Adding Leadership Development to Academic Curriculum Design in Higher Ed
Release Date: 06/03/2025
Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies to review how the predictions made at the end of 2024 played out during the 2025 operating year and what those outcomes mean for institutional planning in 2026. Rather than offering speculative forecasts, this episode uses 2025 as a calibration year. When predictions materialize, they remove ambiguity. They clarify which pressures are structural, which risks persist,...
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Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), about the findings of the and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal research, the 2025 survey challenges many of the dominant public narratives about the value of college. Employers continue to express strong confidence in higher education, place equal importance on workforce preparation...
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Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the , speaks with , Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas at , about how university presidents and boards must rethink how communication functions inside their institutions under today’s crisis-driven conditions. Drawing on more than two decades of enterprise and higher education communications leadership, Maffei explains why internal communication now determines external...
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How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the , speaks with , CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of , about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and through authentic human stories. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and senior leaders navigating public skepticism, political pressure, and communication environments where external voices often define higher education’s story. Some of the Topics Covered The forces driving negative public narratives about higher education...
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Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Erika Liodice, Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT), about how institutions can strengthen their innovation capacity through futures thinking, cross-sector insight, and structured team-based planning. Topics Covered: How futures thinking helps leaders anticipate demographic, workforce, and technology shifts Why innovation efforts fail...
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Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success
Changing Higher Ed
are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the features , President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), in a strategic conversation with about how institutions can strengthen accreditation readiness and support stronger student success. This episode is essential for presidents, provosts, trustees, and senior leaders responsible for accreditation, mission alignment, evidence systems, governance oversight, and long-term institutional resilience. Topics Covered How...
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The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed
Changing Higher Ed
Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don’t manage it strategically. In this episode of , speaks with , Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and author of The Missing Course, about how teaching quality has fallen outside institutional oversight and what presidents and boards can do to make it a core part of strategic leadership. They explore how governance structures, incentive systems, and faculty preparation create a...
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Free Speech on College Campuses: Insights from FIRE's 2025 Report
Changing Higher Ed
Free speech on college campuses has become one of higher education’s most volatile and defining challenges. In this episode, talks with , Chief Research Advisor at FIRE—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression—about findings from FIRE’s newly released and the state of academic freedom, the growing political pressures on universities, and how presidents and boards can protect open dialogue in today’s divided climate. Topics Covered: Why FIRE expanded its mission beyond higher education and no longer stands for “Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.” How...
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Aligning Higher Education Strategy and Programs with Workforce Needs and Student Value
Changing Higher Ed
Host welcomes , president of the University of North Texas and former Texas commissioner of higher education. This episode of the helps higher education presidents, boards, and senior leaders rethink how to connect institutional mission with workforce readiness. It explores how institutions can better align employer partnerships, faculty innovation, and experiential learning to ensure graduates gain both economic and civic value from their degrees. Listeners will hear how the University of North Texas is translating statewide strategy into campus-level change—showing what’s possible when...
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Holistic Enrollment Strategy and Management: Filling the Enrollment Pipeline
Changing Higher Ed
At one of the smallest graduate schools in the nation, a system built to serve just over a hundred students is redefining how higher education can grow. CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism has proven that scale isn’t the key to enrollment stability—structure is. By integrating admissions, student affairs, career services, and alumni engagement into one cohesive unit, the school has created a holistic enrollment strategy and management model that continuously fills its pipeline while centering student success. In this episode of the Changing Higher...
info_outlineWhile higher education leaders often cite leadership development as a priority, few institutions treat it as a teachable, measurable skill. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed®, host Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Scott Cowen about why leadership education should be integrated into the academic curriculum—and how institutions can implement it effectively.
President Emeritus of Tulane University, Cowen shares insights from leading the university through Hurricane Katrina and from his new book, Lead and Succeed, which outlines strategies to develop leadership skills in students and early-career professionals. He dispels the “born leader” myth and offers a framework for embedding leadership development at every level of the institution.
This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and academic leaders seeking to build leadership capacity across campus.
Topics Covered:
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Why higher education often fails to treat leadership as a strategic priority
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How to embed leadership development into the academic curriculum
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Emotional intelligence and the behavioral traits of effective leaders
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Leadership lessons from Tulane’s post-Katrina recovery
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Creating institutional systems that reinforce leadership behaviors
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The role of succession planning in long-term institutional health
Real-World Examples Discussed:
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Tulane University’s relocation to Houston and Cowen’s daily crisis communication strategy
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The development of a for-credit leadership course and workbook, Lead and Succeed
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Mentorship from Dr. Norman Francis, president of Xavier University for 50 years
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Cowen’s “thinking out loud” email updates during crises at Tulane and Case Western
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Scaling structured leadership practices across institutions
Three Key Takeaways for Leadership:
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Formalize leadership education. Establish structured academic courses with measurable outcomes. Integrate mentoring and reflection into the curriculum to build leadership competencies.
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Develop repeatable crisis leadership practices. Use structured daily meetings and transparent communications to align institutional response during disruption.
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Implement strategic succession planning. Treat leadership transitions as long-term planning initiatives. Build internal pipelines and normalize leadership exits to support institutional continuity.
This episode offers a practical framework for establishing a leadership-ready culture in higher education academic curricula.
Recommended For: Presidents, provosts, deans, academic affairs leaders, trustees, and student success strategists.
Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/leadership-development-academic-curriculum-design-in-higher-ed/
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