Dear Colleagues,
As many of you prepare to welcome students back to campus, you are also preparing for another year shaped by questions that extend well beyond the classroom.
The recent letter from the U.S. Department of Education asking colleges and universities to commit to a broad set of institutional reforms is one more example of how quickly the landscape continues to evolve. Whether related to admissions, hiring, governance, or other areas of campus life, these developments require thoughtful consideration and careful leadership.
For many diversity leaders, they also create uncertainty.
How should institutions respond? What changes, if any, are required? How do we continue advancing student success and institutional excellence while navigating an increasingly complex policy environment?
These are the conversations happening across our membership, and they are conversations NADOHE is actively engaged in.
One of the responsibilities of a national association is to help members make sense of moments like this—monitoring policy developments, engaging with legal and higher education experts, and creating spaces where we can learn from one another. But listening and analyzing are only the first steps.
Over the past several months, you have told us that you need practical guidance, actionable tools, and sustained support to navigate these realities. The moment is asking something different of higher education and equity-focused leaders, so we built something different to support you.
I am proud to share a major step forward in expanding NADOHE’s member value proposition: three new strategic collaborations designed to support growth at every level—for you, your team, and your institution. Anchored in our commitment to trauma-informed, identity-conscious leadership built for navigating change, we are introducing support across three key pillars: Coaching, Curriculum, Capacity.
- A new partnership with the Center for Strategic Leadership and Social Innovation launches a regional workshop tour focused on organizational strategy and capacity building while offering CSLSI programs to NADOHE members at Preferred Training Partner rates.
- A new partnership with the Center for Liberated Leadership brings confidential coaching circles to members with certified executive coaches who combine equity and trauma-informed coaching expertise with extensive experience supporting mid-to- senior leaders.
- A new partnership with the Evolve Institute for Higher Education Leadership offers structured, cohort-based leadership journeys for teams and individual leaders at every stage of leadership looking to move people and organizations from surviving to thriving.
More details on each of these initiatives will be shared below and in upcoming issues, but they reflect a unified promise: you do not have to navigate this landscape alone, nor do you have to invent the playbook from scratch.
Higher education has always evolved in response to changing social, political, and economic realities. Through each period of change, institutions rely on thoughtful leaders who can balance immediate demands with long-term purpose.
NADOHE remains dedicated to providing the infrastructure, community, and resources that help you lead with clarity, confidence, and care.
Thank you for the leadership you bring to your institutions and communities every day, and for the trust you place in this association. As a new academic year begins, I look forward to continuing this work together.
In community,
Emelyn A. dela Peña, Ed.D.
President & CEO, NADOHE