There was a time when crises on college and university campuses were relatively rare and episodic. Much has changed, and it has changed quite rapidly. Drawing upon original research, Crisis Leadership in Higher Education presents a theory-informed framework for academic and administrative leaders who must navigate the institutional and environmental crises that are most germane to institutions of higher education.

Encountering crises is inevitable when working with people, and while higher education institutions tend to operate in systems, unique circumstances call for unique responses. This study sought to understand the experiences of a university president and the surrounding community after experiencing a campus crisis. This study utilized the 2006 van accident at Taylor University as a case study. The researcher used a phenomenological case study approach and design to interview thirteen people who were directly involved as administrators, senior level leaders, student development faculty, academic faculty, staff, students, or members of the board of trustees. The findings of this study describe aspects of the crisis management that worked well for Taylor University at that specific time. The results show specific leadership qualities of Dr. Eugene and Mrs. Marylou Habecker, the president and first lady at the time of the accident. Themes relating to their personalities, their actions, and how they involved other people were the most prevalent. Additionally, the results show how Taylor University, a unique campus culture of student-focused faculty and staff, contributed to the specialized crisis response, including being well prepared. Furthermore, the findings emphasize the role that the Christian faith played in how the institution and individuals experienced this crisis is paramount to understanding the motives behind decisions that were made and their impact. Additionally, the study provided principles for other administrative leaders who experience crisis in their institutions. This research will inform policy and practice for how to approach crisis leadership during a specific case but may be applicable and transferrable to a variety of circumstances that may appear at colleges and universities around the world.

Women leaders and the COVID-19 pandemic are currently trending in the news. Major news outlets are all offering their positive opinions on how world-wide women leaders have addressed the crisis and reassured their people. While this sort of press coverage is certainly uplifting, little to no research has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of women’s leadership decisions and strategies in these difficult times. In concert with these global struggles resulting from the pandemic are the challenges faced by higher education. Many colleges and universities have all but shuttered their doors and are conducting instruction, student support, and day-to-day business almost completely online. Women academic leaders bear a great load during global crises, with the combination of maintaining work responsibilities and caring for families and personal households. It is shown that women leaders may feel overwhelmed but remain heroes in unprecedented times of crisis. Women and Leadership in Higher Education During Global Crises informs readers and expands their understanding about specific challenges, issues, strategies, and solutions that are associated with women leaders in higher education, the implications during the current pandemic and other natural disasters, and how these strategies can be used for future agility and success. The chapters will cover narratives, strategies, and initiatives that women leaders are using to lead their institutions, departments, sectors, and organizations. It ties together the unimaginable challenges, joys, struggles, and successes encountered by women in leadership in higher education and is ideal for higher education administrators, teachers, leaders, faculty, provosts, deans, program leaders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in both the challenges and successes women leaders in higher education face during global crises.

It's more than fair to say that everyone is going through a time of unprecedented obstacles and uncertain outcomes.Higher education is certainly of no exception.Now, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related challenges to educating students on campus, the need for leadership, crisis response, and change management from academic leadership, in this currently volatile landscape, is increasingly urgent.Compiled from Academic Leader articles, Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education brings you direct advice, from qualified subject matter experts from a variety of campuses, on wide-ranging nuanced aspects of managing difficult issues and topics.Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education emphasizes three key areas of higher education leadership and provides in-depth and extensive insights into each topic: Leading through Crisis Leading through Conflict Leading through Change Begin with valuable strategies and relevant guidance on navigating crucial topics, such as COVID-19, the #MeToo movement, and social injustice, among others, while steadily supporting your faculty, staff, and students.Next, receive a wealth of knowledge about managing conflicts on your campus. From the positive effects of conflict, to creating emotionally intelligent conversations, to managing intradepartmental conflict, to dealing with toxic leadership, and just understanding how to deal with those who just won't work cohesively with others, leading educators and leaders nationwide share how they directly deal with these issues and more.Finally, you'll discover numerous approaches about how to continuously improve and keep up with the constant changes of higher education, including innovation and technology, online education, inclusion and accessibility, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Open Educational Resources, and more.Leading through Crisis, Conflict, and Change in Higher Education is your compilation of strong and compelling guidance from leaders and educators who have gone through and are currently going through the same difficult moments you are. Make this your tool for discovering the multiple facets of crisis communication, conflict management, and change leadership in higher education.Get your thorough guide to the foremost facets of leading through unprecedented times.

This book explores higher education leadership during times of extreme pressures and limited, changing information. Organized around different functional units in higher education institutions, chapters describe the ways in which campus communities were affected by and responded to the early pandemic crisis. By unpacking observations of real leaders from American institutions of higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book provides lessons learned and takeaway strategies for complex decision-making during a crisis. This edited collection explores the unique moment when leaders and teams must make, implement, and adjust plans rapidly to assure delivery of their missions, while still addressing the needs of students, parents, employees, and stakeholders. Shining a bright light on decision-making in the early acute stage of a crisis, this book prepares higher education educators to be effective leaders and successful decision-makers.

Educational leaders must be prepared to lead during crisis. Leadership has been challenged with multiple crisis in recent years, including issues of school safety, school shootings, medical crises such as SARs, HINI, and the ongoing pandemic. While each of these situations has resulted in multiple plans of actions, none has impacted our society as the current pandemic (COVID19) has, in terms of immediacy of needs and actions. School and district leaders are in charge of managing many stakeholders, circumstances and have the authority and responsibility to lead with ethical behavior (Al Habusi, Ismail & Omar, 2018). Integrity, resilience, fairness help guide the components of ethical leadership that leaders need to model, communicate, and use as a framework for implementing and sustaining change in organizations (Hegarty & Moccia, 2018). This book is targeted for leaders of educational systems, school buildings and those leaders of organizations that are connected in some way to educational systems and schools at all levels. The educational issues raised by the COVID pandemic, began in March 2020. The leadership needs identified throughout this crisis exemplifies many of the issues of crisis management, that is applicable to other issues, such as school violence, school safety, accidents and deaths that occur in every district.

FIRST EDITION SPECIAL RECOGNITION:Winner of the 2018 Sue DeWine Distinguished Scholarly Book Award, National Communication Association, Applied Communication Division REVIEWS OF THE FIRST EDITION“The book provides frameworks and resources that would be highly relevant for new and aspiring department chairs. In fact, this text is ideally designed to serve as a selection for a book discussion group.”—The Department Chair“Succeeds in providing accessible and useful resources to individuals across different leadership roles... As a midpoint between textbook and reference work, it is successful at both and provides a clear and unbiased background to issues facing current leaders.”—Reflective TeachingDuring a time of unprecedented challenges facing higher education, the need for effective leadership – for informal and formal leaders across the organization – has never been more imperative.Since publication of the first edition, the environment for higher education has become more critical and complex. Whether facing falling enrollments, questions of economic sustainability, the changing composition of the faculty and student bodies, differential retention and graduation rates, declining public confidence in the enterprise, or the rise in the use of virtual technologies – not to mention how COVID-19 and an intensified focus on long standing issues of racial and gender representation and equity have impacted institutions and challenged many long-standing assumptions – it is clear that learning on the job no longer suffices. Leadership development in higher education has become essential for advancing institutional effectiveness, which is the focus of this book.Taking into account the imperative issues of diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and the context of institutional mission and culture, this book centers on developing capacities for designing and implementing plans, strategies, and structures; connecting and engaging with colleagues and students; and communicating and collaborating with external constituencies in order to shape decisions and policies. It highlights the need to think broadly about the purposes of higher education and the dynamics of organizational excellence, and to apply these insights effectively in goal setting, planning and change leadership, outcomes assessment, addressing crises, and continuous improvement at both the level of the individual and organization.The concepts and tools in this book are equally valuable for faculty and staff leaders, whether in formal leadership roles, such as deans, chairs, or directors of institutes, committees, or task forces, or those who perform informal leadership functions within their departments, disciplines, or institutions. It can be used as a professional guide, a textbook in graduate courses, or as a resource in leadership training and development programs. Each chapter concludes with a series of case studies and guiding questions.