Meet Dana Henry: UMDI Leadership Excellence Faculty Member

For the past 30 years, Dana’s career has been focused on developing executive and professional development programs, both domestically as well as throughout the world.

Since joining the UMass Donahue Institute (UMDI) as the Director of Organizational Development & Learning Solutions, Dana’s mission is to advance the development of organizational leaders and managers while also supporting competency-based learning.

Bringing this mission to life, one of Dana’s goals was to create a leadership-focused program for working professionals who want to acquire the knowledge and tools needed to be an effective leader. This goal is now becoming a reality as Dana is excited to launch the first 100% online Leadership Excellence Certificate Program at UMDI – building on all of the best practices she has learned over the past three decades.

“The purpose of this leadership program is to build upon all of the best practices, tools, and knowledge I have gained from designing dozens of development and leadership programs for Fortune 500 corporations into a program for working professionals who want to learn how to become an effective leader.”

– Dana Henry, Director, ODLS, UMDI

In partnership with the UMass Amherst University Without Walls (UWW) and UMass Online (UMOL), this 100% online leadership program will empower working professionals with the new skills, knowledge, and tools needed to learn how to be an effective leader, implement organizational change and propel their careers forward.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this 8-week program will initially be offered fully online. However, Dana feels this online learning format has led to an innovative design – combining a series of live webinars with supplemental eLearning resources.

An important component to any learning environment, especially online, is networking with classmates. Since this is integral to the Leadership Excellence certificate, Dana and her team will assign “Learning Partners” that will encourage students within this program to work together on their real-life change initiatives, applying and reinforcing what they learn. Not to mention, Dana and her team have pulled together an excellent faculty team - sharing their collective decades of experience and knowledge in applying the leadership best practices, tools, and techniques taught throughout the online program.

Interested in learning more? Click here to request more information about the Leadership Excellence Certificate. The first session begins this Spring on April 15, 2021.