Workshop Abstract:

The purpose of this pre-conference workshop is to engage feminist leaders, regardless of where they are on their leadership journey, in skill-building and introspection around their roles and identities as leaders in higher education. This interactive workshop includes diverse engaging presentations that will encourage participants to critically reflect on their leadership journeys. Participants will have the opportunity to dialogue with one another to build a community of supportive peer mentors. Sessions will focus on both skill building and critical reflection regarding feminist leadership.

Objectives

By participating in this workshop, participants will:

1. Examine their leadership journeys within the context of feminist theory and literature.
2. Build narratives about their leadership journeys to succinctly communicate their skills and abilities as feminist leaders.
3. Engage in critical and self-compassionate self-reflection about their leadership journeys.
4. Critically examine the challenges feminist and/or female-identified leaders may face during their leadership journeys.

Workshop Schedule and Topic:

12:00-1:00 pm: Elizabeth Sharp: Welcome

Lunch will be provided

1:15-2:00 pm: Ani Yazedjian: How Our Positionality as Feminist Family Scientists Can Inform How We Lead

2:15-3:00 pm: Tashel Bordere: Managing Grief as a Compassionate Leader

3:15-4:00 pm: Anisa Zvonkovic: Navigating Work and Non-work as a Leader

4:15-5:00 pm: Elise Radina: Framing Your Leadership Narrative

5:00-6:00 pm: Reception and table discussions/group reflection sessions

6:00 pm-until: Structured dinner groups

Dinner is not included in the preconference workshop fee.

The order of topics may change.

How to Register

$80 Professional or Student

You can add any pre-conference workshop when you register for the conference, or add it to your registration separately.

To add items to a completed registration, log in my.ncfr.org, click the Events menu item, then click Edit next to the conference event for which you'd like to modify your registration.

Presenters

M. Elise Radina, Ph.D., CFLE, is an NCFR Fellow. She is a Professor in the Department of Family Science and Social Work and Associate Dean for the Graduate School at Miami University.

Dr. Radina has a well-established career as an administrative leader in higher education. Dr. Radina is committed to leading by example and with authenticity in ways that encourage self-reflection and continuous improvement. Her administrative responsibilities have included leading diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; shepherding academic program development and revision; overseeing faculty promotion and tenure; providing mentoring to tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty members; partnering with community partners on initiatives focused on student success, fundraising and alumni engagement, and leading as a department chair and associate dean for two different units.

Dr. Radina has a long history of leadership with NCFR. Dr. Radina has served as SNP representative, secretary/treasurer, and chair of the Families and Health Section. She has also served on the conference programming committee three times culminating with her service as the 2023 NCFR Annual Conference Program Chair. In 2024, Dr. Radina was named NCFR Fellow.

Anisa Zvonkovic, Ph.D., is an NCFR Fellow. She is Dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia. She is also a Georgia Athletic Association Professor.

Dr. Zvonkovic has been an active scholar and administrator, having focused her research on work and family intersections for most of her career. Her administrative roles have included Graduate Program Director, Department Head, and Dean at several universities. Noteworthy among her administrative responsibilities include building diverse leadership teams, spearheading interdisciplinary initiatives, leading disability studies projects and programs, and launching effective mentoring programs.

Dr. Zvonkovic has served in a variety of roles in NCFR, including President of the NCFR Board of Directors, NCFR Annual Conference Program Chair, and Section Chair. Dr. Zvonkovic has organized and implemented previous NCFR preconference workshops and special session.

Elizabeth Sharp, Ph.D., is a Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and former Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Texas Tech University. Dr. Sharp’s research primarily examines gender and family ideologies. She has also worked with choreographers and dancers, engaging in trans disciplinary research. Dr. Sharp and her colleagues co-founded and currently co-direct an award-winning community film series in Lubbock, Texas. She has served in multiple leadership positions at NCFR. 

Ani Yazedjian, Ph.D., serves as Acting Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Illinois State University. Dr. Yazedjian is passionate about preparing higher education professionals to lead with purpose. She has presented to a range of audiences on topics related to using a systems lens to navigate organizational change and supporting women in leadership. 

Tashel Bordere, Ph.D., CT, (she/her) is a certified thanatologist, a grant-funded researcher at the Center for Family Policy and Research and adjunct faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Bordere earned her doctorate in human environmental sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research assumes a contextual and interdisciplinary approach focusing on systemic inequities and cultural trauma; stigmatized loss and coping; Black youth and family bereavement; and “suffocated grief,” a term she coined. Dr. Bordere is a past Fellow of Forward Promise, through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which focuses on the promotion of healing, growth, and thriving among boys and young men of color. She is co-editor and co-author of the Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief and developed the S.H.E.D. Loss and Grief Tools Training. Dr. Bordere has been featured in multiple media outlets including USA Today, The New York Times, Legacy.com, Psychology Today, and Houston Chronicle.