John L. Ford, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley dean of students at Cornell, has been selected as a 1998-99 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow.

The ACE Fellows Program provides in-depth, comprehensive leadership development for senior faculty and administrators in higher education. It offers a yearlong, flexible fellowship experience, designed by the fellow and the nominator, with the goal of preparing leaders who are skilled in the management of change.

The broad themes of Ford's fellowship will be "improving teaching and learning; ensuring access, diversity and success for all students; improving quality with diminishing resources; and using technology as a lever for change."

Ford, who was reappointed to a second five-year term as dean July 1, 1997, was nominated for the fellows program by Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic affairs.

"It is a great honor and a privilege to have this wonderful opportunity to enhance my academic leadership and management skills by learning how other universities address challenges and solve problems," Ford said. "I am very grateful to Vice President Susan Murphy for nominating me for the fellowship and to Provost Don Randel, Vice President Hank Dullea and Dean Francille Firebaugh for supporting my nomination."

As an ACE fellow, Ford will spend brief periods during the coming year in intensive training sessions at several higher education institutions yet to be selected, "to learn about their institutional strategies for teaching and learning."

"John is one of the most accessible and fair individuals I have ever met," Murphy wrote in her nomination letter. "He has been extraordinarily successful as dean of students at Cornell because of the respect he enjoys from virtually all members of the university community. ... The characteristics that contribute to John's success as a leader, and his potential for future growth, are his ability to think conceptually and see the connections throughout the university. He is especially effective in engaging people from different backgrounds and positions in shared endeavors, creating linkages where they might not otherwise exist."

Dullea, vice president for university relations, also noted Ford's interpersonal skills. "John Ford has an extraordinary ability to interact effectively with a wide range of faculty, students and staff in this very complex research university," Dullea wrote. "No matter what the audience, his integrity and determination to be helpful is readily apparent."

Ford received his B.A. degree in philosophy and psychology from Boston University and earned three graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in social work and sociology, at the University of Michigan. He came to Cornell in 1974 as a lecturer in the Department of Human Service Studies.

Ford's teaching and research have concentrated on the organization and delivery of health care in the United States and other countries.