One of the great gifts of participating in the Aspen Presidents Fellowship has been the opportunity to learn alongside a remarkable group of visionary leaders from institutions that differ in geography, size, history, resources, and the students and communities they serve. Last month, I had an opportunity to be in community with people who are equally passionate about the possibilities of higher education and who are willing to challenge themselves, one another, and the institutions they lead to realize those possibilities and it was a special gift.
Our experiences and perspectives were varied, but we share a commitment to a future in which higher education is not a privilege reserved for some, but a pathway to opportunity, economic mobility, and fuller participation in society for all. What made this experience especially powerful was the combination of community, intellectual rigor, and shared purpose.
As a cohort, we are going through an experience where we are challenged and advised by an extraordinary group of researchers, data analysts, advisers, and some of the most thoughtful scholars and practitioners in higher education. They push us to interrogate our assumptions, examine evidence, question longstanding practices, and imagine what our institutions could become if we organized ourselves more intentionally around student success.
The conversations are invigorating, sometimes uncomfortable, and always thought-provoking. We ask consequential questions. Are we measuring what truly matters? Are we preparing students not simply to earn credentials, but to build meaningful careers, exercise agency, and create better futures for themselves and their families? Are our institutions designed around the realities of the students we serve, or are we expecting students to adapt to systems built for another era?
Perhaps most importantly, we are asking ourselves whether we are sufficiently bold in reimagining what higher education can make possible? The real measure of our work is what education makes possible in people’s lives.
Higher education should help create legacies of advancement across generations. It should expand the possibilities available not only to individual students, but also to their children, families, and communities. It’s the promise that brings so many of us to this work.
Leadership at the helm can sometimes be lonely. There are decisions that ultimately rest with us, challenges we cannot always share openly, and moments when the weight of responsibility feels particularly heavy.
Being in community with other presidents and leaders helps ease that isolation. It reminds us that we do not have to navigate every challenge alone, that our thinking becomes stronger when it is challenged, and that our ambitions become more consequential when they are connected to a larger collective purpose.
I am grateful to the Aspen Institute, the extraordinary faculty and advisers, and my fellow presidents for this opportunity to learn, grow, and imagine together.
