CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Big Ten Academic Alliance recently announced the 2025-26 fellows for its Academic Leadership Program and Department Executive Officers Seminar. Ten University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been selected to participate.
“The BTAA Leadership Institute empowers the next generation of academic leaders with valuable training and tools tailored to the complexities of major research universities like Illinois,” said U. of I. Provost John Coleman. “These leaders will emerge ready to lead successfully in today’s higher education environment. I congratulate each of the outstanding faculty and leaders selected to participate. This recognition speaks volumes about their potential and dedication.”
Academic Leadership Program
The Big Ten Academic Alliance offers the Academic Leadership Program, a yearlong extensive leadership development program specifically oriented to address the challenges of academic administration at major research universities, to help faculty members prepare to meet those challenges.
The following faculty members from the U. of I. were nominated by their respective colleges and have been chosen to participate in the Academic Leadership Program for 2025-26.
Tamara Bertrand Jones is a professor of education policy, organization and leadership. She serves as the associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Education. Before joining the faculty at Illinois, she served as a professor of higher education, interim department chair, associate director of the Center for Postsecondary Success and program coordinator for higher education at Florida State University.
Larry Fahnestock has been on the faculty of the department of civil and environmental engineering since 2006. He is currently a professor and Siess Faculty Scholar in CEE, and associate dean for Facilities and Capital Planning in The Grainger College of Engineering. Fahnestock’s prior leadership roles at Illinois include Education Innovation Fellow in Grainger Engineering (2013-2014), chair of the CEE Advisory Committee (2017-2018, 2024-2025), chair of the Structures Group in CEE (2018-2021) and director of the Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory (2022-2025).
Melissa Graebner is the Robert C. Evans Endowed Professor of Business Administration, the associate dean of entrepreneurship, the director of the Initiative for Qualitative Research in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the former area chair of strategy, entrepreneurship and international business at the Gies College of Business. She is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and was elected to the Fellows Group of the Academy of Management.
Jorge Lucero is the Anthony J. Petullo Professor of Art Education in the School of Art and Design and also serves as the senior associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Previously, he served as chair of the Art Education Program for eight years. He has performed, published, lectured, exhibited and taught widely in the U.S. and abroad. In 2023, he was named the National Art Education Association’s Higher Ed Educator of the Year.
Angela Lyons is a professor in agricultural and consumer economics and a fellow at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. She is an alumna of both the LEAD21 Leadership Program for land-grant institutions and the U. of I. President’s Executive Leadership Program. Deeply committed to shared governance, Lyons serves as the incoming chair of the Illinois Senate and holds key leadership roles on the Senate Executive Committee and the University Senates Conference. She also represents Illinois in the Big Ten Academic Alliance Faculty Governance Senate Leadership Group.
Department Executive Officers Seminar
The Big Ten Academic Alliance also offers the Department Executive Officers Seminar, which brings together department heads and chairs from across the Big Ten. Topics range from conflict resolution and mentoring to faculty development, performance reviews and group problem-solving. Every year, five department executive officers are selected by their respective universities to participate in this program.
The following Illinois department executive officers have been chosen to participate in 2025-26.
Katy Heath is a professor and the head of the department of plant biology. She has an affiliation with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
Steve Nesbitt is a professor and head of the department of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences. He has received several awards, including the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, the NASA New Investigator Program award and the NASA Robert H. Goddard award for scientific achievement. He was named a fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 2025.
Helen Neville, a professor of educational psychology and African American studies, serves as chair of the educational psychology department. She was a Provost Fellow and participated in the CIC/Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Academy. Currently, she is the president-elect of the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture.
Megan Sapp-Nelson is the head of The Grainger Engineering Library Information Center and is a professor in the University Library.
Art and design professor Brooke White is director of the School of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She was a senior Fulbright Scholar in India and is the recipient of the National Council of Arts Administrators Fellowship and the Sarah Isom Fellowship.
