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ACAPT's diversity award winner Laurel Abbruzzese has a transformative experience in Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership

To support diversity in academic and clinical PT leadership, the leading voice of physical therapist education programs funded diversity awards to the APTA Academy of Education Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership (formerly ELI) again in 2023. 

ACAPT offers two awards of $7,000 for the Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership (FHEL) annually, plus up to $5,000 for travel and expenses. 

Congrats to a recent award recipient:

Laurel Abbruzzese, PT, EdD, FNAP
Associate Professor
Columbia University

Below is a recap from Laurel Abbruzzese:

“FHEL” doesn’t roll off of the tongue like “ELI” once did, but the APTA Academy of Education Fellowship in Higher Education Leadership continues to live up to the reputation established when it was called the APTA Education Leadership Institute (ELI) Fellowship Program. This award-winning program has a reputation for being a huge time commitment, a lot of work, filled with critical information and resources for academic leadership, and an excellent networking opportunity. FHEL 2022-2023 was all this and more. FHEL was a transformative experience and I am grateful that I was able to participate this past year with the support of an ACAPT diversity grant.

While I have been regularly seeking opportunities to expand my leadership skills, and have known of the ELI/FHEL reputation for years, I have been weary of both the time and financial commitment of the fellowship program. It was the ACAPT Diversity grant that inspired me to apply for the program.  I saw an advertisement for the ACAPT diversity award and was reminded that our profession is seeking new leaders from diverse backgrounds and ACAPT is backing that goal up with financial support.

I also realized that I have passed up some opportunities for academic leadership because I haven’t felt “ready.” When I applied, my hope was that the fellowship would position me to better lead within the positions I already hold, but also enable me to say “yes” to new opportunities as they arise. The ACAPT diversity award offered the possibility of leadership training without the additional financial burden.

As a recipient of the ACAPT award, I have been charged with sharing three take-aways from the fellowship. I have learned so much throughout the year, it is challenging to pinpoint just three.

Continuous improvement & self reflection

• I have a much better understanding of resource management, benchmarking, and potential legal issues within academic leadership. The immersion sessions, case studies and role plays were especially helpful in bringing the material alive. At the same time, I feel that I have just begun to scratch the surface. One good take-away is to remember that “you don’t know what you don’t know”. Reading and discussing new aspects of leadership has helped to create an even longer reading list of topics that I still hope to learn more about. Self-reflection has also been an important part of this process.

Peer networking

• A second big take-away is that “it is critical for leaders to have a network of peers for support”. Academic leadership is complex and filled with ongoing challenges. Taking on a top leadership position can seem lonely at times. FHEL provides that network of peers, and has a great track record of promoting continued connections beyond fellowship graduation. Everyone in my FHEL cohort was great at hearing out issues and challenges and helping whoever was in need consider a different lens to assist with problem solving. [Shout out to the Green Group!] We would frequently refer to Bolman and Deal’s structural, HR, political, and symbolic frames as we evaluated what skills were needed for a given problem at a given time.
  
  Having people that you can turn to, not necessarily to tell you what to do, but to help you see various sides to an issue, is so important. FHEL has given me a community that I will continue to turn to throughout my leadership journey.
  

Inspiration for the future

• My third and final take-away is that the physical therapy profession is in great hands. Many of my colleagues share my commitment to a more diverse profession and are committed to inclusive excellence. I have been so inspired  by the mentors and colleagues that filled the zoom rooms and APTA headquarters for each fellowship gathering. It has been clear that creating equitable learning spaces in physical therapy is a shared value. I believe strongly that we need to be bold, challenge the status quo, and interrogate the structures that have served as barriers for far too long. It was a privilege to share this leadership journey with so many peers that share this perspective.
  
  Physical therapy education can be more accessible, more diverse, and more inclusive and prepare the next generation of therapists to truly meet the needs of society, which includes addressing health equity. This will require bold, thoughtful, adaptive leaders, prepared to take on the challenges of an evolving academic landscape. This fellowship experience reminded me that I am not on this journey alone. I am optimistic about our future.