Professor Expands Ideas During Harvard’s Leadership Program

Patricia Betron will spend her spring semester continuing to learn how to make a global impact

Sacred Heart University management professor Patricia Betron recently finished up her fall semester at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI), where she explored new concepts and ideas and broadened her perspective as an educator and leader.

Betron, who’s taught at SHU’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology since 2017 and worked in sports sales and promotion for companies such as ABC, ESPN and Disney for more than 35 years, decided in the spring of 2024 she would apply to the Harvard program. The initiative intrigued her; she was interested in learning how she could make a difference in the world after her corporate career. More than 1,000 people applied, and only about 40 students were chosen.

Harvard’s ALI was founded by three professors 15 years ago. The purpose of the program, according to the ALI website, is to “prepare and deploy leaders to address some of the world’s most challenging problems.” The ALI fellows, all of whom have impressive careers and extensive experience in leadership positions, are immersed in “interdisciplinary academic learning, leadership development and peer-to-peer collaboration” for a year. Fellows take core classes together but then, based on their interests and goals, sign up for several of Harvard’s regular courses.

Last August, with the support of her family, Betron packed up some belongings from her Fairfield home and moved into an apartment in Cambridge, MA, ready to explore her interests, take engaging courses and meet new people. “I was very excited,” Betron said. “The program really brings people together from all over … then we use Harvard’s resources to forge a pathway to social impact.”

“Our sport management program was thrilled to learn that Tricia had been accepted into Harvard's prestigious Advanced Leadership Initiative,” said Josh Shuart, professor and director of the sport management program. “She has been a terrific and positive asset, and always willing to mentor and share her experiences at Disney and ESPN with the next generation. She is highly accomplished and this experience and credential will only bolster what she can offer to our SHU students in the classroom.”

When Betron arrived in Cambridge for orientation, she met ALI representatives who framed the program around the three Ps: person, problem and pathway to impact. Her classmates all had their own passions and problems they wanted to take on. From climate change to homelessness, everyone was interested in improving some part of society.

In September, the cohort members started their core courses and began auditing Harvard’s undergraduate and graduate classes as well as some classes at nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “The resources at Harvard and the cohort were so fascinating,” Betron said, adding that her classmates leaned on each other for support, ideas and feedback. “People really care and are trying to make some kind of impact,” she said.

Betron entered the ALI focused on leadership and the power of story or narrative. She is fascinated by how people make decisions and the power of persuasion. A professor pointed out that human beings fall in love with the idea of a story, and that all human problems can be tied back to imperfect systems. From there, Betron found herself enrolled in a system dynamics course at MIT.

“I came in with this idea on how to improve leaders through stories and narratives, and it morphed into something else,” she said.

The engineering course was challenging and made her slightly uncomfortable, but that’s the point of the ALI. She’s enjoyed chatting with professors during the semester and found it satisfying to help students in class, and not just with academics, but also with real-life matters such as career and job interview advice.

After she completes the year in the ALI, Betron said she believes she’ll come back to SHU with a broader perspective of the outside world. “It’s been 35 years since I’ve been seated in a college classroom,” she said. “I think I’ll come back a stronger professor and be able to engage even better with students.”

While Betron still has another semester left in the ALI, she already finds it incredibly rewarding. She looks forward to what the spring semester has in store for her.