Design your career path at the HERS summer institute.(Higher Education Resource Services)

When you first learned to ride a two-wheeled bicycle, someone helped you find your balance, cheered you on as you caught the rhythm of riding, even picked you up when you fell. For women considering a leadership position on campus, the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration can offer similar support and crucial knowledge.

Leadership is a learned skill. It's predicated on knowing yourself, understanding your skills, abilities and weaknesses and determining how to leverage your strengths to get what you want. The curriculum in the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) summer institute not only refines leadership skills, it also invites participants to work on issues facing colleges and universities.

A participant in the 2006 summer institute, Dr. Jean Haar is an associate professor of school administration at Minnesota State University Mankato. She shared lessons learned from her HERS experience as keynoter at the University of Nebraska conference on Women in Educational Leadership in Lincoln in October.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

To advance women

The summer institute was created expressly for people like Haar. The four-week program runs every summer on the campus of Bryn Mawr College, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Haar joined 70 women to learn about higher ed management and governance, information on teaching, research and service, and how to identify and reach career goals.

Through education and networking, the summer institute seeks to improve the status of women in middle and executive positions in higher education administration. The program attracts many faculty who are considering careers in administration as well as administrators seeking a promotion. Learning takes place both formally and informally.