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Leadership in Higher Education

Prepare Tomorrow’s Workforce by Strengthening Leadership at Universities Today

Transformational leadership development for college students, administrators, faculty, and staff is just the beginning.

Leaders at higher education institutions today face unprecedented challenges. In addition to concerns about enrollment, issues of shared governance; recruiting, supporting, and evaluating faculty; managing accreditation; evolving instructional techniques; and implementing digital learning are just some of the pressures college and university leaders face.

And having workforce-ready graduates means more than just preparing students with technical skills. They need self-awareness and people skills to collaborate together effectively to solve the world’s complex issues.

Stronger leadership in higher education can equip people at all levels of the collegiate experience — from students to faculty to senior-level administrators — to meet these complex challenges.

Improve the leadership capabilities at your institution and the outcomes of your learners post-graduation by infusing your organizational culture with leadership development. Our work to strengthen leadership in higher education, like our K-12 and youth leadership initiatives, is also funded by partnerships with foundations for philanthropic leadership.

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How We Can Help

Leadership Development for College Students, Faculty, Staff & Administrators

When it comes to strengthening leadership in higher education, we can help. We offer leadership development for college students, university employees, faculty, and administrators that’s designed for the unique environment and specific challenges of higher education. Our programs are based on proven models grounded in research, formative evaluation, and impactful learning experiences.

Whether you’re creating your first program or revamping a decades-old initiative, we’re committed to partnering with you to strengthen strategic processes and enhance the leadership capabilities of your college or university.

leadership development for college students

Leadership in Higher Education: Partnering for Success

We have decades of experience with leadership in higher education, including building the leadership capacity of deans, faculty, and other senior academic leaders; developing emerging and mid-level leader programs for large private and public university staff; delivering multi-campus and system-wide leadership interventions for community colleges; and partnering with institutions on comprehensive undergraduate and graduate-level leadership development initiatives.

Partner with our experts on leadership in the higher education setting to prioritize and solve your short- and long-term issues and create a custom leadership plan and strategy for your institution.

Proven Solutions for Enhancing Leadership in Higher Education

Most Customized

Custom Initiatives to Strengthen Leadership in Higher Education

We can partner with you to understand your culture and make investments in your university community to give you the greatest possible return.

With a combination of analytics, talent diagnostic tools, 360 feedback assessments and other instruments, we can do a deep dive into your people, your organizational priorities, and your employee engagement levels to help inform your investments in your workforce and your students to make sure you’re getting the return you need.

  • Exceptionally thorough and focused on your institution’s needs
  • Measures the impact of your leadership development efforts
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Most scalable

Build Coaching Skills & Strengthen Conversations

Starting from the transformative premise that better culture starts with better conversations, our suite of coaching skills solutions can help you strengthen the fabric of your entire higher education organization and collegiate community.

Build and scale coaching skills for more candid and productive conversations, more effective solutions to your challenges, and a stronger, more psychologically safe culture of feedback.

  • Human-centered, research-based development experience
  • Transformational, lasting impact
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Most Turnkey

Leadership Programs

No matter the role, the same core leadership skills are important for every leader at every level – and our time-tested, research-based leadership programs specifically hone these skills.

Targeted to equip leaders to meet common challenges faced at every tier of the organization, these programs help leaders meet the challenges they face at that level.

Use our programs to build scalable leadership development for college students or to develop large cohorts of administrators, staff, or faculty at your institution at once.

  • Available live online, in-person, or through licensing in some cases
  • Flexible, with many available dates and options; and some scholarships available
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What Our Clients Are Saying

At CCL, we measure success by lives touched and impact made. That’s why the organizations we work with and the leaders we empower consistently tell us the same thing: their experience with us isn’t just a game-changer, it’s a life-changer. We have helped transform leadership in higher education at many institutions, developing committed, successful leaders who in turn transform their organizations and communities.

But don’t just take our word for it – take theirs.

University of Notre Dame
Cal Maritime
Tarrant County College logo
Northwestern University logo

“If you don’t fix the conversations, then it doesn’t matter what the process looks like… We have good evidence that when most employees have gone through the program and you have someone focused on the use of the techniques, it does make a difference.”

Tamara Freeman
Director of HR Strategy and Effectiveness
The University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

Giving Better Feedback & Improving Conversations to Scale Cultural Change

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“I have seen a profound impact on my campus and with my team, more clarity in vision, goals, and intentional purpose.”

Program Participant  
Tarrant County College  

Tarrant County College - CCL

Higher Education Institution
Builds Cohesive Leadership Culture with a Custom Leadership Development Program

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“In just over a year of work together, CCL has given us a theoretical framework for dramatically rethinking our organization and how we get the work done, as well as the tools and strategies for translating that framework into action. They do not have a ‘canned’ approach. They know us and our challenges, tailor their programming, and shift as we need them to with speed and consistently high quality of delivery. The gold standard for executive education and professional development.”

Paul LeBlanc
President
Southern New Hampshire University

Impact of Our Partnerships to Strengthen Leadership in Higher Education

What participants said about partnering with us for leadership development for college students, faculty, and administrators:

0 %
were able to make meaningful connections
0 %
would recommend the course to others
0 %
have been able to apply program lessons to daily life

Meet Our Leadership in Higher Education Experts

Todd Deal, Ph.D.

Todd Deal
Portfolio Director & Senior Faculty

Before joining CCL, Todd’s 28-year career in higher education included rising through the faculty ranks to tenured full professor, during which time he also served as Associate Dean for Academic & Student Affairs and Executive Director for the Office of Leadership & Community Engagement in the Division of Student Affairs at Georgia Southern University. At CCL, Todd’s focus is on partnering with institutions for leadership education and leader development in higher education.

Preston Yarborough, Ph.D.

Preston Yarborough
Senior Faculty

Following a decade of work in sales and sales management, and his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Preston joined CCL in 2011. Though he has developed expertise with collegiate populations, Preston’s work has spanned a diverse clientele, including educators, scientists, engineers, and healthcare professionals. He has developed a broad spectrum of leaders, ranging from early professionals to middle managers, to executives.

Patrice Jackson

Patrice Buckner Jackson, Ed.D.
On-Call Faculty

Beginning her career as a frontline leader in residence life and progressing to a vice president, Patrice has both breadth and depth of experience across the landscape of higher education. She has held strategic roles in Enrollment Management and in Student Affairs, has served as adviser to a number of senior-level university leaders, and has significant experience in building thriving student life units at a number of universities. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Augusta University, a research university in the state of Georgia that serves as the state’s healthcare university. Patrice brings her 20 years of experience in higher education and leadership development to her work with CCL.

Dennis John

Dennis John, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty

Dennis comes to CCL with 20 years of experience in the higher education and nonprofit sectors, holding a variety of strategic leadership roles in that time. Beginning his professional career as a registrar for a small law school in Southern California, Dennis went on to hold senior leadership positions in accreditation and licensing, institutional effectiveness, admissions, and research. In his most recent role as Director of Research for Math for America in New York, Dennis designed and implemented a large-scale research agenda measuring programmatic impacts on educators across all 5 New York City boroughs. Dennis has also developed and taught graduate courses in systems thinking and qualitative research methodology.

Let's Talk About Leadership Development at Your Higher Education Institution

Our experts on leadership in higher education are here to help. Get in touch with us about the need for leadership development for college students, faculty, or staff at your college or university.

Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® will use this information to ensure the best response to your inquiry. By submitting this form, you acknowledge that CCL may contact you.

At CCL, we care about your privacy. The information you share with us will only be used to better service you and in accordance with your consent. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Leadership in Higher Education: Research & Resources

Related to Higher Education Leadership

K-12 Education

Foundations & Philanthropic Leadership

Nonprofits

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