The Institutional Representative (IR) holds an essential role in connecting her home institution with the North Carolina American Council on Education Women’s Network. The IR actively supports women’s leadership and advancement at her own institution through advocacy, sponsorship, and development of women as leaders, including creating opportunities for women to lead and building a campus network for women. The IR also serves as the liaison between women at her institution and the state network and is responsible for disseminating information from the network to her campus and from her campus to the state network.

Each institutional member should identify one or two IRs for their campus. IRs are usually appointed by the president or chancellor of the institution, with the responsibility offered to women who have already demonstrated support for women’s leadership.

Roles and Expectations of Institutional Representatives

The institutional representative (IR) is a key person in the development and implementation of the strategic plans of the ACE State Network in each state. Ideally, each institution of higher education in the state should appoint one or two IRs to represent and serve as advocate(s) for the interest of women’s leadership development and advancement in higher education at their institutions.

The president/chancellor of the institution usually appoints the IR to her role. Often, the state chair or a member of the state network governing body makes a recommendation to the president/chancellor on behalf of the ACE Women’s Network. The IR’s appointment recognizes the critical role she has already played at her institution with regard to the identification and development of women leaders on her campus and signals the institution’s support for the advancement of women into key leadership positions in higher education. The IR works in close collaboration with the state chair and the members of the state network governing body and serves as a liaison between the women at her institution and the members of the state network governing body. The institutional representative may wish to appoint a committee of women to work with her on her campus.

Basic expectations of the IR are as follows:

• Identify all women in key leadership positions on campus, including women administrators and women who hold significant leadership positions on the faculty.
• Assist the state chair and the state governing body in the development and implementation of state workshops and conferences designed to encourage women aspiring to administrative leadership roles.
•  Keep women on campus and the institution’s president/chancellor informed on a regular basis regarding the agenda and/or programs of the ACE State Network.
• Keep women on campus informed of leadership programs, fellowships, and grants for which they are eligible at both the state and national levels.
• Provide information to the state chair about women administrators on the campus, including new appointments, resignations, title changes, vacant leadership positions, etc.
• Establish, when appropriate, linkages between the state network and other campus programs focusing on women.
• Build a campus network whereby other women are identified as potential leaders and mentored in their aspirations