Inaugural Evening of Excellence honors leadership graduates
Penn State Health honored 125 graduates of the Human Resources Center for Learning and Leadership Development programs at its inaugural Evening of Excellence on Jan. 10 at the Hershey Theatre.
The graduates, Penn State Health employees nominated by their managers to participate in the program, completed one of three programs in 2018 – Emerging Leaders, Leadership Essentials and Mid-level Leaders. See the complete list of participants.
“This event celebrates the spirit of Penn State Health and our commitment to leadership development and lifelong learning,” said Dr. Craig Hillemeier, dean of the College of Medicine, chief executive officer of Penn State Health and senior vice president for health affairs of Penn State. “One of our strategic goals is to educate and invest in our people, and these leadership programs are another important way we are strengthening our organization. Equipping our employees with the skills needed to be an effective leader will develop and differentiate our health care system.”
The Human Resources Center for Learning and Leadership Development offers career development tools and resources to help guide employees on their career paths. Students attend three-hour sessions each month and are given action plans related to the course content to complete between sessions.
“The real ah-ha moment for me was when we talked about emotional intelligence,” said graduate Elizabeth Rakszawski, a physician assistant in neurosurgery. “How you can better understand yourself and the other person and how that can make such a big difference in terms of interactions with other people.”
“This leadership development program was the culmination of 12 months of hard work and commitment by 125 leaders across the organization and our HR Learning and Leadership Development team,” said David Swift, Penn State Health chief human resources officer.
About 250 leaders enrolled in the 2019 program and will graduate in January 2020.
“We knew that to engage employees in committing to real change that sticks, these three programs had to be relevant to day-to-day work,” said Michelle Duncan, director of the Human Resources Center for Learning and Leadership Development. “These are the skills that the graduates can transfer back on the job. And these are the skills that will help foster excellence across the organization.”
If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email the Penn State College of Medicine web department.