UCalgary professor named as fellow in national STEM leadership program

Dr. Belinda Heyne has completed a PhD in science, won multiple awards for research and teaching, and recently became the head of the Chemistry Department in the University of Calgary's Faculty of Science.

But she says she wasn’t sure she was fully ready when she agreed to take on the role.

“I don’t know if it’s because I am a woman, but I feel like I’m never prepared and I feel I arrived at this position because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” says Heyne. “I wanted to have some personal growth and to grow as a leader.” So, she negotiated some of that growth into her role.

Heyne was accepted to participate in Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) program.

ELATES offers leadership development for senior women faculty in academic STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.

Heyne, who started the program in the spring, had heard glowing reviews and felt lucky to get accepted. This year’s cohort includes 46 women from across Canada and the United States, including three from Canada, including Heyne and Dr. Joule Bergerson, PhD, from UCalgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.

Heyne says the program is intense, with a time commitment of eight to 10 hours a week that includes both Zoom calls and in-person meetings.

The cohort has already met once in person where they shared a number of activities – including axe-throwing – to try to better understand how to function as a leader.

In one group exercise, participants were provided with a task that was nearly impossible to complete. “Everyone turned to complete chaos and reverted back to their own self,” says Heyne. “Eight hours. Best friends, and then we couldn’t get along. It was a very interesting exercise.”

Heyne says this impossible challenge was intentional in order to allow participants to learn about how conflict can arise when under duress. “We are working on ourselves,” she says.

Another component of the course is an assignment to create an institutional action plan by next spring. Heyne says she plans to draw on her own experience to create a plan.

Heyne started at UCalgary as an assistant professor in 2007, before moving up to associate professor, full professor, acting department head and then permanent department head.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I never had an opportunity to be mentored into it,” she says. “You do have things here and there, but the information was so overwhelming.

“My plan would be to create a stricter mentorship for not only early career … but also having mentoring for people who have their tenure.”  

Heyne says she wants to include succession planning and an opportunity to experience the role before having to step into it.

The ELATES program, Heyne adds, will be helpful as a woman in a leadership role at a university.

Facilitated by leaders in the fields of STEM research and leadership development, the program is focused on increasing fellows’ personal and professional leadership effectiveness, from the ability to lead and manage change. to the use of strategic finance and resource management to enhance organizational missions.

“I’m super-excited for the things I am learning,” says Heyne. “I am most certainly excited to have met a group of like-mind women heads of departments in other schools.

“It is interesting, yet a bit sad to see that we are facing similar challenges. This is making the position less lonely, and it is giving me a group of women that I can turn to and ask questions or advice.”

Heyne says she’s grateful to the Faculty of Science and Dean Kristin Baetz for believing in her and supporting an experience that will add to her growth as a leader.