What Sets Successful Higher Ed Change Leaders Apart? Dissertation Findings Featuring Competencies and Strategies Utilized

• In Event: 34.096 - MTCC Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: 34.096-12 - Leadership and Depth of Implementation in Relation to Educational Change

Abstract

The landscape of higher education continues to shift in response to external drivers of change such as fiscal challenges, technology, and globalization. This mixed methods study attempted to identify the competencies and strategies utilized by both academic and non-academic change leaders in public, four-year, U. S. higher education institutions. Support for nine proposed, differentiating competencies was received from survey respondents of both affiliations (N=47), with five determined to be statistically higher in perceived importance: personal learning, resilience, emotional engagement/creating a safe space, networking/coalition building and project management. Interview respondents (N=25) elaborated upon the strategies utilized to bring these competencies to life. The most frequent themes indicated that higher education change is largely a political and personal process.

Authors

• Dawn Aziz, Wayne State University

• Monica W. Tracey, Wayne State University

• Alisa Hutchinson, Wayne State University

• Sara Elizabeth Kacin, Wayne State University