2025 Special Joint Session for Provosts and Chief Research Officers

10:00 a.m.
Guest Arrival and Registration

10:30 a.m.
The Modern Anchor Institution: Driving Undeniable Economic Impact and Reclaiming the Public Good Mantle
Pre-roundtable session for partners who did not attend IgnitED

Facing growing skepticism about higher ed’s relevance, colleges and universities must go beyond traditional community engagement efforts and instead reorient their core institutional and academic strategy around social and economic impact. By embracing an outside-in approach that is “anchored” around the needs and priorities of key external constituencies, colleges and universities will be best positioned to compete for future students, revenues, and public support.

This session will explore lessons from effective anchor institutions, including ways to:

• Move recruitment and readiness efforts upstream to build a college-going pipeline
• Integrate next-generation skill development into the curriculum at scale
• Drive real-world impact by scaling community-centric research and scholarship
• Catalyze mutually beneficial economic development through cross-sector collaboration
• Measure and articulate your impact on critical regional priorities

12:00 p.m.
Networking Lunch

1:00 p.m.
New Threats to Higher Ed’s Academic Foundations: Navigating Today’s Political, Market, and Financial Pressures

Higher ed is experiencing an unprecedented convergence of challenges that are reshaping the academic enterprise. These include a rapidly evolving and increasingly contentious policy environment, intensified enrollment competition, mounting financial pressures, and reduced student readiness. Collectively, these pressures are forcing academic leaders to confront “third-rail” issues like academic freedom, tenure, traditional disciplinary structures, and standards of rigor.

In this session, we’ll examine the macro-level pressures transforming the sector and discuss how academic leaders are adapting their curriculum and program offerings, organizational structures, and academic policies in response.

3:00 p.m.
Policy Breakout Discussions

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss shared challenges and get a pulse check on peer responses to disruptions in five policy terrains: immigration and international enrollment, DEI, campus climate, and flashpoints, research enterprise landscape, funding and financial aid landscape, and accreditation landscape.

3:45 p.m.
Empowering and Aligning Academic Unit Leaders: Insights From EAB’s Work With Deans and Division Heads

Academic deans and division heads are more important partners in advancing institutional and academic priorities than ever before. Yet strategy misalignment and weak academic leadership pipelines often hinder progress.

During this session, we’ll share observations from our extensive work with provosts, deans, and division heads across the county. Attendees will reflect on their own relationships with deans and division heads, share recommendations for effective communication and collaboration, and identify ways to support academic unit leaders across their campus.

5:30 p.m.
Adjournment

6:00 p.m. 
Dinner

8:00 a.m.
Breakfast

Optional Session: Insight at the Speed of Conversation with Edify

Edify enables a seamless flow of aggregated financial data into one validated, governed workspace to help you and your team make informed decisions. Join this session to see Edify’s customizable data model in action and learn how partners are using the platform to understand revenue and expenses over time.

8:30 a.m.
Role-Specific Breakouts

• Recommended for Chief Academic Officers – Interdisciplinary Innovation in the Academic Program Portfolio: Six Hallmarks of Successful Undergraduate Programs
  • As student and employer demands rapidly shift and university budgets face new constraints, colleges and universities are under growing pressure to reimagine their academic offerings and traditional disciplinary boundaries.
  • This session will explore the drivers behind the trend towards interdisciplinary undergraduate programs and share hallmarks of successful program case studies. Attendees will learn how to overcome common structural, cultural, and process barriers, as well as apply lessons from successful programs during an interactive exercise.

• Recommended for Chief Research Officers – Research Advocacy and Strategy in the Era of the Second Trump Administration: Planning for Potential Policy Scenarios and Their Impacts on Enterprise Growth
  • The second Trump administration has unleashed a whirlwind of new policies with far-reaching consequences for university research. From drastic funding cuts to targeting DEI programs, the pace of these sweeping policy changes combined with ongoing legal challenges are creating overwhelming uncertainty for university leaders and faculty.
  • This session will examine the administration’s first 100 days, analyzing key policy shifts and their ripple effects across the research landscape. Through interactive exercises, attendees will explore potential future scenarios and develop strategies to navigate this volatile environment, safeguard critical programs, and advocate for the future of university research.

10:30 a.m.
What GenAI Means for Higher Ed and the Future of Work: How to Navigate Hype and Future-Proof the Academic Portfolio

GenAI is rapidly transforming both higher education and the broader workforce, presenting a complex array of opportunities and challenges for academic leaders.

This session will examine the current and future realities of GenAI’s impact across industries and workplaces. Attendees will gain insights into emerging mental models and practical strategies to start adapting their academic portfolio today in order to equip students with the skills—including non-technical ones— needed to thrive in an AI-augmented world.

12:00 p.m.
Adjournment