Description

RECOMMENDATION:   a $50,000 Special Grant to the University of Michigan for the inaugural Academic Leadership Institute (ALI) residential program to cultivate diverse leadership in higher education.
A recent study conducted by the American Council on Education found that college and university presidents are still predominantly white and male. While 30% of women were in the top leadership roles in 2016, the percentage of presidents of color increased by only four percent since 2011 to 13%, rising to 17% in 2016. People of color continue to experience challenges in ascending to the most senior roles within higher education institutions. Administrative leaders of color face a number of internal , institutional and societal challenges in order to survive, thrive and advance. These challenges relate to each other and interact in ways that are centered in the questions that guide the curriculum of the Academic Leadership Institute. 
HLF aims to enrich public discourse in part by cultivating new leaders; ALI is in close alignment with this aspect of the Foundation’s mission. Participants will represent a range of academic disciplines and institution types and would thus cut-across multiple HLF Program areas. ALI is a collaboration between Dr. Earl Lewis, Founding Director of the Center of Social Solutions at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Dwight A. McBride, President of the New School; both institutions have long-standing relationships with HLF as grantees.
Foundation staff invited the ALI leadership team to submit a request for support for ALI’s inaugural year, 2021. An in-residence program, ALI will bring together faculty with experience in higher levels of college administration and a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts who aspire to be future college and university provosts and presidents. The Institute will create a space for participants to learn from other leaders how to prepare themselves for taking on the role of transforming higher education to make it more equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Selected participants – 22 in the inaugural program to be held at Swarthmore College in August 2021 – will take part in conversations with 30 current and former presidents, chancellors, and other higher educational institution leaders during the week. They will gain deeper insight into a broad range of subjects including institutional visioning; management of student life, academic affairs, and business and finance; crisis management; development; ecosystem mapping; creating an inclusive culture; building a team; and planning for entering the presidential search process. Participants will explore how personal identity interplays with the institutional culture in managing transformational change. Moreover, ALI will create a cohort of leaders who can provide support to one another as they pursue higher administrative positions, facilitate mentorship opportunities with institute session leaders, and forge connections with search firms. Following the residential experience, ALI plans to create opportunities for the participants to connect remotely.
HLF funds would support travel and meeting expenses, and marketing and advertising. The University of Michigan and The New School would provide in-kind administrative support.