In 2016, Chattanooga State’s Executive Vice President of Technical College, Dr. Jim Barrott, was asked to develop a leadership program at the request of then-President, now TBR Chancellor, Dr. Flora Tydings. Barrott used his personal leadership experiences gained during his then 31 years of college leadership and reviewed models in both Georgia and Florida before implementing the 11-month leadership exploration and development program called Chatt-LEAD. The program, which strengthens new and emerging leaders from across the campus community, uses a cohort method and has proved to be a successful approach to building leaders internally. “Two cohorts later and I think we have a winning program,” says Dr. Barrott happily.

Chatt-LEAD’s intent is to foster a broader understanding of the College, accelerate talent development, and hone individual and team leadership skills. Its mission, “to inspire and empower faculty and staff members to leverage leadership skills for the service of the College community,” has positively impacted the College by furthering professional goals as well as the College’s long-term goals.

Throughout the past year, the 2018 cohort group met weekly to discuss higher education leadership, strategic planning, change management, process improvement, talent management, legal issues in education, and data-driven decision-making. Relevant topics were addressed through seminars, workshops, hosted speaker events, campus tours, and team projects.

“Chatt-LEAD was a rewarding experience that allowed us to build lasting relationships with colleagues across the College so that we may better serve our students and increase their probability of success,” states Chad Jaynes, manager of technical training. “The program’s design and delivery encouraged each member to grow their skills and helped us understand that leadership is everyone’s job. I am personally grateful to each member of the cohort for sharing their knowledge, their passion for helping students, as well as their commitment to the mission of the College,” he adds.

Sarah Copeland, a librarian, and fellow Chatt-LEAD member said, “ChattLEAD was a tremendous opportunity to learn more about Chattanooga State. Like many others in ChattLEAD Cohort 2, I most appreciated the sense of community we built with colleagues from across the college. The mix of faculty and staff in the program made for dynamic conversations and a space for learning from each other. I am excited to see the graduates of ChattLEAD put the leadership principles into practice and shape the future of Chattanooga State.”

The 2018 Chatt-LEAD cohort 2 group included Sarah Copeland and Lori Warren, Library Services; Linda Coslett, Lindsay Holland, and Stracee Robinson, Social & Behavioral Sciences;  Andy Cross and Jessica Green, Financial Aid; Guy Davis, Plant Operations; Amy Hitchcock, Media Services; Chad Jaynes, Economic Workforce Development; Scott Jenno, Enrollment Services Center; Melissa Johnston, Institutional Effectiveness & Research;  Jimmy Jones, Technical College; Lisa Miller and Beth Ruta, Engineering & Information Technologies; and Janet Samec, Bursar’s Office.