The Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) organization, created in 1976, is to creating and sustaining a community of women leaders through “dedicated leadership development programs and other strategies with a special focus on gender equity within the broader commitment to achieving equality and excellence in higher Education Resource Services [HERS], 2015, para. 1). HERS started education” (Higher as a grant-funded project to identify and support women who aspired to leadership positions in higher education. It began as a month-long residential leadership program hosted on the Bryn Mawr College campus. The curriculum focused on building women’s capacity to manage the various functions and constituencies of the institution, including planning, management, budget, finance, and governance (Longman & Madsen, 2014). The curriculum has evolved and changed to meet the new challenges that leaders must face in higher education leadership, including the new environment for “understanding higher education, planning and leading change in the academy, managing and investing strategic resources, engaging individual and institutional diversity, and mapping your leadership (Longman & Madsen, 2014, p. 83). The structure of the development” program also changed to include a two-week summer institute at Bryn Mawr College or the University of Denver, or a year-long institute at Wellesley College. Similar to the Moving the Needle initiative of the ACE Network, HERS Women’s held a summit in 2012 for both women presidents and chancellors to discuss the conditions under which women were still working in higher education and to create an action agenda to of change rather [than] merely responding to a “shape directions (Longman & Madsen, 2014, p. 85). Four major shifts were identified continuing crisis” as transformational priorities for the institutions and systems, future: “restructure
The Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) organization, created in 1976, is “dedicated to creating and sustaining a community of women leaders through leadership development programs and other strategies with a special focus on gender equity within the broader commitment to achieving equality and excellence in higher education” (Higher Education Resource Services [HERS], 2015, para. 1). HERS started as a grant-funded project to identify and support women who aspired to leadership positions in higher education. It began as a month-long residential leadership program hosted on the Bryn Mawr College campus. The curriculum focused on building women’s capacity to manage the various functions and constituencies of the institution, including planning, management, budget, finance, and governance (Longman & Madsen, 2014). The curriculum has evolved and changed to meet the new challenges that leaders must face in higher education leadership, including “understanding the new environment for higher education, planning and leading change in the academy, managing and investing strategic resources, engaging individual and institutional diversity, and mapping your leadership development” (Longman & Madsen, 2014, p. 83). The structure of the program also changed to include a two-week summer institute at Bryn Mawr College or the University of Denver, or a year-long institute at Wellesley College. Similar to the Moving the Needle initiative of the ACE Women’s Network, HERS held a summit in 2012 for both women presidents and chancellors to discuss the conditions under which women were still working in higher education and to create an action agenda to “shape directions of change rather [than] merely responding to a continuing crisis” (Longman & Madsen, 2014, p. 85). Four major shifts were identified as transformational priorities for the future: “restructure institutions and systems,