Message from the Chair

Alan Lamborn

Higher Education faces an intellectually fascinating – but professionally daunting – strategic environment. At the same time as our ability to fund educational programs has become more unpredictable, institutional leaders find it increasingly difficult to participate meaningfully in setting policy directions as they are buffeted by a sea of state, national, and international efforts to “break the code” on providing access and educational/research excellence at a sustainable price.

 It is a truism that the smaller the margin for error, the more important the quality of the choices we make. Membership in the Western Academic Leadership Forum (WALF) is a critical resource for you at this juncture. Through WALF, you have immediate access to your colleagues at peer institutions and agencies in the West. This network can provide quick and confidential advice and recommendations on a range of issues. If you are a chief academic officer at a master’s level or doctoral institution or a chief executive or chief academic officer for a system or state in the WICHE region and not already a member of WALF, please join today.

 Alan Lamborn, Walf Chair
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, Colorado State University

CHECK OUT THE PRESENTATIONS FROM THE 2010 ANNUAL MEETING
 

NOTE: In 2008, WICHE changed the name of the Northwest Academic Forum to the Western Academic Leadership Forum as it broadened the consortium’s scope to include members in all WICHE states.