For my leadership profile I decided to focus on Katie Roquemore who is the Department Chair of Core Education at Landmark College. She was also my professor during the 2022 spring semester during which she taught my Disability Studies class. Being a natural leader on this campus I decided to inquire about her leadership experience and what it means to her. During my interview I asked her style and leadership traits, how she has grown as a leader, who inspired her to be better, and what is her biggest challenge of being a leader. Katie said that people would describe her style as being “laidback and approachable.” As for traits, she personally describes herself as, “organized and a big picture thinker” when it comes to working in the role of Department Chair. She also says that these types of traits help when working as the Department Chair, as the meetings turn out “well organized and thoughtful” because of her traits and style.

I then proceeded to ask Katie about her growth as a leader and how she has grown. She expressed that her growth mainly comes from her organization efforts due to where she is as Department Chair. She emphasized that the reason for growth in her organization efforts is because of her position, as she gets more emails and responsibilities than she did as a faculty member. Due to this she has had to create her own organization system to keep track of things. This system consists of her writing down things that she must get done, such as emails. In addition, Katie also stated that she has experienced personal growth when it comes to dealing with, “conflict and relationship management.” This growth comes from her not liking to face conflict yet having to face it because of her position and people that rely on her to lead them.

When asked about her motivation to become a better leader, Katie said that her motivation comes from Landmark students. She told me that “Landmark students inspired her to join the Department Chair,” due to how she values their perspective. In particular, she noted that the value of student life is what she cares about the most when working as Department Chair and that she has the willingness to consider the opinions of students and what they think is best for them.

In terms of challenges relating to leadership the main thing Katie stressed was related to having patience on the job. She expressed that, “there never seems to be enough time” when it came to getting things done. Katie also talked about how there is a process when it comes to working at the College and how that even though there may be a change or idea one wants to get out there and express it takes time to get things done. She elaborated, saying that due to policies and procedures from the College, there is a process that would need to happen in order to for that change or idea to go through.

Lastly, I talked to my professor Dotti Osterholt for some more information on Katie and how she is as a leader. Dotti stated during that interview that she thought of Katie as “organized and thorough,” as well as being “calm, thoughtful and pragmatic.” Dotti also added that she thought of Katie as flexible saying that, “she’s flexible in terms of getting stuff done and having meetings.” Finally, she expressed that while Katie can be responsive to others for work, she is also capable of telling people what she can and can’t do.

Katie Roquemore is a natural leader. Katie possesses traits like “integrity, sociability and determination,” which are some of the traits that good leaders have. In addition, she also possesses a “democratic leadership style” which consists of traits like, “working with followers and trying hard to treat everyone fairly without putting themselves above followers.”

These traits are vital in being Department Chair of Landmark College, as that position involves Katie leading others to success. It is also important because her role has an impact on both the people she’s leading, as well as the student body. Overall, Katie is a leader who exhibits good leadership and has the best interests of everyone in mind when doing her job.