Smart Leadership in Difficult Times (2009)

TIAA-CREF
New York, New York
November 5-6, 2009

November 2009 |

In November 2009 the TIAA-CREF Institute convened a gathering of presidents, provosts and other senior leaders at the annual TIAA-CREF Institute Higher Education Leadership Conference to explore the challenges to higher education posed by the financial and economic crisis. Higher education leaders from across the country shared information to help identify opportunities for change and best practices for navigating through a period of spending cuts, reduced revenue, and capital budget constraints.

Keynote presentations exploring the causes and responses to the current challenges were delivered by Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. (President and CEO, TIAA-CREF) and David Gergen (Editor-At-Large, U.S. News & World Report; Senior Political Analyst, CNN). David Gergen began the conversation by providing a contextual framework, laying out the larger global economic forces that have created many of the challenges facing higher education today. Roger Ferguson outlined how TIAA-CREF is responding to these challenges and helping to shape the public policy debate in ways that serve the interests of TIAA-CREF clients.

Conference speakers agreed that there will be no return to the “status quo” in higher education once the economic crisis subsides. The “New Normal” facing higher education demands a willingness to depart from traditional thinking to identify solutions to these challenges. In fact, it was acknowledged that current conditions may present an opportunity for higher education leaders to consider new ideas that might be difficult if not impossible to implement under ordinary circumstances.

Conference sessions included:

What’s the New Normal?
Higher Education for the 21st Century

New Thinking:
What Works?

Strategies for Success:
Change in the Face of Opposition

Where is the Money?
Leading in a Changing Environment

Looking Ahead:
Leading Successfully into the Future

Conference speakers included:

• J. Michael Adams, President, Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Kent Chabotar, President, Guilford College
• Jared Cohon, President, Carnegie Mellon University
• Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
• Mary Cullinan, President Southern Oregon University
• Elson Floyd, President, Washington State University
• Bobby Fong, President, Butler University
• Gordon Gee, President, The Ohio State University
• Robert Holub, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Muriel Howard, President, AASCU
• Elizabeth Huidekoper, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Brown University
• William Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
• C. Alan Korthals, Director of Client Support, Kaspick & Co. LLC
• Devorah Lieberman, Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, Wagner College
• John Lippincott, President, Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education
• Gregory O’Brien, Former Chancellor, University of New Orleans; President Emeritus, Argosy University
• Eduardo Padrón, President, Miami Dade College
• Charles Reed, Chancellor, California State University
• Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, The George Washington University
• Jane Wellman, Executive Director, Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability
• Blenda Wilson, Former President, Nellie Mae Foundation; Former President, California State University, Northridge

Click here (PDF) to download the conference program and agenda.