HERS Institutes

Abstract

The Problem.

At this critical time, higher education needs more women prepared to assume senior leadership roles, both to fill the openings from anticipated presidential retirements and to provide higher quality decision making through more diverse perspective at all levels of leadership.

The Solution.

Higher Education Resource Services (HERS), founded in 1972, has provided leadership development opportunities for more than 4,300 women faculty and administrators sponsored by 1,100 institutions in the United States and abroad. HERS has recently implemented significant revisions of its signature HERS Institutes to address the new circumstances and challenges women leaders will face in guiding institutions in the decade ahead. This article examines the historical development of HERS, recent revisions, and future plans for expanding programs.

The Stakeholders.

Revisions to HERS Institutes suggestimplications for those developing women in HRD, conducting research on leadership development, or concerned about higher education as a new leadership cadre faces the demands of the future.

Keywords

women’s leadership professional development higher education

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Collins

(2001). Good to great. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Diamond

(2004). Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Alumnae Survey, 1976-2003. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Science Research. Retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/21100

HERS-SA. (2011, April 18). Celebrating HERS-SA activities and achievements. Retrieved from http://www.hers-sa.org.za/achievements.htm

Hewlett

S. A.

(2011, January 26). The real benefit of finding a sponsor. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hewlett/2011/01/the_real_benefit_of_finding_a.html

Higher Education Resource Services. (2005-2006). HERS institute at Wellesley College evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2006a). HERS Bryn Mawr summer institute evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2006b). HERS strategic directions: The goals, programs, audiences 2006-2010. Denver, CO: Author.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2009-2010). HERS institute at Wellesley College evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2010a). HERS Bryn Mawr summer institute evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

10.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2010b). HERS institute at the University of Denver evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

11.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2011a). HERS Bryn Mawr summer institute evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

12.

Higher Education Resource Services. (2011b). HERS institute at the University of Denver evaluation. Denver, CO: Author.

13.

Joy

Carter

N. M.

Wagner

H. M.

Narayanan

(2007, October). The bottom line: Corporate performance and women’s representation on boards. New York, NY: Catalyst. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/publication/200/the-bottom-line-corporate-performance-and-womens-representation-on-boards

14.

Kampel

(2010). Learning leadership: Women presidents of colleges and universities. Saarbrücken, Germany: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

15.

King

Gomez

(2007). The American college president: 2007 edition. Washington, DC: American Council for Education.

16.

Madsen

S. R.

(2008). On becoming a woman leader: Learning from the experiences of university presidents. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

17.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (1999, March). Special edition: A study on the status of women faculty in science at MIT. The MIT Faculty Newsletter, XI(4), 1-15. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/fnl114x.pdf

18.

National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators. (n.d.). Institutes. Retrieved from http://www.nacwaa.org/leadership-education/institutes

19.

Secor

(1984, March). Preparing the individual for institutional leadership: The summer institute. New Directions for Higher Education, 45, 25-33.

20.

Speizer

(1984, March). The administrative skills program: What have we learned? New Directions for Higher Education, 45, 35-45.

21.

Valian

(1998). Why so slow? The advancement of women. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

22.

The White House Project. (2009, November). The White House project report: Benchmarking women’s leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/documents/Report.pdf .