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Leadership 2027 recognized, launches new faculty onboarding program

ATD Award
International “Excellence in Practice” award from the Association for Talent Development

Leadership 2027, a mid-level management program developed by our Administration colleagues in Organizational Effectiveness and Development (OED) in 2017, recently beat more than 200 competing programs to earn an international “Excellence in Practice” award from the Association for Talent Development. 

Leadership 2027 was designed to prepare individuals for future leadership challenges. The program expands participants’ business knowledge by exposing them to the various cross-functional operations within the organization and broadens their knowledge of leadership capabilities needed for the future.

Participants have demonstrated that with commitment, purposeful collaboration and hard work it is possible to collaborate effectively to bridge organizational gaps. Leadership 2027 project work teams introduced the Administration Communication Council, the Leadership Forum and the Research Concierge Program to improve communication, create efficiencies and make organizational improvements.

Within a year of starting the program, six Leadership 2027 participants from the first cohort secured support and funding from Roger Wakimoto,  vice chancellor for research; Michael Beck, administrative vice chancellor; and Michael Levine, vice chancellor for academic personnel, to pilot the Research Concierge Program (RCP). Among the program’s creators: Amanda Ogden, associate biosafety officer in  UCLA Environment, Health & Safety; Jeffrey Olschwang, assistant director of strategy, compliance and business analysis for the fleet and transit division in UCLA Events and Transportation; Richard Lee, principal project manager in UCLA Design & Project Management; and Eric Hunnes, project manager for real estate in planning, design and construction for UCLA Health.

The two-year RCP aims to serve as a centralized access point for newly hired faculty, providing comprehensive resource navigation, guidance and support to take the guesswork out of transitioning to UCLA and accelerate the time needed for campus integration and research productivity. Earlier this year, the program was presented to Chancellor Gene Block, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter and the executive leadership team by Laura Benscoter, research concierge manager, and has since become an official unit under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.

Of particular note, programmatic metrics and goals were met from the first research group to complete the program. Members began full research operations in their first six weeks on campus and had four grant proposals submitted; three of which were funded in their first four months. The prior two-year average for establishing research operations was six months, and the average time to submit four grant proposals was 18 months, making their results significant.

RCP is committed to continually increasing programmatic support across campus through dynamic working relationships with academic and administrative groups. For questions and inquiries, please send an email to ResearchConcierge@ucla.edu.