The first challenge for nursing professor Iris Padilla after she was named Duke’s Presidential Fellow for the academic year was deciding what areas of the university she wanted to learn more about.

“After they selected me as fellow, the president’s office sent me a list of university units,” said Padilla, an associate professor of nursing. “It was easy to see which ones I wanted to learn about. All of it looked interesting.”

That curiosity makes Padilla an excellent fit for the Presidential Fellowship, a program established by President Vincent Price that allows a faculty member to spend a year diving into the workings of university administration.

It’s meant to prepare promising faculty for future leadership roles by providing them with the opportunities to interact closely with and receive mentorship from the president and other senior leaders and to observe leadership in action through direct participation in leadership meetings. As a fellow, Padilla will have regularly engage with a range of administrators, including one-on-one meetings with President Price.

She will participate in meetings of the Board of Trustees, the Senior Leadership Group, the President’s Cabinet, the Deans Cabinet, and certain presidential and provostial committees. She also will have short rotations shadowing academic and administrative leaders in various units and schools across the campus.