OSWEGO — Dr. Barbara Garii, associate dean of the School of Education at SUNY Oswego, recently graduated from the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute, held June 19 to July 3 at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

The institute, a 36-year partnership between Bryn Mawr College and Higher Education Resource Services, is the premier residential professional development program dedicated to advancing women leaders in higher education administration.

The 64 participants selected for this year’s institute represented 49 institutions from 24 states as well as Saudi Arabia. They included college and university vice presidents, deans, directors and chairs of academic and administrative departments. The broad range of experiences across disciplines, sectors and positions offered a unique environment to evaluate critical issues confronting higher education today.

Responding to the current environment for higher education globally, the institute had a special focus this year on “Women Leaders Today: Accepting the Challenge of Re-inventing Higher Education.” More than 33 senior officers from colleges and universities, national organizations, and accrediting associations — many HERS alumnae or board members — served as faculty.

Garii has been at SUNY Oswego since 2005, serving as associate dean of the School of Education since 2009. She was previously on the faculty of Oswego’s curriculum and instruction department in the School of Education. Currently, she is heading up an innovative statewide, graduate-level, clinically based teacher preparation program.

Her participation in the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute was sponsored by the SUNY Oswego Office of the Provost and the Office of the Dean of the School of Education.

For more information about HERS, visit www.hersnet.org.