Intensive Leadership Development Programs
Program summary
This leadership program is designed for senior administrators who are ready to lead boldly in the face of unprecedented disruption and complexity in higher education. Through three integrated modules, participants deepen their capacity to lead system-wide transformation, foster institutional innovation, and cultivate the leadership mindsets essential for the university of the future. Grounded in systems thinking, strategic foresight, organizational change, and adaptive leadership, the program equips leaders to respond to volatility with clarity, to steward innovation across silos, and to lead with purpose in uncertain times. Through applied learning, peer exchange, and personal reflection, senior administrators will emerge with enhanced leadership agility, institutional insight, and a compelling vision for transformative impact.
What Participants Will Gain:
- A systems view of their institution and the complex dynamics shaping change
- Tools for identifying innovation opportunities and testing new models of learning, research, and governance
- Skills in strategic foresight and futures thinking to navigate uncertainty with confidence
- A strengthened leadership vision and presence aligned with future-ready mindsets
- A peer community of senior leaders committed to transformation within and across institutions
8 months
focused on innovation
3 modules
2 locations
Washington, D.C., and Tempe, AZ
Design sessions
Online
seminars and interviews with innovative speakers
Leadership coaching
What is the format of the program?
The program is offered in an executive-style education schedule, combining three intensive meetings in Washington, D.C., and Phoenix with online seminars, executive and peer coaching sessions throughout the program.
Who are the fellows in the program? What are their titles and institution types?
Most of the fellows who have successfully completed the program have worked in higher education for 7-10 years and are in a supervisory position, either on the academic or administrative side of the institution. Most are deans, associate or assistant provosts, vice presidents and senior vice presidents, and senior directors.
Academy fellows come from all institution types, but mirror American higher education: About 60-80 percent in each cohort come from public colleges and universities, and 30-40 percent from private nonprofit colleges.
What will fellows bring back to their home campuses?
During the program, fellows will learn from faculty who are leading experts and practitioners from inside and outside of higher education. From those sessions, fellows will take away tangible ideas that can be applied when they return to their campuses and disseminated to others.
The chance to step back from daily crises to think about the landscape of higher education, to hear from presidents and other leaders engaged with those challenges, and to learn with and from a cohort of colleagues small enough to understand each member's unique situation and challenges, but large enough to reflect the range of American higher education, should not be missed.
Mark Hoveyassociate provost, Wesleyan University
Module 1 – October 27-28, 2025
Washington, D.C.
Module 2 – January 12-13, 2026
Tempe, Arizona
Virtual Sessions
Module 4 – June 1-2, 2026
Washington, D.C.
Who are the faculty teaching in the academy?
At the foundation of the academy is the expertise of two leading institutions – ASU’s innovative model for the next-generation research university and Georgetown’s mission to develop and sustain transformational leadership.
The academy sessions are a mix of case studies, simulations and fireside chats with leading thinkers, practitioners and presidents, including:
Current Faculty
Jeffrey J. Selingo
Founding Executive Director, The Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership and Special Advisor to President Michael M. Crow
Minu Ipe
Vice Chair & Managing Director, University Design Institute
Arizona State University
Lisa Foss
Sr. Director for U.S. Practice, University Design Institute, Arizona State University
Darcie Milazzo
Program Design Consultant and Academy Leadership Coach
Kim D’Abreu
Academy Module Facilitator and Academy Leadership Coach
Randy Bass
Vice President for Strategic Education Initiatives
Professor of English, Georgetown University
Academy Faculty
Steve Galloway
Academy Module Facilitator and Academy Leadership Coach
Kai Stowers
Academy Module Facilitator and Academy Leadership Coach
Past Faculty and Guest Speakers
José Antonio Bowen
Past President
Goucher College
Jennifer Brown
Past Provost
California State Polytechnic University in Pomona
Bryan Brayboy
Dean, School of Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University
Aminta H. Breaux
President
Bowie State University
Sylvia M. Burwell
Past President
American University
Lisa Camp
Past Chief of Staff & Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Provost
Case Western Reserve University
Lori Carrell
Chancellor
University of Minnesota Rochester
Dolly Chugh
Jacob B. Melnick Term Professor
New York University
Shirley Collado
Past President
Ithaca College
Scott Cowen
President Emeritus
Tulane University
Jennifer Cowley
President
The University of Texas at Arlington
Michael M. Crow
President
Arizona State University
John J. DeGioia
President Emeritus
Georgetown University
Kate Ebner
Past Cohort Co-Director
CEO, Founder & Leadership Coach, The Nebo Company
Hesham El-Rewini
Past Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs
Marymount University
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ben Freakley
McCain Institute for International Leadership
Arizona State University
Mildred Garcia
Chancellor
The California State University
Lev Gonick
Chief Information Officer
Arizona State University
Nancy Gonzales
Executive Vice President and University Provost
Arizona State University
Gloria Gonzalez
Past Academy Leadership Coach
Nathan Grawe
Professor of Economics
Carleton College
Daniel Greenstein
Chancellor, Emeritus
Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
Brian O. Hemphill
President
Old Dominion University
Chris Howard
Executive Vice President & COO
Arizona State University
Freeman A. Hrabowski III
President Emeritus
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Nicole Hurd
President
Lafayette College
Charles Isbell Jr.
Chancellor
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Sukhwant Jhaj
Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Student Achievement
Arizona State University
Walter Kimbrough
Past President
Dillard University
Patricia McGuire
President
Trinity Washington University
Juan Muñoz
Chancellor
University of California Merced
Daryl Nardick
Past Academy Leadership Coach
Diana Natalicio
Past President
University of Texas El Paso
Ben Nelson
Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Minerva Project
Santa Ono
Former President
University of Michigan
Christine Ortiz
Former dean of the graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of Station 1
Lynn Perry Wooten
President
Simmons University
Noah Pickus
Past Cohort Co-Director
Associate Provost, Duke University
Carol Quillen
President Emerita
Davidson College
Susana Rivera-Mills
President
Aurora University
Garry Sanders
Past Academy Leadership Coach
Mark S. Smith, MD
Director
MedStar Institute for Innovation
Michael Sorrell
President
Paul Quinn College
Neil Stroul
Past Academy Leadership Coach
Beverly Daniel Tatum
President Emerita
Spelman College
Jason Wingard
Past President
Temple University
The academy energized me to look at higher education differently in a time of great change and encouraged me to build new leadership tools to assist my institution.
Paul Atchleyassociate dean, University of Kansas
Curriculum
Module 1: Leading in Complexity: Seeing the System and Sensing the Future.
In an era of rapid change and deep uncertainty, higher education leaders must develop the capacity to lead across complexity while preparing their institutions for multiple possible futures. This module equips fellows to see their institutions as dynamic systems, shaped by legacy structures, cultural norms and emerging forces. Fellows learn to engage with the broader disruptions transforming higher education. Using tools from systems thinking and futures thinking, fellows will map their institutional landscapes, surface key assumptions, and explore critical uncertainties shaping the road ahead. Through this process, they begin to identify leverage points for transformation and develop the mindset needed to lead adaptively in complex, evolving environments.
Module 2: Creating the Conditions for Innovation: Designing for What's Next.
Innovation is not only about solving today’s problems, it’s about designing for an uncertain and evolving future. This module focuses on how senior leaders can build institutional capacity for innovation that is inclusive, sustainable, and forward-looking. Drawing on design thinking and strategic foresight, fellows will explore what it takes to lead innovation in a sector that is historically resistant to change but increasingly shaped by disruption. Fellows will test ideas and assumptions through campus-based fieldwork, peer feedback, and rapid prototyping, all while exploring emerging models of learning, research, and institutional design. By connecting innovation to long-term possibilities, this module helps leaders position their institutions to adapt, evolve, and thrive in future scenarios.
Module 3: Becoming a Transformational Leader: Visioning and Leading Toward the Future
As higher education faces an uncertain future, it needs leaders who can both navigate disruption and imagine bold new possibilities. This culminating module invites fellows to step fully into their role as transformational leaders by crafting and articulating compelling visions for the future of their institutions. Through guided reflection, story telling and strategic foresight fellows will examine their leadership identities and clarify the values that will guide them in shaping what comes next. They will explore how to foster futures-oriented thinking within their teams and institutions, cultivate leadership in others, and lead with resilience, imagination, and integrity in the face of ongoing change.