ARL Leadership Fellows sponsor directors are expected to contribute to the program planning and to host a weeklong institute. The particular strengths of a sponsor director’s institution and/or library add value to the curriculum and programming and to the overall fellowship experience. Sponsor directors support at least one or up to two fellows to participate in the program. Sponsor directors are chosen in consideration of the following criteria:
- Directors who have not previously served as sponsor director for the Leadership Fellows program
- Geographic diversity of the sponsor institution
- Mix of public/private/governmental institutions
- Variance in size of the institutions
- Balance of institutional characteristics in terms of strengths and notable programs
2018–19 Sponsors
- The University of Iowa
- George Washington University
- University of Florida
2016–17 Sponsors
- University of Alberta
- Colorado State University
- Duke University
2013–15 Sponsors
- University of Guelph and University of Waterloo (co-sponsors)
- North Carolina State University
- Purdue University
- University of Toronto
- Vanderbilt University
2011–12 Sponsors
- The University of British Columbia
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Dartmouth College
- University of Illinois Chicago
- University of Miami
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Northwestern University
2009–10 Sponsors
- Brigham Young University
- University of Florida
- Georgia Tech
- University of Houston
- University of Michigan
- The University of Utah
- Western University
2007–08 Sponsors
- University of California, Berkeley, and the California Digital Library
- Harvard University
- University of Minnesota
- North Carolina State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Toronto
2004–06 Sponsors
- UCLA
- Columbia University
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- The University of Texas at Austin
- University of Washington
