History

Founding

In 1993, as a result of studies showing that women were not climbing career ladders in academia at the same speed or ease as their counterparts, and based on their own experiences, thirteen faculty and administrators created BRIDGES as an affordable program for members of the academy to gain knowledge and experience in academic leadership. BRIDGES was the sole statewide leadership program exclusive to women faculty, staff, and administrators. In the beginning, the program’s goals were to:

  • Develop insights into leadership focusing on special skills and attributes participants bring to their roles
  • Acquire an understanding of the many facets of colleges and universities
  • Refine and improve cross-cultural communication skills
  • Create a program of personal and professional development to benefit participants and their institutions

When it was launched, BRIDGES was a 10-week program comprised of a small number of participants from UNC Chapel Hill and NC State. Later, it was converted to a four-weekend program and the range of participants was extended to include public and private institutions across NC. Originally, the focus was general leadership training, including team building, skill development, expansion of knowledge, 360 degree assessment, and balancing work/life demands in an academic setting. Over time, the curriculum expanded but has maintained a strong focus on work/life balance.

Where We Are Today

Today, BRIDGES is a professional development program dedicated to supporting staff and faculty of all genders in higher education who seek to gain or strengthen their leadership capabilities. The overarching theme of the program is transformational leadership, fitting today’s leadership literature of change, context, and collaboration. Current topics include:

  • Balancing work/life demands
  • 360-degree assessment of participants
  • CV/Resume Reviews
  • Finance/Budgeting
  • Development/Advancement
  • Legal Issues
  • Public Speaking
  • Crisis Management
  • Negotiation
  • Human Resources
  • And more!

30 years after the founding of BRIDGES, there are still areas requiring improvement. 32% of college and university presidents in the United States are women (CUPA-HR 2020). While the representation of women in administration has risen to 51%, pay equity has remained virtually unchanged for the last 20 years with women being paid $0.93 for each $1.00 men in administrator positions were paid (CUPA-HR 2023).

Women are the majority of lecturers and instructors, but 44% of tenure-track faculty and 36% of full professors are women (AAUP 2017). A mere 12.6% of college presidents are women of color (as of 2011) (The American College President, ACE, 2012; National Center for Education Statistics, 2014). BRIDGES is helping to close this gap, with 69% of BRIDGES graduates receiving promotions. Of those who received promotions, 56% believed that participating in BRIDGES had a moderate to high impact on receiving the promotion.

The BRIDGES leadership program is designed for individuals from four-year North Carolina institutions of higher education, both public and independent, who want to position themselves for advancement in the academy. BRIDGES has been shown to be effective in helping participants create networks, balance personal and professional lives, and prepare for future administrative responsibilities. To date, there have been ~800 graduates of BRIDGES from all 16 UNC higher education institutions and multiple private colleges and universities.