MNU is one of 37 organizations in Kansas receiving new 2022 Leadership Transformation Grants from The Kansas Leadership Center (KLC). The grants are awarded to help partner organizations create a culture that embraces change, tackles problems, and seizes opportunities. K-State University, Johnson County Community College and Wichita State University are also recipients.

A core group of employees from various departments, including staff and faculty, will complete training in KLC’s programs that provide participants with a common set of language and skills to empower employees to mobilize others to create progress in their organization.

Michelle Laytham is an executive administrative assistant in the College of Arts and Sciences and is enthusiastic about the significance of this initiative. She attended her first training session in Wichita this month.

“It was an amazing experience.” Laytham says. “I learned effective ways to ask questions, how to break down a project to know where to begin, and who, in a team, is best to lead a project. I look forward to attending the next session to learn more about how to lead within MNU.”

Importantly, KLC emphasizes that leadership is an activity not a position. The cross-department and varied positions of the MNU employees involved in this initiative show that MNU has an interest in supporting leadership at all levels, according to Vice President for Academic Affairs Nancy Damron, PhD.

“MNU is blessed with incredibly creative and innovative employees,” Damron says. “The KLC grant allows MNU to invest in the lives of employees the way our staff and faculty invest in our shared mission.  Empowering everyone—regardless of title or job position—to contribute to that mission is how we as a community solve problems in inventive ways, develop ground-breaking programming, and create a transformative environment for all our students.”

Training will continue throughout the 2023-2024 academic year.