Message from the Forum Chair

Hello and a heartfelt welcome to both our new and returning members of the Western Academic Leadership Forum! Under the guidance of WICHE, our Western Academic Leadership Forum has been making a positive impact on higher education in the West since 2009. Addressing important and timely topics like diversifying the professoriate, promoting campus wellness, fostering student success, addressing pressing regulatory issues, tackling common higher education challenges, adapting to the evolving enrollment landscape, strategically deploying technology, and empowering academic leaders to success is the WICHE Forum raison d’etre. The Forum is a wonderful network of universities, systems, and Western academic leaders who connect, share ideas, and learn from one another. Changing times require adaptable and informed leaders, making the WICHE Forum community more vital and valuable than ever.

WICHE is a trusted leader in higher education in the U.S. West, and the Western Academic Leadership Forum is a valued network of university colleagues. We support one another and work together on behalf of student access and success, research and pedagogical innovation, faculty excellence, and strategic campus leadership. If you are a member, thank you for your support and partnership – your engagement matters. If your university or System is not yet a member, this is the perfect time to join and benefit from all the wonderful things our WICHE Forum has to offer. If you have any questions or would like to connect with me, another member of our WICHE Forum board, or WICHE leadership team, please reach out. We’d love to speak with you.

Throughout the year, we offer webinars and other opportunities for engagement. One of our missions this year is to find new ways to develop and deliver programming that meets academic leaders’ needs for peer networking, provides opportunities for engagement with new ideas in higher education, and delivers expert guidance on timely topics. We welcome your input on what you need and how the WICHE Forum can be most helpful and relevant to you and academic leaders across your state. If you have ideas to share, please reach out so that we can learn from you and continue to offer the programming that Western academic leaders most want and need.

One of our most impactful and exciting events each year is our WICHE Forum conference. I’m pleased to announce that our next annual meeting will be held April 23-25, 2025, in Reno, Nevada. Our theme is Academic Partnerships: Stronger Together and this begins with the attendees. We are excited to welcome both the Western Academic Leadership Forum and the Western Alliance of Community College Academic Leaders to a joint discussion and exchange of information in the great Silver State. In these challenging times for higher education, this joint WICHE Partnership conference will be a special opportunity to gather Forum and Alliance academic leaders together to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and build partnerships across the West. Networking, professional development, and deep dives into timely topics are all on the agenda for this WICHE Partnership meeting.

I hope to see you in Reno at the WICHE Academic Partnership meeting this April. In the meantime, I wish you a successful, productive, and innovative year ahead.