Institute

2027 Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) STEM Leadership Institute

SINCE 1996

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The Claggett Retreat Center, Adamstown, MD

Apply by January 12, 2027 for Early Decision!

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If leadership tests your limits, leadership development must push you beyond them.

Higher education is a complex systems challenge, now being reshaped by forces larger than any single program, department, or institution. STEM higher education sits at the intersection of those forces and more – including disciplinary culture, research funding, scientific distrust, and national competitiveness. 

Today’s STEM leaders must contend with these pressures, while also reading institutional culture, reconciling competing interests, moving work forward amid uncertainty, and, most importantly, self-regulating – without losing themselves in the process. 

Developing and nurturing this kind of leader is not technical. It is deeply human. It requires knowing who you are when you lead. It cannot be taught. It must be experienced.

AAC&U’s Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) STEM Leadership Institute® is an immersive leadership development experience grounded in an embodied practice that requires continuous alignment between who one is, how one shows up, and what one seeks to change. By investing in the humanity of STEM leaders, this institute strengthens the very infrastructure through which institutional transformation occurs – ultimately ensuring that this nation’s efforts to improve teaching and workforce preparation are not episodic, but enduring.

A group of diverse colleagues share a joyful moment in a modern office with brick walls and abundant natural light, representing teamwork and camaraderie.

Who Should Attend

The PKAL STEM Leadership Institute supports leaders who do not simply implement change - but become the conditions through which change is possible:

* early- to mid-career STEM faculty
* principal investigators
* senior project staff
* recently appointed administrators
* postdocs/fellows

You do not need a formal leadership title. You do need to be ready to examine yourself and your leadership seriously.

APPLY

What's Inside the Experience

This Institute is intentionally experiential. Participants do not simply learn about change – they live it. They do not simply discuss leadership challenges. They encounter them. No single component is the Institute. Together, they demand a different kind of engagement, challenging participants to examine how they think, respond, and lead.

  • Courageous Conversations™

    Practice with Courageous Conversations™ for engaging across disagreement, surfacing difficult truths, navigating tension without retreating from it, and remaining grounded and purposeful when the stakes are high.

  • Effective project planning starts with clear visualization. Here, a junior staff member uses sticky notes to track real-time progress and align with the project owner on critical deadlines.

    Organizational Development

    Exposure to organizational change strategies that equip participants with a knowledge base and tools to assess institutional dynamics, identify leverage points, navigate resistance, build alignment, engage stakeholders, and translate ideas into sustained institutional change.

  • DiSC Leadership Assessment and Analysis

    In-depth DiSC leadership assessment and analysis by certified practitioners and coaches, providing a powerful lens into behavioral tendencies, communication, relationships, conflict, and leadership practice.

  • Diverse employees team meeting as a business concept for pulling together for work teamwork success and diversity symbol as a unified group working in unity.

    Immersive, Experiential Learning Simulations

    Immersive, experiential learning simulations that mirror authentic and contextually valid leadership challenges and place participants inside the ambiguity, interpersonal dynamics, competing priorities, and imperfect information that characterize real institutional leadership.

  • My Tenure Trek®

    My Tenure Trek®, PKAL's signature higher education simulation, which surfaces assumptions about credibility, legitimacy, power, and belonging in the academy through evidence-informed narratives and perspectives participants may not otherwise encounter.

  • A cairn of smooth stones stacked on the sand symbolizes balance and tranquility by the sea

    Mindfulness

    Self-reflective mindfulness practices with certified mindfulness teachers and practitioners that strengthen participants' ability to notice their own responses, create space between stimulus and action, and make more intentional leadership choices.

  • The female supervisor meets with her mid adult female employee to mentor her regarding a new position she is interested in within the company.

    Executive Coaching Sessions

    Executive coaching sessions with certified professional coaches and experienced STEM faculty and administrators who challenge, provoke, support, and inspire change to move participants beyond insight toward action.

  • Community and Partnership Building

    Strategic community and partnership building with colleagues who bring different institutional contexts, perspectives, experiences, and leadership challenges into the room—and become part of the learning itself.

Dates to Remember

  • Application Deadline - Early Decision

  • Acceptance Notifications - Early Decision

  • Application Deadline - Regular Decision

  • Acceptance Notifications - Regular Decision

  • Institute Begins

  • Institute Ends

Questions

For questions or additional information about the PKAL STEM Leadership Institute, please contact pkalstemleadership@aacu.org.

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