The director of the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program at WKU has been named a 2017-2018 fellow the American Council on Education, according to the American Council on Education.

Tony Norman, director of the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, is one of 46 fellows for the American Council on Education. Norman will spend the fall 2017 semester at a “host institution,” and the Spring 2018 semester at WKU, shadowing the provost and president at each university, he said.

“At the host institution, if I’m allowed to, I’ll have access to going to meetings with the president and provost, and beyond shadowing them, be willing to do whatever they might assign me to do,” Norman said. “They’ll be helping me develop my skills in terms of the idea of being an administrator in the future.”

Norman said he currently has a list of 12 institutions he is interested in working with, and a top three, but will work with his American Council on Education mentor to determine the best university to work with.

According to Norman, when he returns to WKU, he will work with the provost, David Lee, on a project “beneficial back to WKU.” Additionally, Norman said he hopes to work in close collaboration with Lee and Tim Caboni, the next WKU president.

“When I return to WKU, I’ll really be focusing my energy on researching that, collecting data and providing a report,” Norman said.

According to information provided by Kelli Meyer, Public Affairs Specialist for the American Council on Education, the American Council on Education “has strengthened institutions in American higher education by identifying and preparing nearly 1,900 faculty, staff and administrators for senior positions in college and university leadership.”

The American Council on Education fellowship program uses an “intensive nominator-driven, cohort-based mentorship model,” to help prepare fellows for leadership positions in higher education.

Norman said his “ultimate aspiration” was to work as a university provost, but that this program would also prepare his for a future as a university president. Norman said it was “opening my mind to a possibility I had not considered,” with the emphasis on university presidencies.

“The idea that a presidency could be in my future is now something I’m beginning to imagine as possible,” he said.

Reporter Monica Kast can be reached at 270-745-0655 or [email protected].