Many higher education leaders believe that an interim administrator hired from the outside, sometimes on short notice, cannot effectively guide or even help their institutions in critical ways, even though their college or university is suffering. Yet, six months ago, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that nearly 80% of campus leaders said their institution had more open positions than one year before. Some 84% confirmed that hiring for administrative and staff positions was more difficult than last year.

A rising number of colleges are now recalibrating to address issues such as downward trends in enrollment, intractable budget deficits, diminished faculty loyalty, union expectations, and challenging student demands. What some of these institutions are discovering is that a trained, experienced interim leader can manage a multitude of campus issues effectively with only a short on-ramp of orientation, listening, and preparation.

Over the past three years or so, interims have been brought to campuses to address these concerns:

• Strategic master planning: Along with presidential leadership and fiscal management, institutional strategic planning is perhaps one of the most sensitive areas on a campus for an interim’s involvement. However, if a senior interim has held this role previously not once, but possibly two or even three times, this individual may be one of the most proficient administrators on campus in leading a master planning process. Effective interims often view strategic planning as one of their basic responsibilities.
• Budget management: Similarly, financial planning and management are potentially sensitive areas that a school may want to consider before bringing in an interim chief financial officer or vice president for administration and finance. However, a veteran CFO who has held the position previously two or three times may have as broad a view about budget management as anyone on campus. This person will also most likely have experience serving on one or more financial and audit committees of a board.
• Academic leadership: Perhaps contrary to popular assumptions, placing an interim provost, vice president of academic affairs, or academic dean is one of the most frequent appointments. A chief academic officer with several prior assignments, following a series of candid conversations with the president and faculty, can often begin immediately to listen, observe, and, as soon as necessary, recommend various courses to move forward. Academic leaders this year have focused on considerations of both staff and program reductions. Inside Higher Ed reported in December 2023 that, as examples, there are program eliminations slated to take place at Bradley and Drake Universities, the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Also, cuts could be coming in the next year at Valparaiso, the University of Montana, and SUNY Fredonia, among a growing group of others. Interim VPAAs and academic deans come prepared to address these difficult choices likely with more strategic experience than many at the institution, and they act with no partisan bias.
• Enrollment management and financial aid: According to a CUPA-HR Higher Education Employee Retention Survey released in September 2023, 56% of leaders in these areas confirmed that they would be seeking another position within 12 months, and 47% believe that there are few opportunities for advancement in their current job. These realities often strike the most vulnerable and resource-stretched institutions, and it is not difficult to see the benefits a highly experienced interim financial aid director or dean of admissions can bring to a school for a semester or more as it attempts to stabilize and refocus its recruitment and marketing.
• Human Resources: Like academic deans, experienced interim directors of human resources typically have gained a set of readily applicable skills to keep the trains running in terms of personnel policies. Or, if they are dated, these interim leaders can easily review and upgrade the policies. Either or both tasks are within the expectations of an interim director of HR.

So far, we have not mentioned the presidency. Not to be overlooked, a number of institutions have appointed interim presidents to help their college or university rethink its mission and vision, especially in situations when the prior CEO served for a decade or more.

Walter Kimbrough, former president of Dillard University and Philander Smith College, noted in Inside Higher Ed that he has been tracking Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) presidencies, as one example, since 2004 and has counted more than 200 presidential departures just in that group during that span. Terrell Strayhorn, director of research at the Center for the Study of HBCUs, notes in the same article that up to one-fifth of the nation’s 101 HBCUs are being led by interim, acting, or temporary presidents this year. Strategically, appointing a trained interim president at an institution intentionally, rather than by default, may provide a qualitative difference in the leadership needed to move forward.

In sum, as colleges and universities across the nation grapple with a growing shortage of talented administrators in many key positions, highly experienced interim leaders are now serving as agents of substantive change.

Source: Article

Many higher education leaders believe that an interim administrator hired from the outside, sometimes on short notice, cannot effectively guide or even help their institutions in critical ways, even though their college or university is suffering. Yet, six months ago, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that nearly 80% of campus leaders said their institution had more open positions than one year before. Some 84% confirmed that hiring for administrative and staff positions was more difficult than last year.

A rising number of colleges are now recalibrating to address issues such as downward trends in enrollment, intractable budget deficits, diminished faculty loyalty, union expectations, and challenging student demands. What some of these institutions are discovering is that a trained, experienced interim leader can manage a multitude of campus issues effectively with only a short on-ramp of orientation, listening, and preparation.

Over the past three years or so, interims have been brought to campuses to address these concerns:

• Strategic master planning: Along with presidential leadership and fiscal management, institutional strategic planning is perhaps one of the most sensitive areas on a campus for an interim’s involvement. However, if a senior interim has held this role previously not once, but possibly two or even three times, this individual may be one of the most proficient administrators on campus in leading a master planning process. Effective interims often view strategic planning as one of their basic responsibilities.
• Budget management: Similarly, financial planning and management are potentially sensitive areas that a school may want to consider before bringing in an interim chief financial officer or vice president for administration and finance. However, a veteran CFO who has held the position previously two or three times may have as broad a view about budget management as anyone on campus. This person will also most likely have experience serving on one or more financial and audit committees of a board.
• Academic leadership: Perhaps contrary to popular assumptions, placing an interim provost, vice president of academic affairs, or academic dean is one of the most frequent appointments. A chief academic officer with several prior assignments, following a series of candid conversations with the president and faculty, can often begin immediately to listen, observe, and, as soon as necessary, recommend various courses to move forward. Academic leaders this year have focused on considerations of both staff and program reductions. Inside Higher Ed reported in December 2023 that, as examples, there are program eliminations slated to take place at Bradley and Drake Universities, the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Also, cuts could be coming in the next year at Valparaiso, the University of Montana, and SUNY Fredonia, among a growing group of others. Interim VPAAs and academic deans come prepared to address these difficult choices likely with more strategic experience than many at the institution, and they act with no partisan bias.
• Enrollment management and financial aid: According to a CUPA-HR Higher Education Employee Retention Survey released in September 2023, 56% of leaders in these areas confirmed that they would be seeking another position within 12 months, and 47% believe that there are few opportunities for advancement in their current job. These realities often strike the most vulnerable and resource-stretched institutions, and it is not difficult to see the benefits a highly experienced interim financial aid director or dean of admissions can bring to a school for a semester or more as it attempts to stabilize and refocus its recruitment and marketing.
• Human Resources: Like academic deans, experienced interim directors of human resources typically have gained a set of readily applicable skills to keep the trains running in terms of personnel policies. Or, if they are dated, these interim leaders can easily review and upgrade the policies. Either or both tasks are within the expectations of an interim director of HR.

So far, we have not mentioned the presidency. Not to be overlooked, a number of institutions have appointed interim presidents to help their college or university rethink its mission and vision, especially in situations when the prior CEO served for a decade or more.

Walter Kimbrough, former president of Dillard University and Philander Smith College, noted in Inside Higher Ed that he has been tracking Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) presidencies, as one example, since 2004 and has counted more than 200 presidential departures just in that group during that span. Terrell Strayhorn, director of research at the Center for the Study of HBCUs, notes in the same article that up to one-fifth of the nation’s 101 HBCUs are being led by interim, acting, or temporary presidents this year. Strategically, appointing a trained interim president at an institution intentionally, rather than by default, may provide a qualitative difference in the leadership needed to move forward.

In sum, as colleges and universities across the nation grapple with a growing shortage of talented administrators in many key positions, highly experienced interim leaders are now serving as agents of substantive change.

Source: Article