president for human resources, spoke to the fellows about the overarching direction for human resources and the current diversity and inclusion initiatives at Harvard. During lunch, five former fellows currently working at Harvard shared their experiences and insights for a successful fellowship.

Entering its 21st year, AFP is a University-wide program that provides outstanding professionals an opportunity to learn leadership and work in a significant academic administrative role in the Harvard community for one year. AFP reflects Harvard’s strong commitment to addressing the underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups within the University’s administrative workforce.

The program is supplemented with educational seminars and case studies on various aspects of higher education leadership and academic administration. The program faculty  are a combination of school deans, vice presidents, major office directors, and faculty across the University. The goals of the program include enhancing the fellows’ administrative and professional skills and clarifying their career objectives.

The 2009-10 Harvard visiting administrative fellows are:

Jaynie Parrish, B.I.S. (Arizona State University), is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. For the past five years, she has held the position of coordinator of projects and operations for Native American Affairs in the Office of the President at Arizona State University (ASU). During her time at ASU, Parrish was actively involved in connecting indigenous communities to the university, recruiting and retaining students, as well as overall American Indian program developing. She is also an active member of the ASU Native American Alumni Chapter. Prior to ASU, Parrish spent two years in Washington, D.C. working, as the legislative associate for the Navajo Nation, leading education policy efforts, and for National Public Radio in human resources. She has served on the Construction in Indian Country Executive Committee, on scholarship committees for Fort McDowell Yavapai Wassaja, and on the Newton and Betty Rosenzweig-Dr. Peterson Zah Leadership Program. Parrish has also given presentations in the fields of American Indian higher education and tribal community development, and is looking to complete her master’s degree in higher education and public policy with a focus on American Indian education, student success, and services. Parrish’s fellowship assignment is in the John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.

Ming-Hao Shiao, B.S. (Ohio State University), Ed.M. (Harvard Graduate School of Education), brings leadership and management experience in finance and accounting, diversity recruitment, and organizational development in both corporate and nonprofit sectors. Prior to Harvard, she was a finance manager at Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), where she led and managed multiple global and regional projects such as launching multimillion-dollar product initiatives in the Crest and Scope Oral Health franchises, managing and delivering the financial commitments for the P&G-Gillette acquisition, and guiding senior leadership on financial and strategic priorities. Within P&G, Shiao initiated and implemented programs targeted toward ethnic and minority finance and accounting managers to increase leadership and management skills. She also led P&G’s diversity recruitment programs at Ohio State University, implementing sustainable pipeline programs to bring in talented minority and women candidates. Passionate about career and workforce development, she has helped to design and lead initiatives and workshops at Harvard’s Center for Workplace Development, the International Institute of Boston, and the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Shiao is currently a senior financial analyst in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The 2009-10 Harvard resident Administrative Fellows:

Reema M. Khan, B.A. (Vassar College), M.A. (Lesley University), M.B.A. (Northeastern University), is the director of finance and information technology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Office of Physical Resources and Planning. In that capacity, she oversees the day-to-day financial functions of the departmental $300 million capital construction and operating and maintenance budget. Khan has been at Harvard for two years and was promoted from the assistant director position a year ago. She has 10 years’ experience working in property management finance and budgeting, previously working at both the Cambridge and Boston housing authorities. Before changing careers to finance, she worked for four years as a therapist on an eating disorders hospital unit conducting group therapy.

Sandhya Klein, B.S. (Texas Christian University), M.A. (SIT Graduate Institute), is currently program and development officer at LASPAU: Academic & Professional Programs for the Americas, an affiliate of Harvard University. In this capacity Klein manages and oversees international scholarship programs for undergraduate and graduate studies. Her portfolio includes Fulbright faculty development in nine Latin American countries and three other programs funded by the governments of Colombia, El Salvador, and Chile. Prior to joining LASPAU, she worked at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as Latin America project manager for WIDE World. Klein has worked at Texas Christian University, Youth For Understanding, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She completed an internship at Sister Cities International and wrote an award-winning paper on knowledge sharing in a citizen exchange program. During Klein’s graduate studies, she co-developed the International Education Resolution for the state of Vermont, which was passed by the House of Representatives in May 2007.

Deborah Lee, M.B.A. (Cambridge College), is currently at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) as a lab coordinator and is in constant contact with students (business people) from all over the world. As coordinator, her responsibilities include communicating and instructing the information technology process to each of these individuals — sometimes as groups, and also one-on-one. Lee’s duties also include the day-to-day upkeep, maintenance, and support of the lab’s equipment (and the equipment belonging to students). She is responsible for troubleshooting problems that might arise for students both inside and outside the laboratory. Coupled with those responsibilities are decision making; recruiting and hiring staff (usually students); and scheduling staff. Lee’s long-term aspiration is to develop and eventually open and operate an adult learning center that will introduce and retrain community residents in the field of information technology. She is currently involved in the Grandparents Action Group in Boston. Lee received the Harvard University and HKS Hero Award in 2007.

Stephanie Rocío Miles, B.A. (San Francisco State University), M.L.I.S. (Simmons College), is working as a Spanish and Portuguese cataloger for Harvard College Library (HCL) Technical Services. As a cataloger, she is interested in further exploring issues in technical services relating to Latin American collections, with aims of future collaborations with other professionals at Harvard and throughout the country. Prior to her appointment at HCL, Miles worked as a copy cataloger for Romance languages at the Harvard Law School Library. Wanting to take full advantage of her language skills and cultural background, she has focused on library collections relating to Latin America. In 2006, she helped inventory the more than 10,000 volumes from Latin America that made up the Maury Bromsen Collection.

Lisa Maxwell, A.A. (Newbury College), is the assistant director of employment for the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), where she manages all aspects of recruiting and employment activities, with a focus on the recruitment and retention of a diverse employee population. Prior to joining HGSE, Maxwell served for several years as the human resources consultant for the offices of the President and Provost at Harvard. Before joining Harvard in 2000, Maxwell worked for 15 years at the Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corp., a quasi-public state agency that finances businesses in geographically depressed areas throughout the commonwealth. She had various roles there including executive assistant to the president, office manager, and human resources administrator. Maxwell serves as a member of the Parent Advisory Council of the Boston Higashi School for Children with Autism and as a board member of EMARC (an organization devoted to improving the quality of life for the disabled population in Massachusetts). She is former chairperson of the Personnel Advisory Committee for EMARC and is a member of Boston Families for Autism. She currently serves as an instructor at the Center for Workplace Development at Harvard University and is a member of the HGSE Diversity Task Force, a co-chair of HGSE’s Leadership Council on Workplace Inclusiveness, and a co-chair of the University’s Diversity Working Group. Maxwell volunteers her time with Autism Speaks, an advocacy organization devoted to funding research into the causes of autism.

Brenda E. Rodriguez, B.A. (University of Illinois, Chicago), M.B.A. (North Park University), is a program manager at the Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH). She is responsible for the management and growth of the Global Infectious Diseases (GID) Program, a University-wide effort to create new knowledge and catalyze fundamental research to improve human health in the area of global infectious diseases. Prior to joining Harvard, Rodriguez was the deputy director at the Brief Negotiated Interview and Active Referral to Treatment (BNI-ART) Institute at Boston University. In this role, she was responsible for health programs in 12 emergency-care departments across Massachusetts and she oversaw the institute’s operations and multimillion-dollar budget. Rodriguez also led a breast and cervical cancer prevention and awareness education program while at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois. In addition, she is a consumer market research consultant for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her professional areas of expertise include program management, grant management, marketing, and strategic planning.

Tami Wilson, B.A., B.S. (University of Connecticut), and Ed.M. (Harvard Graduate School of Education), is currently a project coordinator at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at the Harvard Law School. As part of her work, Wilson is exploring connections between education and the juvenile justice system; documenting racial disparities and the trajectory of the “school to prison pipeline” as it unfolds in various communities; and identifying research-based solutions for redirecting the pipeline that can be widely disseminated. Prior to this position, she worked as an educator at the Judge Connelly Youth Center in Massachusetts, as a research assistant for the New England Family Study, conducted through the Harvard School of Public Health, and as a case manager for at-risk youth through Catholic Charities in Connecticut.

Of the many former visiting fellows who remained at Harvard after their fellowship assignment, 15 are currently employed at the University in permanent staff positions. Others decided to pursue opportunities outside of Harvard, typically at colleges and universities or other institutions in the nonprofit sector.

The Administrative Fellowship Program is a collaborative effort between host departments and the Office of the Assistant to the President, with fellowship stipends being underwritten in part by the President’s Office. The program is coordinated by the Office of the Assistant to the President, where Teresa Malonzo serves as program coordinator.