Former UK Dean Lori Gonzalez Returns to Deliver Lecture on Campus April 26

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2018) — Lori Stewart Gonzalez, vice chancellor of academic, faculty and student affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and its statewide campuses and former dean of the University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences, will speak to the UK community at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 26, at the Boone Center. Her lecture is hosted by the Women's Executive Leadership Development (WELD) program, part of UK's Office for Faculty Advancement. It is free and open to the public.

The lecture kicks off a new season of the WELD program, which is designed to develop the next generation of UK leaders through retreats, monthly meetings, conversations with upper level administrators and a group project. Twenty-six participants were recently announced as comprising the third cohort of the program directed by Hollie Swanson, a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences in the College of Medicine.

Gonzalez will speak on the topic of resiliency and academic leadership. She says leadership in higher education is increasingly challenging due to internal and external pressures -- especially for women leaders, who can also face lower salaries, fewer resources and increased service.  

"When the challenges result in adverse decisions about careers, how do successful women deal with these negative events?  How do they bounce back and continue to move forward?" Gonzalez said. "A look at the stories from women leaders who have faced adversity in their careers and risen above negativity provides insight into the need to develop and maintain resilience."

A graduate of UK with a bachelor's degree in speech-pathology and audiology, Gonzalez went on to earn her master's at Eastern Kentucky University and her doctorate from the University of Florida.

Her career in higher education began at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1988. She returned to UK in 1991 as an assistant professor in the Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders and moved through the academic ranks to professor. She served as associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Health Sciences from 2000-2005. In 2005, she was appointed UK's third dean of the college, serving in that capacity until 2011. Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Gonzalez was in administrative posts at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina General Administration.