The University of Colorado’s Excellence in Leadership Program (ELP) welcomed their 26^th cohort during a two-day retreat Aug. 6–7 at CU Anschutz. The participants, drawn from experienced faculty and staff across CU’s four campuses and System Administration, will embark on a year of learning sessions, campus visits and other opportunities to develop leadership skills and build community across campuses.

Sponsored by TIAA, the event provided an orientation for the fellows as they newly embarked on the program’s year-long curriculum. For 25 years, ELP has created opportunities for CU faculty and staff across all campuses to gain a greater understanding of all aspects of CU’s organizational function, cultivating community among university leaders and strengthening leadership capabilities.

Members of the 2026–27 ELP cohort at the ELP retreat on Aug. 6 at CU Anschutz.

Since the ELP’s inception in 2001, approximately 620 fellows have completed the program.

Getting around the social barriers

As a welcome exercise Thursday morning, participants were organized into a pair of wagon-wheel-style conversation circles. Attendees were divided in half at opposite ends of Krugman Hall with people at each end standing in two concentric circles — a small circle of people facing outward surrounded by a larger circle of people facing inward. Participants were encouraged to get to know the person standing across from them while retreat organizers periodically directed the inner or outer circle of participants to move one person to the right or left.

Members of the 2026–27 ELP cohort engage in a welcome activity during the ELP retreat on Aug. 6 at CU Anschutz.

A major emphasis of the retreat was creating opportunities for participants to connect with colleagues from different campuses, specialties and professional roles. The ELP program brings together faculty and staff from a broad array of disciplines who each face their own concerns and challenges within the context of a large, complex organization.

Sriram Sankaranarayanan is a professor in computer science and chair of the Computer Science department at CU Boulder. “There are a lot of challenges we are facing, especially in my field of computer science,” Sankaranarayanan said. “We've been really challenged by AI, and I am trying to learn how the campus is thinking about this [issue] and what are we planning to do about this as a campus.”

Xochil Herrera is the assistant vice chancellor of accounting in the Controller’s Office at UCCS, and her primary focus during the year-long ELP curriculum is to expand her firsthand knowledge of the campuses and strengthen her connection with people across the CU System.

“I've seen different cohorts from my campus, and I was just really excited to be a part of that and learn more about the other campuses,” Herrera said. “Of course, I have the opportunity to do some working groups across campus every now and again, but really just get to spend some time on each of the campuses, get to know some of their goals, strategies, what's happening, all of those things.”

Facing the future together

Sankaranarayanan has been with CU for 17 years, and Herrera for three. One participant has been at CU less than a year — Tony Gherardini joined CU in April as vice president of human resources for CU and chief human resources officer for CU System Administration.

After the welcoming activities, Tony moderated a Q&A with CU President Todd Saliman. The session focused on leadership styles, facing challenges and plans for the future of the university.

CU President Todd Saliman (left) speaks with Vice President of Human Resources Tony Gherardini during the ELP retreat on Aug. 6 at CU Anschutz.

“What I'm worried about is folks undervaluing higher education,” Saliman said. “I feel like higher education and what you all do and what we do on this campus — on all of our campuses — is part of what has made America great.”

Sankaranarayanan has witnessed the same changes Saliman spoke to.

“I'm also interested in what our campus is planning to do collectively to make sure that higher education kind of earns back— if you will — [being] a place people actually trust, value and respect what we do for society as opposed to, I feel like this environment of suspicion about higher ed and professors and intellectuals,” Sankaranarayanan said.

Members of the 2026–27 ELP cohort listen to the discussion with CU President Todd Saliman during the ELP retreat on Aug. 6 at CU Anschutz.

Amid serious conversations about the concerns and challenges facing the university — and higher education as a whole — were messages of resilience about how to face those challenges.

When discussing the two biggest lessons from his career, Saliman said, “I think the two keys things have been to work hard and to be kind to others.”

“That doesn't mean you're not tough, it doesn't mean that you're a doormat, but it means that you try to act with kindness in your career, just like you should in your life.”