Presidential Transition Resource Center for Higher Ed
Tools for leadership teams and incoming presidents to aid in a productive presidential transition
Leading a university has never been more challenging, especially for new presidents. Whether a presidential transition invigorates an institution with new strategic vision, or injects complication and uncertainty, depends heavily on how leadership teams onboard and support their new president. That’s why it’s pertinent that leadership teams prepare the most effective orientation packet to help new presidents get up to speed and ready to lead quickly.
This page provides tools to help leadership teams decide what is most important to share with an incoming president up front, as well as suggestions for resources to help new presidents get smart on topics across higher ed.
Leadership team checklist
Our transition checklist provides key briefing topics, to-dos, and advice for your leadership team when preparing for an incoming president. Download the checklist to start assigning owners and due dates for transition tasks.
Presidential transition tip
Continue pursuing ongoing strategic priorities while the presidential position is vacant—don’t lose momentum and miss an opportunity to make positive progress.
New president orientation template
We’ve created a customizable PowerPoint presentation template that higher ed leaders can use to share institution-specific information with a new president. The template will cover your institution’s history, mission, strengths and weaknesses, organization and structure, partnerships, and more.
Presidential reading list
We’ve compiled a list of articles, websites, books, and infographics to help new presidents get up to speed quickly on higher education. These resources will give new presidents a primer on threats to higher ed, college and university governance, budget model basics, and more.
Stay in the know
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- Office Hours with EAB: podcast with ideas, insights, and inspiration for higher ed leaders
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