Dr. Kavita Pandit

kavita pandit

Executive Leadership Background:

Kavita Pandit has a 36-year career in academia as a professor of geography and university administrator. After rising through the professorial ranks and establishing her reputation as a scholar and teacher, Dr. Pandit moved into leadership roles at University of Georgia (UGA), State University of New York (SUNY), and Georgia State University (GSU). She has broad experience at all levels of the academic hierarchy: department chair (UGA), associate dean (UGA), associate provost for global engagement (UGA), associate provost for faculty affairs (GSU), senior vice provost (SUNY system), and senior advisor to the provost and internal executive coach (GSU). Integral to her leadership approach and success has been building effective teams and mentoring individual team members for success. Dr. Pandit is also widely recognized for her leadership and service to the discipline of geography: she is a former President of the American Association of Geographers, a recipient of the AAG Ron Abler Distinguished Service Award, and in 2018 was conferred a lifetime appointment as Fellow of the AAG.

Coaching Experience and Philosophy:

Dr. Pandit has been working with academic leaders since 2020, initially as an internal coach for Georgia State University, and now as a private coach with clients at all levels of the administrative hierarchy from directors and chairs to vice presidents and presidents. She supports their professional growth so that they may achieve results that are important to the long-term success of their organizations and themselves. According to her, coaching can be a particular game changer at key career points. For individuals who are new to leadership, coaching can get them off to a strong start and minimize missteps. For seasoned executives, coaching can allow them to seek new ways to approach seemingly intractable problems and, through this reframing, to generate creative solutions. For leaders who are at inflection points in their career, coaching can help them to reassess their goals and opportunities.
Dr. Pandit’s coaching approach is based on the fundamental assumption that her client is whole, wise, and knowledgeable, and through coaching can stretch into their best self. She focuses on drawing out the intelligence and wisdom of her client through inquiry, curiosity, and challenges, and guides them into positive learning states that allow genuine and long-lasting changes to emerge.

Experience in Developing Academic Leaders:

Over the past decade, Kavita Pandit designed and implemented a range of programs for developing and supporting academic leaders at Georgia State University. The Academic Leadership Development Series was a year-long, cohort-based program tailored for groups ranging from VPs and deans to department chairs and emerging leaders. The monthly interactive sessions allowed participants to explore emerging topics in higher education, to brainstorm on creative solutions to persistent problems, and to examine their personal leadership styles and approaches.
Dr. Pandit has also worked extensively to support department chairs through new chair orientations and monthly lunch-and-share sessions. These equipped chairs with the nuts and bolts of administration (e.g. university policies, budgeting, and working with staff) and helped them develop their personal leadership presence (e.g. through leading effective faculty meetings, using best practices for conducting faculty evaluations, and handling conflicts effectively).
Dr. Pandit also led a university-wide faculty mentoring initiative that identified and trained a group of ‘Mentor Advocates’ from across the university. Under her guidance, Mentor Advocates developed tailored faculty mentoring programming for their colleges. As a result of this effort, mentoring has become an essential part of faculty support at the university. In 2003, Georgia State University established the annual “Kavita K. Pandit Faculty Mentoring Award” to recognize outstanding mentors.

Certifications and Trainings:

  • Neuroscience of Coaching (Coaches Rising), 2021
  • Certified Sherpa Executive Leadership Coach, 2020
  • Coaching Skills for Leaders in Higher Education, Institute for Transformational Leadership (Georgetown University), 2019
  • Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership cohort, 2017-2018
  • Managing to Change the World Workshop, The Management Center, 2017

Education:

  • Ph.D., Geography, The Ohio State University, 1987
  • M.A., Geography, The Ohio State University, 1983
  • M.C.R.P., City and Regional Planning, The Ohio State University, 1981
  • B.Arch., Architecture, Bombay University, 1978