Message from the Forum Chair

Greetings Colleagues:

Welcome to the Western Academic Leadership Forum. The Forum brings together university leaders from across the West to leverage their collective knowledge and experience to address issues related our region’s unique demographic, geographic and economic character. As we transition from what we hope to be the worst of the COVID 19 pandemic to the rapidly evolving higher education landscape, I cannot overemphasize the importance of having the Forum as a venue for university leaders to communicate. Nor can I overstate the advantages of working collaboratively to address the emerging challenges impacting the health and safety of our students, faculty, and institutions. The Forum has a long, respectable, history of tackling important issues including the diversification of the professoriate, campus health and wellness, student success and university leadership development. Meetings to discuss how to respond to the chaos triggered by the pandemic and to anticipate fundamental changes as we emerge from it have been truly invaluable. If you are not yet a member, I strongly encourage you to join us and experience all that this organization has to offer.

I am delighted to share that our annual Spring 2022 meetings will be held in person, in my home city, Portland, Oregon, unlike our 2021 annual conference that we had to conduct virtually. Exciting plans are underway for a ‘not to be missed’ opportunity to join colleagues in an engaging city, to share what we have learned, and plans we are working on as we strategize, and recalibrate for short, medium and long term changes. The Forum looks forward to creatively serving our membership and stakeholders in the face of current challenges and the opportunities they present. Do join us.