+
Academic Change Mechanics
Strategic leadership for higher ed transformation
What We Do
After more than a decade of combined leadership experience in a complex Faculty, we know that change is possible. Based on our ‘boots on the ground’ strategic and operational background, we have expertise in solving difficult academic problems and bringing about change. We've been there. We understand why things go sideways. We also understand how to develop and implement solutions that work. From our experience, we have distilled a transferable model for leading transformational academic change. On one side, this model puts faculty members as grassroots decision makers at the center, activating their agency as the engine of change and centering their deep knowledge. On the other side, this model tasks academic leaders with guiding the process and setting functional constraints on potential outcomes, maintaining accountability for solutions that are practical and in alignment with the unit’s mission and vision.
What we are offering is a practical focus on academic systems--opportunities and constraints. Know-how mixed with optimism. We have a fundamental belief that people engage with good will. Everyone is doing their best. We also understand that fear and uncertainty are real. Change does not come easy.
In our role as Academic Change Mechanics, we work with university leadership teams as academic peers, bringing a practical perspective. We have been working to share this knowledge in various venues, giving presentations and running workshops to create custom road maps and provide the tools for academic change. In addition to in-person meetings, we're writing about these ideas in our blog and in articles.
Who We Are
Jenn Stephenson
Jenn Stephenson
Jenn Stephenson
Jenn is a Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. From 2019 to 2025, she was Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Arts and Science.
Bill Nelson
Jenn Stephenson
Jenn Stephenson
Bill is a Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He is Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Arts and Science (2020-present).
Why Here Why Now?
Institutions of higher education--universities and colleges--need to change. It is a hallmark of healthy, vigorous institutions that they responsively adapt to emergent situations. In order to continue in service of the core mission, institutions need to correct course and trim the sails in response to changing weather conditions. As organizations devoted to the public good, universities and colleges need to remain relevant to the needs of that public and stay attuned to what is "good."
That seems pretty straightforward, and it should be. And yet, making change in higher education is notoriously difficult. It is ironic that institutions devoted to creativity and innovation get stuck somehow. Perhaps we should be unsurprised that universities and colleges have an inherently small-c conservative mindset. The population of our institutions has a very long turnover period--student careers last many years; faculty careers last for decades. Our disciplines and traditions have extended, stable histories. Universities are among the longest lasting global organizations, tracing our origins back for more than a thousand years.
Layered on top of this, our collegial governance structures create intense frictions that are not manifest in other more hierarchical organizational models. Tensions between the faculty members who constitute the collegium and administrative leaders are baked into the system. Organizational paralysis and fear of "noise" cannot be the end of change. Both faculty and admin have important roles to play. (Starting up a new university is not always a viable answer. We have to work within our existing structures.)
Building on our experience as change leaders at our home institution, we are turning to leaders at peer institutions to share that experience. Conventional corporate change management workshops led by external consultants just don't make sense in the academic context. We are stepping into that space to work with our colleagues as peers who know how it is and have some thoughts about how we can do it better.
Contact Us
Subscribe
Get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up for our newsletter!