2024 AAHSL New and Interim Director Symposium

The AAHSL Board and the New and Interim Directors Committee is excited to launch a new and unique year-long learning opportunity for new and interim library directors. This program will begin with a face-to-face session at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Three additional online sessions will be held in 2024-2025 with program completion by the 2025 AAHSL annual meeting. Facilitated by M.J. Tooey, MLS, AHIP, FMLA, retired Associate Vice Provost and Dean of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, this program will be tailored to explore the specific needs of the 20-person cohort.

Applications for the 2024 New and Interim Director Symposium have closed. Thank you to all who applied!

Program Goals:

Due to the pandemic, many new and interim directors were unable to develop support networks among other directors, and actively engage with the AAHSL community. The goals of the program are to:

  1. Introduce new and interim directors to concepts, issues, challenges, and solutions faced when entering new or interim academic health sciences library leadership roles.
  2. Provide a supportive and safe space for challenging conversations and questions.
  3. Develop a cohort of trusted colleagues experiencing similar situations.
  4. Build a solid and trusting relationship with AAHSL as a professional home for academic health sciences library leaders.

Program Details:

  1. The program is open to new or interim directors who have undertaken these roles since 2020.
  2. The program is not open to anyone who has moved from one directorship to another, unless their first directorship began in 2020 or later.
  3. Enrollment will be first come, first served. If more than 20 people are interested, a waiting list will be created.
  4. The cost of the program is $75.00, payable within 10 days upon notification of selection into the program, indicating commitment to the program.
  5. Upon acceptance and payment, a survey will be sent to participants gauging topics of interest for the program.
  6. Consisting of four sessions, the first session of the program will be held in person, at the AAHSL annual meeting in Atlanta in November 2024 from 8:00am – Noon on Thursday, November 7 in Atlanta. The remaining three sessions will be held via video conferencing.
  7. Attendees must attend the November 2024 session in person. The remaining sessions will be held via videoconferencing.
  8. A separate AAHSL list will be created for the program and a Basecamp project area will also be created.

2024 New and Interim Director Keynote

Building Your Leadership Brand

You already have a personal brand whether you are aware of it or not. A strong brand will help you network more effectively, receive recognition for your work, gain mentors and sponsors, and lead to new opportunities. This presentation will explain what a personal leadership brand is and why it’s important, and share the actions you can take to gain confidence in yourself and enhance your personal brand in your life and career.

Jennifer B. Litchman, MA
Senior Vice President for External Relations
University of Maryland, Baltimore


Jennifer Litchman, senior vice president for external relations at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), oversees a portfolio that includes communications and public affairs, government affairs and community engagement.  Jennifer came to UMB in 1999 as director of public affairs at the School of Medicine, and in 2002 she was promoted to assistant dean for public affairs. 

She left the School of Medicine in 2011 when she was named special assistant to the president of UMB, and rose swiftly to vice president and chief communications officer, and then to senior vice president for external relations in 2018.  In 2015 she founded UMB’s Council for the Arts and Culture, to promote the rich 200+-year history of UMB and surrounding neighborhoods and to celebrate the creative talents of the university community, thereby raising awareness of the links between the arts and sciences.  Also in 2015, she founded UMB’s Roundtable on Empowerment in Leadership and Leveraging Aspirations (UMBrella) to support the success of women at UMB by building community and helping them achieve their personal and professional goals, enhancing their leadership skills, and championing women at all levels of the organization.

Jennifer is a two-time Emmy nominated executive producer of “From West Baltimore” documentary series and an award-winning publisher of 1807: An Art & Literary Journal.  A member of the board of directors of Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre and the YumiCARES Foundation, she also was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Daily Record in 2016 and 2022, and a Baltimore Magazine “Woman Who Moves Maryland in 2018.  Originally from Ames, Iowa, Jennifer and her 10 best childhood friends are the subjects of the nonfiction New York Times bestseller “The Girls from Ames.”

Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, a Master of Art in public communication from American University, and certificates from the Wharton School at Penn and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

She lives in beautiful Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, two children, a pandemic cat named Kitten and a rescue pug named Theo.