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Administrative Development Program (ADP)

The Administrative Development Program is a selective, eight-month program for high-potential administrative professionals, designed to build the key competencies required for success in senior-level administrative roles.

 

Cohorts are small, with fewer than 15 employees across the university selected for each program. Each participant is paired with a senior administrative professional as a mentor, and the group meets at various Hopkins locations in the Baltimore area.

“The ADP program honestly changed my life. It opened my eyes to the fact that I have a very special gift and talent. Without the instructors and my cohort, I wouldn’t have had the self-confidence to seek my dream role in SOM. The ADP helped me polish my skills and reach for a brighter future within JHU.”

Jamie Karl

ADP Participant
Selection Criteria

General Guidelines

To qualify, you’ll need a paragraph of support from your manager and must also: 

  • Have the support of your direct manager and senior leadership to participate in the program 
  • Be preparing for a more senior administrative role 
  • Be able to attend all sessions 
  • Demonstrate the university’s core values 
  • Be viewed as high-potential by others 
  • Have a record of consistently above–average or excellent performance 
  • Have worked in the university for at least a year 

Nomination Process

Nominations for the 2024 Administrative Development Program are now closed, but are expected to open in mid-summer for the 2025 cohort. If you would like to receive a direct message from our team when nominations open, complete this form with your name and email.

Please email us with any questions.

Program Topics and Calendar for 2024
Resources

In addition to ADP, JHU offers a host of in-person and online courses, ebooks, and videos that can help you develop the skills you need to advance your administrative career. Browse our courses and resources.

You also can hear directly from ADP mentors about highly valued skills required of an executive assistant:

The Art of the Briefing
The Art of the Scheduling Call
Problem Solving
Keeping Things Moving
Gatekeeping
Redirection
Keeping Them on Time
Managing Stress
The “Know-it-All”
Wellness
Emotional Intelligence

Celebrating five years of success

“Administrative professionals are the backbone of an institution. They make it work,” says Ann Shiu, who developed the program with colleague Siyade Gemechisa, both of whom are senior instructional designers. “This program is to showcase the skills they have been working on their entire careers, to build their confidence so that they are ready for the next step and to help them find their voice to do so.”

Fifty-two participants—both men and women, from 14 divisions across the university—have now completed the program, with 25 receiving promotions and five moving laterally.

“The university wanted to create a pipeline of people already here who knew the Hopkins culture and could be groomed to take on exec-level roles,” Gemechisa says. “We’re also trying to build a learning community and a network; everyone who goes through this program gets added in. We’ve created this safe community where they all feel they can always rely on each other.”

Click Here to Read More About the Success of the ADP