Leadership and Capacities

Aspen’s thirteen years of research make clear that high-performing colleges are led by presidents who— working with their trustees and senior teams—prioritize improving student outcomes, have a clear and bold plan for doing so, and have the commitment and ability to lead lasting change. Such leadership enables colleges to prioritize a limited set of scaled reforms that are sustained over time. Through our presidential fellowships, state partnerships, and other programming, Aspen helps leaders develop and refine prioritized reform agendas tied to student data and supported by communications, strategic finance, and implementation strategies employed at other excellent colleges. We also provide content on institutional capacities our research shows to be highly correlated to excellence, including human capital, strategic finance, data use, strategic implementation, board leadership, and senior team leadership.