Equipping faculty for collaborative leadership
The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has selected a new cohort of 16 faculty members to participate in the institute’s Leading Interdisciplinary Collaborations (LInC) program.
Relaunched after a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, LInC prepares early and mid-career faculty to break through disciplinary silos and collaborate on high-impact research needed to solve complex problems.
This year’s cohort brings together faculty from across the university, spanning its schools of law, medicine, engineering, humanities & sciences, and the Doerr School of Sustainability. Alongside Margaret Krebs, program designer at the Woods Institute, Luke Terra from the Haas Center for Public Service will co-facilitate the program, bringing his expertise in building university–community partnerships to guide the group forward.
Traditional academic norms can stand in the way of agile, cross-sector collaboration. The LInC program aims to equip participants to overcome those structural barriers. LInC focuses on collective leadership, a model that emphasizes adaptive, systems-based thinking over top-down knowledge transfer.
“It is inspiring to see outstanding faculty from across the university taking the initiative to build their leadership skills to support vibrant collaborations and drive meaningful change,” said Chris Field, Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
The program begins with a three-day retreat at Hopkins Marine Station and continues throughout the year with quarterly meetings. Throughout the experience, faculty are encouraged to ask questions, take risks, and experiment with new leadership and collaboration styles.
Main program objectives:
- Deepen awareness of personal leadership style, identify areas for growth and development and create sustaining practices.
- Learn how to engage a group of people, and enable them to think together by asking questions and initiating dialogue.
- Use a framework and tools to diagnose and design systems that inspire innovative, creative and collaborative research projects.
- Create a personal development plan to practice LInC tools, and use them in a range of collaborations.
Biology professor José Dinneny – whose research explores how plants respond to water stress – was a member of the inaugural LInC cohort. He emphasized the program’s value in strengthening self-awareness as a leader.
“I certainly valued the connections made and the self-exploration that was part of the program,” Dinney said.
Meet the 2025 participants
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