Hello all, I am Brian Redmond, your instructor for the semester. I am very happy to help you succeed this semester, so please do not hesitate to contact me about the blog, course content, or anything else. Here’s a picture of one of my graduating students a few years back to help make me human:
- Where are you located geographically? I live in central Pennsylvania and have an office on the Main Campus for Penn State.
- Where are you in your life professionally? I am the director for the OLEAD program.
- What are your long-term goals? At this point I’m content with what I do, but someday maybe a Dean position.
- What is your current or prior leadership experience? Prior to taking over the OLEAD program I was the assistant director for the MPS in the Psychology of Leadership program.
- Why you want to explore women in leadership? Lots of reasons. All the research I’ve read indicates a variety of advantages and disadvantages that we need to be aware of to improve leadership for organizations.
- Do you have a favorite leadership quote? If so, provide a brief comment about why this quote has special meaning for you. I’m not a quote person. I’m an idea person. My favorite ideas about leadership are the key tenets of democracy such as participation, voice, and support.
- Optional: post something interesting about yourself:
- Do you have children? Yes, I have a son who is in his last year of middle school.
- Any special interests? Baseball and science fiction.
- Do you have an unusual hobby? I like to draw and paint when I get an opportunity.
Renata Hoffstetter says
Where are you located geographically? I live in Silver Spring Maryland, withing the Washington DC Metro area, a mile away from the DC border.
Where are you in your life professionally? I work for the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.
What are your long-term goals? Finish my degree ASAP and continue into a graduate program.
What is your current or prior leadership experience? My leadership experience is mostly comprised of informal roles.
Do you have a favorite leadership quote? “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently.” by Warren Buffet
Do you have children? Yes, I have two daughters. Younger one is entering 3rd grade and the older one is entering 6th grade/middle school.
Any special interests? Travel, running, cooking, interior design.
Do you have an unusual hobby? I love to kayak, craft and entertain.
Jessica Walter Kullman says
• Where are you located geographically? Berks County, PA
• Where are you in your life professionally? I am the Senior Manager of EDI – I do consulting for healthcare practices on healthcare quality payment programs, and help build interfaces between a client’s electronic medical record system and our company’s cloud platform to exchange patient data.
• What are your long-term goals? I am on target to be promoted to AVP in the next month or so, from there my long term goal would be to work for the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services in a more proactive role with the payment programs on a developmental level
• What is your current or prior leadership experience? I oversee a team of employees that provide consulting to our clinician clients, as well as help direct the data team on the successful implementation of the interfaces
• Why you want to explore women in leadership? It has been my experience that there is not the stereotypical male vs. female workplace issues. I have experienced more often than not issues with other women in leadership roles. I am seeking to understand this need for women to dominate and belittle other women. I am seriously thinking of writing an article on the workplace abuse women inflict on other women.
• Do you have a favorite leadership quote? I don’t have a favorite quote as there are so many good ones! I tend to like ones that focus on the importance of individual successes leading to overall team accomplishment.
• Optional: post something interesting about yourself:
• Do you have children? Yes! Two step-daughters (one graduated from PSU, and one currently there) and a 10-year-old son (he has no choice but to go to PSU!)
• Any special interests? We have a small hobby farm, so gardening and livestock
• Do you have an unusual hobby? I love to make decorative cakes – the fun is in making all of the toppers by hand and watching the full theme come together.