Leading Through Change in Higher Education

The last five years have brought an enormity of transformation and change in higher education, and as leaders, we’ve had to adapt our styles to ensure success through the shifting landscape. Whether it’s pivoting to online learning, finding ways to engage students who have spent years receiving their education on a computer, or meeting the demands of ever-changing technology, we are all navigating significant change. Additionally, the ongoing debate about the value of higher education raises the stakes of the work colleges and universities are doing.

We found ourselves in this perfect storm in 2021 when we stepped into interim roles as chief academic officer and chief student affairs officer at a small community college. As leaders, we were fortunate that the college president provided us the freedom and opportunity to reimagine the student experience to address the changes our community was experiencing. If you’re familiar with community colleges, you know that employees tend to wear a lot of hats. Between the two of us, we had direct oversight of the following areas: academics, registrar, advising, accessibility services, the library, the bookstore, admissions, financial aid, student accounts, student life, athletics, housing, esports, student conduct, Title IX, and mental health. The magnitude of the task at hand, the number of areas of oversight, and the limited staff support made us quickly realize that without the two of us committing to collaborating, communicating, and staying true to our shared passion of student success, our students would be negatively impacted.

The Changing Landscape of Higher Education

When thinking about the changing landscape of higher education, you have probably had some of the following questions:

Is AI cheating, or do we teach students to use it effectively and ethically? Are our online classes dynamic and engaging enough? Are the programming opportunities through student life still relevant to today’s students? Do students even want to be on campus, and if not, how do we engage them? How do we illustrate the value of our degrees? How do we better align our curriculum to industry needs?

The list could continue indefinitely, and there are undoubtedly more questions than answers. However, when you’re able to quiet some of the noise, you can begin taking the necessary steps and recognize how every part of your institution is interconnected, with each area depending on the others for student and institutional success.

Leading Through Change

As we came into our senior leadership roles, we quickly identified the need for us to work together. We were in a unique situation where both of us were in interim roles and wanted to secure permanent positions; so both the success of the college and our professional careers depended on us working collaboratively. While we each had our own unique set of challenges, we collaborated to bridge the gap between departments, sometimes using different strategies to get to the shared end goal.

When Tracey moved from being a faculty member to the role of chief academic officer, she realized very few new degrees or certificates had been added in several years. This created an opportunity to re-examine offerings and strengthen program alignment with industry needs and student demand. When Jennifer took on the role as the chief student affairs officer, she quickly realized the need for departmental operational reviews as well as updated policy and procedures to streamline the process for students. When we quieted the noise (and dried our tears), we identified some easy wins that enabled us to build the momentum needed to engage the campus community as we looked to make bigger changes over the next year.

For example, we re-aligned curriculum so students could earn a one-year stackable certificate within the first year of a two-year degree. This was not a heavy lift and did not require major program revisions, but it did require pathway changes in terms of when and how classes were offered. Even when the changes seem easy, there may be hesitation or resistance, but it is important to remember that progress cannot stall; the focus must always be on students. Find the champions on your campus who are willing to collaborate to take on this challenge. In some cases, you may be the champion the college needs.

Another example of an easy win was the communication we sent out around the restructuring of job roles. With so many new faces at the college, there was a great opportunity to look at both departmental functions and roles. With these changes, we found the need to communicate with employees more, to ensure transparent and up to date information. We decided to put together a comprehensive list of roles by department to encompass who does what, so that employees were directing students and/or their own questions to the right people. Although it may seem small, it brought significant clarity and appreciation from employees and helped students reach the right person more quickly.

Here’s the reality: While many people say they want change, when it comes to implementing, those feelings can waiver. Not everyone was always as motivated as we were to make some of the changes that were necessary to grow enrollment and enhance student success. To overcome this hurdle, you just need to remind people about how great your institution can be with some slight modifications.

Given some of the resistance to change, we relied heavily on each other. I mean, to be honest, we are both pretty great, but more importantly, we shared a common goal and motivation of student success (and continued employment).

Final Thoughts

Alignment matters. Admissions can’t promote and sell programs to prospective students that don’t meet their expectations or industry needs. Likewise, the college cannot effectively retain or support students when staff are disconnected or disengaged from co-curricular activities. Effective collaboration, open communication, and a shared purpose enable all employees to better understand the priorities and challenges across the college as we all work towards the ultimate goal of happy and successful students.