Food Systems Leadership Institute Marks Twenty Years

By Lara Ivanitch 

Since its inception, the Food Systems Leadership Institute (FSLI) has helped elevate leaders in agriculture, equipping talented people in 47 states and multiple countries for success. As the institute celebrates its 20th anniversary, it continues to support professional development with an emphasis on both organizational change and the complex global web of people, businesses, educational institutions and governmental entities that make all scales of farming possible. 

Few presidents, provosts and chancellors of major land-grant universities had emerged from the agriculture industry when the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) created the institute in 2004.  

Through the work of the FSLI, which is based at NC State University, more leaders from farming and food systems backgrounds have added a depth of understanding to upper-level management — not only at universities, but within government and industry as well.  

“We’re very proud of the impact,” says FSLI Director John Dole, a horticultural science professor with NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). “It’s one thing to have a program. It’s another thing to really impact universities and industry.” 

During the two-year program, fellows attend an on-site residential session at one of three university partners: NC State, Ohio State University or California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In these sessions, participants gain a broader view of the scope of food systems. They also complete self-assessments, with the goal of illuminating their individual leadership styles. Distance learning supplements these sessions.  

Through FSLI, fellows create a professional development plan.  

“That plan can be very focused, such as, ‘I want to make better use of my time,’” says Dole, “or it can be very large, ‘I want to be chancellor of a university somewhere.’ Then we put together the pieces to help them reach those goals.” 

Mentorship and a leadership project round out the program.  

“Jobs are so busy with just taking care of the day-to-day, it’s sometimes hard to set aside time and mental energy to think big and outside of what we’re doing,” Dole says. This project, a pivotal part of a fellow’s experience, provides an opportunity to do just that.  

Big changes at NC State resulted from one such project, conceived during the eighth cohort of FSLI by Steve Lommel, CALS associate dean and director of research. “Steve’s [project] was to envision and think about moving plant sciences forward. And that ultimately ended up in the Plant Science Initiative and in the Plant Sciences Building, with a very tangible, direct line from FSLI,” Dole says. 

One of FSLI’s future goals is revising the institute’s second year to include an additional in-person session.  Dole also has the goal of increasing global participation, from universities and industry to nongovernmental organizations. To date, 482 fellows from 95 institutions and organizations have attended the institute. Fellows have hailed from 47 states, as well as the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Republic of Singapore and Ontario, Canada.  

“Diversity of thought is very important in leadership,” Dole says. “We are very intent on trying to make sure that we get a wide diversity of thought.”