Thoughts on Leadership in Education

  Why Higher Ed Needs a Bold Dose of Innovation and Leadership Let’s be honest. Higher education is in the middle of a major identity crisis. Between declining enrollments, growing student debt, shifting expectations, and shrinking funding, the traditional college model just does not work like it used to. And with students demanding more flexible, relevant, and career-aligned experiences, colleges and universities are being forced to do something they are not always great at—change. That’s where innovation and entrepreneurship come in. Now, I am not just talking about adding another app or offering a few online classes. I’m talking about rethinking the way higher education operates—how it generates revenue, engages students, collaborates with partners, and empowers faculty. Leaders in higher education need to start thinking more like entrepreneurs. They need to be willing to take risks, break down bureaucratic roadblocks, and create space for new ideas to grow. Leadership is ev...

  What Nursing Leadership Can Learn from Higher Ed This week in my doctoral program, I dove into some eye-opening articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education about leadership development—and honestly, it hit close to home. One article by Brown and Kolditz (2020) focused on the Doerr Institute at Rice University. They’re doing something really innovative: actually measuring leadership growth in their students with the help of research psychologists. Not just surveys or feel-good feedback, but real data. As someone teaching future nurses and thinking deeply about how we support our students before they even start the program, I found myself wondering, “What if we applied this same level of intentionality to leadership training in nursing education?” Then I read Kevin McClure’s (2025) piece, which called out how little higher ed invests in preparing its own leaders. Faculty are often promoted into leadership roles because they’re great teachers or researchers—not because they...

  What Two Chronicle Articles Taught Me About Leadership in Higher Ed This week I read two articles that really made me think about what leadership should look like in higher education. Both were completely different, but they touched on some important truths about power, influence, and the voices that often get left out. The first article talked about how private equity professionals are starting to make up a big part of university boards at elite schools. At first glance, it might not seem like a big deal—after all, who wouldn’t want someone who understands finance on their board? But as I kept reading, I started to worry. If leadership is mostly coming from people whose background is profit and investment, how do we make sure that the mission of education stays focused on students and communities? I thought about the nursing students I work with and how hard some of them fight just to make it to class. I do not want decisions about their education being made by people who have...

  Blog Post: Leading from Who I Am This week in class, we were asked to reflect on how our identity influences our leadership, especially through the lenses of race, gender, class, religion, and more. Honestly, I paused for a second before writing. As someone who comes from a more traditional, faith-based background and is attending a very progressive institution, I often feel like I am walking a bit of a tightrope. But I also know that staying true to who I am is central to how I lead. I grew up in a family that valued service, humility, and hard work. Those values did not come from a textbook; they were modeled around our dinner table, at church, and in my community. I carry them into my role now as a nursing educator and doctoral student. I do not lead with titles. I lead by showing up consistently, listening closely, and trying to make sure every student, especially the ones who feel like they do not belong, knows that they do. My leadership philosophy is a blend of transfor...