The Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy (NFLA) Scholar Program is an eighteen-month program that is sponsored by Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) and Elsevier. The leadership practices of the scholar were enriched and supported through application of recommendations from the Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Challenge in relation to a leadership project that supports the advancement of nursing education. An individualized leadership plan and leadership development path were created with input from the scholar, academic peers, and faculty mentors to provide structure and goal delineation during the program. Nurse faculty as part of the NFLA program were supported through a leadership curriculum in the three domains of individual leadership development, team project leadership, and scope of influence expansion. The NFLA scholars are immersed in the study of a transformative leader’s five practices of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). The positive outcomes of this program were evidenced through this NFLA leadership journey, expressed in the perspectives of scholar, leadership mentor, and faculty advisor.
Most importantly, the NFLA approach allows junior faculty a valuable mentored experience to improve personal leadership skills and provides a path for becoming a transformational leader. This valuable mentoring approach allows the scholar opportunities to develop leadership skills to cultivate a supportive multidisciplinary environment, expand their scope of influence, and ultimately find satisfaction in being an academic nurse leader in advancing nursing education. This presentation discusses advanced opportunities for leadership development in order to meet this challenge.