MAC Academic Leadership Development Program Names CEE’s Sergio Breña a MAC ALDP Fellow

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Professor Sergio Breña, the head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at UMass Amherst, is one of four campus faculty members selected by the Office of Faculty Development as 2026-27 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Academic Leadership Development Program (MAC ALDP) Fellows. As an ALDP Fellow, Breña plans to carry out an ambitious project to initiate discussions for the creation of a cross-disciplinary track in construction engineering within the CEE department and cultivate a network that connects engineering students with construction firms.

According to the ALDP national website, “The mission of the MAC ALDP is to identify, develop, prepare, and advance faculty as academic leaders at Mid-American Conference universities.” In July of 2025, UMass Amherst joined with other colleges and universities in the MAC conference to participate in the ALDP. 

Among other ALDP activities during the course of the academic year, Breña and the various ALDP Fellows from UMass Amherst will take part in a series of MAC-wide workshops, engage in a university-level leadership-development program, complete individual “electronic portfolios,” and carry out individual leadership projects while sharing peer mentorship to support those projects.

Each electronic portfolio includes a statement of leadership or career goals, curriculum vitae, a statement of leadership philosophy, program reflections, and a project report. Meanwhile, the individual ALDP projects might include (but are not limited to) designing and/or delivering institution-level leadership research, development, or networking programs. 

As Breña summarizes the particular leadership project that he will undertake as an ALDP Fellow, “I would like to formulate a pathway towards a cross-disciplinary track in our civil-engineering curriculum that focuses on topics that increase employment opportunities for our CEE students in construction engineering.”

The underlying need for this project, as Breña says, is that the CEE department is currently organized around four primary fields: water-resources engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering and mechanics, and transportation engineering. Meanwhile, the curriculum does not concentrate on construction engineering. 

“Many of our students end up being interested in careers in the construction field and are sometimes at a disadvantage with students that graduate from programs that maintain an active curriculum in construction engineering,” explains Breña. 

With advice from the CEE external advisory board and the Riccio College of Engineering (RCoE) Development Office, Breña plans to engage faculty in the CEE department to set the groundwork for this construction-engineering track in the RCoE while also connecting directly with construction firms that have expressed affinity towards the CEE department and college to identify their needs and to develop partnerships in this program. The resulting network will also focus on contacting CEE alumni within these firms.

According to Breña, “I envision the potential for sponsorships in various activities that will be required for a successful program. By partnering with construction firms, I seek to strengthen existing connections and to develop new relationships that will provide internship opportunities [and full-time jobs] for our students. These opportunities could include coordination of site visits, sponsorships for program activities, and more.”

As the ALDP website explains, after the fellows complete their program, they will be able to articulate the complexity of the structure and operations within an institution and across institutions, describe the impact of external influences on the role of leaders in a higher-education institution, identify best practices in academic leadership, assess one’s own leadership potential, identify leadership pathways, and communicate the importance of inclusive excellence. (October 2026)