Harvard Seminar for New Presidents July 9, 2021 – June 10, 2022 | Blended Program: Online and On-Campus (Cambridge, MA) Tuition: $8,275 per person | www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/np Gain the support of expert faculty and a community of extraordinary peers throughout your first year in your new role as a college/university president. College and university presidents and chancellors are expected to be productive, articulate, and responsive leaders from the moment they assume office. With an array of external and institutional challenges to address, new presidents do not have the luxury of learning on the job. The Harvard Seminar for New Presidents provides a practical orientation to the presidency, familiarizing new presidents with the opportunities and hazards they will likely face and preparing them to respond to the multiple responsibilities that await in their new roles.
PROGRAM DETAILS This seminar focuses on critical issues in the first months and years of the presidency, with intensive sessions that address a range of topics critical to the current context of higher education, including board governance, fundraising, academic leadership, strategic planning, the digital president, and the public role of the presidency. This year, the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents will be offered in a new blended format that includes virtual faculty-led sessions, small group conversations with the Educational Chair, discussion groups with your cohort, and a one-day on-campus program in June 2022. This format provides access to a yearlong community of support, with ample time to reflect and consult with experts and an extraordinary peer group of colleagues from across the country about your particular concerns and circumstances as they arise.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES • Explore the president’s multiple roles: chief executive officer, senior personnel officer, and academic leader • Understand the relationship between the president and board of trustees and your power to improve institutional governance • Examine the components of the fundraising process and your role in assuring success • Explore the importance of the culture and traditions of an institution • Consider the opportunity and challenges of social media in the president’s communications • Study the role of the president in strategic planning, and learn how to develop institutional performance indicators and sustain progress
WHO SHOULD ATTEND • First-time college and university presidents and chancellors ranging from those who have been appointed but not yet assumed office to those within the first 12 months of their presidencies • Presidents from all sectors of higher education — colleges, universities, and community colleges
SCHEDULE FOR LIVE SESSIONS
FACULTY CHAIR Judith Block McLaughlin’s work focuses on leadership and governance in higher education. As educational chair of the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents and the Harvard Seminar for Experienced Presidents, she has had the pleasure of working with over 1,000 college and university presidents since the program’s inception in 1990. She has written and consulted extensively on leadership transitions, presidential assessment, board-president relationships, senior staff functioning, and board governance. In 2007, she was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve as chair of the Massachusetts Public Education Nominating Council, the body that nominates trustees for the state’s colleges and universities. Prior to Harvard, she was dean of student affairs at two colleges, executive director of the National Academy of Education, and a high school social studies teacher.
• July 9 & 10, 2021: 11:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET • September 22, 2021: 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET • November 17, 2021: 11:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET • February 16, 2022: 11:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET • June 9 – 10, 2022 on-campus in Cambridge, MA
For additional information, contact our admissions team at ppe@gse.harvard.edu.