The Executive Leadership Academy (ELA) is a yearlong program cosponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI) to prepare experienced provosts and vice presidents to become successful presidents or move to positions of greater responsibility. By completing the program, participants will have acquired considerable knowledge, skills, and experiences that are germane to the portfolio of responsibilities and activities central to the work of a president or other senior-level leader. Participants remain in their current positions during the program.
The Need for Highly Qualified Presidential Candidates
Several issues affect future leadership needs of the academy: the aging of the current generation of presidents; the reports of search consultants that candidate pools in presidential searches are becoming smaller; the increasing complexity of the president’s role; and the reluctance of some boards of trustees to select candidates without prior experience in the full complement of responsibilities of the presidency. Those responsibilities have changed significantly in recent years. The president’s role as well as that of other senior administrators now requires an understanding of all aspects of the institution—from enrollment to endowment management and from governmental to alumni relations—not to mention athletics, fundraising, marketing, student affairs, strategic planning, and financial management. The president’s necessary expertise also has expanded beyond the institutional borders. Candidates with prior knowledge of and experience in the range of responsibilities of the presidency are seen by boards of trustees and search committees as better qualified and better able to assume leadership quickly and to have a positive impact on the institution.
The Executive Leadership Academy not only reinforced the fact that I am called to be a president but provided me with helpful content and contacts to move me forward in fulfilling that calling. I am still connected with leaders and colleagues from the program as I seek to serve most effectively as a president. I strongly recommend participation in this excellent leadership opportunity.”—Susan S. Hasseler, ELA 2015–2016, president, Muskingum University; formerly senior vice president for academic affairs at Augustana University (SD)