Kerry K. Fierke, EdD

Dr. Kerry K. Fierke’s passion is to enhance the leadership skills, talents, and abilities of the people around her. This passion is based in part on her belief that we all possess untapped leadership potential. Leadership is not a position or a title, and it is not the exclusive domain of people in “power” positions. Leadership is a journey, and she encourages everyone to explore where it will take them.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Fierke was in management at Fortune 50 organizations, Honeywell Inc. and Medtronic where she focused on marketing, communication and education. In 2006, she became manager of leadership and staff development at Essentia Health. Dr. Fierke's role was the development, implementation, and coordination of all leadership and staff learning services for 7,000 physician and staff employees.This included interprofessional leadership sessions for 450+ managers, physicians, nurse and pharmacy managers as well as the development and implementation of an emerging physician leadership program.

Dr. Fierke began teaching in academia in 2006 as adjunct faculty at the University of Phoenix, both online and in-classroom coursework. From 2010-2013, she taught online and in-classroom for the University of Wisconsin-Stout, College of Management both undergraduate and masters students.She focused on innovative teaching in leadership and has published on this scholarly work.

In 2011, Dr. Fierke accepted a position with the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. In this role, she has advanced the teachings, scholarship and service of leadership to incorporate theories and practice into the core curriculum and everyday practice. She is devoted to providing students with valuable educational experiences that will allow them to grow and further contribute to the pharmacy profession. She has taught leadership content in over 30 courses at the College of Pharmacy, Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Dr. Fierke has also published over 30 articles and has presented in over 100 venues, both nationally and internationally, since joining the university.

Dr. Fierke's most profoundly influential leadership development contribution has been the development of the annual Women Impacting Healthcare conference. For five years, from 2012-2016, this annual one-day interprofessional leadership conference created a collaborative opportunity for women across the entire spectrum of healthcare professions to gather, continue their leadership journey, and network with colleagues to build a better patient experience. Regionally and nationally known speakers presented at this conference. Throughout the conference, Dr. Fierke featured several interactive leadership development activities designed to be implemented immediately into practitioners' personal and professional lives. She continues this tradition of adding value to everyday life through her KerryOn leadership writings.

• Leadership Development
• Intention/Reflection (I/R)
• Leadership Legacy (L2)
• Communication
• Conflict Management
• International Education
• Interprofessional Leadership Development

University of Minnesota

• Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, 2023
• Teaching Excellence Award, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020
• Service Excellence Award, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy 2018, 2021
• One College, Two Campus Excellence Award, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy 2017, 2019
• Guest Lecturer of the Semester For Outstanding Teaching (Class of 2016), 2012
• University of Minnesota, Duluth - Outstanding Academic Advisor Nomination 2012

National Awards

2022-2023 AACP Leadership Development Special Interest Group Best Manuscript Award for the manuscript entitled, "Three-part Manuscript Series: Featuring a Virtual Symposium (VS), a Virtual Think Tank (VTT) to create Collaborative Leadership Initiative Plans (CLIPs) and a Virtual Social Networking Hour (VSNH)", American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) - 2023
Kerry K. Fierke, EdD - University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy
Whitney Maxwell, PharmD, MBA, BCPS - University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy
Gregory M. Zumach, PharmD, BCP - Oregon State University College of Pharmacy
The LD Manuscript Award recognizes a recently published Leadership Development-related manuscript demonstrating excellence.

2022-2023 AACP Leadership Development Special Interest Group Best Poster Award for the poster entitled, "Implementation of an Experiential Rural Health Leadership Initiative to Expand Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership", American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) - 2023
Whitney Maxwell, PharmD, MBA, BCPS - University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy
Kerry K. Fierke, EdD - University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy
The LD SIG Poster Award recognizes a recently presented Leadership Development-related poster demonstrating excellence.

2021-2022 AACP Leadership Development Special Interest Group Best Poster Award for the poster entitled, "Teaching Conflict Management: Customizing Content to Increase Value, Confidence, and Ability during a Pandemic", American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) - 2022
Kim Jones, PharmD, BCPS - Union University College of Pharmacy;
Kerry K. Fierke, EdD - University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy; and
Gardner A. Lepp, PhD - University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy
The LD SIG Poster Award recognizes a recently presented Leadership Development-related poster demonstrating excellence

2021 AACP Leadership Development Special Interest Group, "Innovation in Leadership Award", American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) - 2021
The award recognizes, “Creating the LD SIG Virtual Symposium,” that was done by Dr. Fierke University of Minnesota and Dr. Greg Zumach of Oregon State University. According to the nominations committee, this inaugural innovation award “recognizes the important and enduring contribution the Virtual Symposium has provided to the LD SIG, as well as the value of creating in response to challenges.”
This Innovation Award recognizes high quality, important, and enduring leadership development contributions to the academy.

• American Associations of Academy Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) 2011-present
  • Leadership Development Special Interest Group Secretary 2014-2016
  • Leadership Development Special Interest Group Chair 2017-2020
• Career and Professional Development Section Scholarship Committee 2019-2020
• Administrative Cabinet Board Special Interest Group Chair 2020-2023

Dr. Fierke's desire and passion for developing leaders is displayed through the scholarship and innovation of valuable leadership concepts, and the dissemination of findings in publications and presentations at regional, national, and international venues.This is displayed through her publications of peer-reviewed articles as well has her presentations at over 30 national and international venues on her work. Areas of emphasis for scholarly activity have been three-fold:

1. Innovation in scholarship of leadership, including scholarship of teaching and learning, leadership methods, and practice.
2. Interprofessional education and learning practices in relation to leadership concepts and practices.
3. Leadership practices in regional, national and international pharmacy practice.

Academic Interests and Focus

Dr. Fierke is a co-course director of the Leadership Emphasis Area (LEA) a 16-credit declaration of leadership for students. Students are exposed to leadership concepts within the first few weeks of the College of Pharmacy's program. Throughout the courses, various assessments are used to connect student outcomes to leadership content. These assessments are incorporated in core classes for all PharmD students at the university. Examples of assessments include: Student Leadership Practices Inventory, StrengthsFinder, and Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Students Inventory (EILI). Dr. Fierke has taught leadership content in over 30 courses at the College of Pharmacy, Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. She has also personally advised 50+ students with successful leadership experiences.

Courses

Leadership Emphasis Area (LEA) courses:

• PHAR 6937: Foundations of Leadership
• PHAR 6938: Developing Adaptive Leadership
• PHAR 6939: Leading Change Experience I
• PHAR 6940: Leading Change Experience II
• PHAR 6942: Leadership Capstone

Additional courses taught throughout the core and elective curriculum:

• PHAR 7211: Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience, Leadership Focus
• PHAR 3207/5207: (Applied) Leadership in Healthcare
• PHAR 6294: International Pharmacy Practice and Leadership
• PHAR 6294 (002): Summer – International, Australia
• PHAR 6494 (002): Summer – International, Ethiopia
• PHAR 6294 (002): Summer – International, Rwanda
• PHAR 6294 (002): Summer – International, Spain
• PHAR 6238: Leading Change in Pharmacy II
• PHAR 6237: Leading Change in Pharmacy I
• PHAR 6227: Leading Adaptive Change
• PHAR 6228: Leadership Portfolio
• PHAR 7001: Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Foundations (IPPEF)
• PHAR 7003: Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Foundations (IPPEF)
• PHAR 6111: Pharmaceutical Care I
• PHAR 6112: Pharmaceutical Care II
• PHAR 6700: Becoming a Pharmacist
• PHAR 6706: Foundations of Pharmaceutical Care
• PHAR 7310: Early Pharmacy Practice Experience
• PHAR 6715: Professional Development and Assessment Sequence I
• PHAR 6716: Applied Pharmaceutical Care
• PHAR 6730: Professional Development and Assessment Sequence II
• PHAR 7320: Early Pharmacy Practice Experience
• PHAR 6745: Professional Development and Assessment Sequence III
• PHAR 6200: Drugs in US Healthcare
• PHAR 6294: IPE and Leadership
• PHAR 7211: Marketing APPE

PubMed

For a list of complete publications, see z.umn.edu/FierkeGoogleScholar

Fierke, K. K., Lepp, G. A., & Jones, K. (2023). Teaching conflict management: An approach to increasing student’s value, confidence, and ability. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2023.03.005

Lepp, G. A., Fierke, K. K., Friedrich, C. L., & Sick, B. (2023). How Intention/Reflection fosters student learning in an interprofessional experiential Escape Room activity. Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice, 30(March). doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2022.100589

Bloomquist, C., Bergland, D., Speranza, C., & Fierke, K. K. (2022). A letter writing assignment for leadership development: Creating stakeholder connection for policy advocacy. Journal of Leadership Education, 21(3). DOI: 10.12806/V21/I3/R1

Oswald, M., Maxwell, W. D., Fierke, K. K., Griffith, N., Davis, S., Catchings, E., Bookstaver, P. (2022). Affective domain predictors of PharmD student pursuit of and successful matching for postgraduate pharmacy residency training. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 17(19). https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/zxac178

Zumach, G. M., Maxwell, W. D., & Fierke, K. K. (2022). Virtual social networking hours: A vital personal and professional avenue for connecting pharmacy leadership educators. INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v13i4.4831

Maxwell, W. D., Fierke, K. K., & Zumach, G. M. (2022). A virtual “Think Tank” to establish collaborative leadership initiative plans (“CLIPs”). INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy, 13(2). doi: 10.24926/iip.v13i2.4300

Fierke, K. K., Maxwell, W. D., & Welch, L. H. (2021). Effective communication practices and barriers affecting member engagement among association special interest groups. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 25(213450). http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/213450.pdf

Fierke, K. K., Maxwell, W. D., & Zumach, G. M. (2021). Virtual symposium designed as an innovative approach to disseminate leadership development content. INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v12i3.3433

Fierke, K. K., & Lepp, G. A. (2020). Intention/Reflection (I/R) practice to engage student leaders. Journal of Leadership Education, 19(2), 49-63. doi: 10.12806/V19/I2/R4

Zumach, G., Fierke, K. K., & Maxwell, W. (2020). Utilizing a virtual symposium to engage membership. International Pharmaceutical Federation Academic Pharmacy, The Mortar Board. (May/June). https://mailchi.mp/ec74e2ee1ce1/fip-acps-newsletter-february-4681601?e=6f0dab9d87#AACP%20Virtual%20Symposium