The Innovation Pathway

While many higher education professionals practice innovation in their day-to-day work, roles in the innovation pathway are squarely focused on innovation to advance their institution's teaching, learning, and student success mission. These roles often support this work across the organization, either through the cutting-edge application of new technologies or learning science, through new instructional models, or through the direction of transformation initiatives that support institutional strategic goals.

The pathway at a glance
Timeline graphic previewing the transition from early to institutional executive level throughout the lifespan of your career

Explore the Innovation Pathway

Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez speaks on the urgency of digital transformation.

The EDUCAUSE Innovation Pathway Toolkits provide individuals and mentors an opportunity to identify strengths and gaps, then select activities to leverage those strengths and develop in select areas. The toolkits support the development of an action to improve immediate performance and foster readiness for long-term professional goals. Select the appropriate toolkit for your needs below to get started.

Early Level

0-7 years
0-7 years
0-7 years
0-7 years

Entry-level positions in cybersecurity include job titles like information security specialist, information security analyst, network technical specialist, and computer forensics analyst. In these roles, your duties and responsibilities may include helping to prevent data breaches, network attacks, and other threats. You work to protect your institution's digital resources and information technology systems and to prevent hackers from disrupting normal business activities. Additionally, you help faculty, staff, and students learn and engage in good information security practices on the job and at home.

Recommended Education

Degree in Computer Science or related area and/or equivalent of education and experiences; select network and security certifications; and experience working with select compliance standards.

Other options From Here

You May Be Responsible For

  • Performing operational security duties in support of security rules and procedures based on university policies, state and federal requirements, and contractual obligations.
  • Assisting in the triage of incoming security events.
  • Acting as an escalation point for information technology security incidents.
  • Providing direction and guidance on available security services and tools.
  • Monitoring current trends, making recommendations and evaluating solutions to close gaps in security processes.

Entry-level positions for teaching and learning may support faculty to apply learning technology to courses, coordinate and maintain digital resources for the institution, or assist in curriculum or instructional design. People who perform these tasks may have job titles like instructional technologist, instructional designer, computer learning lab coordinator, learning management system administrator, instructional technologist, multimedia designer, and faculty development specialist.

Recommended Education

Associate's degree, bachelor’s degree, certifications in user and instructional design, or equivalent experience

Other options From Here

Interested in an innovation-focused work? Take a look at the Innovation Pathway's early level for options.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Contributing to the effective implementation and function of digital learning tools.
  • Collecting and analyzing relevant learning data to recommend data-informed decisions for the unit.
  • Offering guidance and advice to teaching faculty on learning design with digital platforms.
  • Collecting learning outcome and evaluation data to inform future digital learning decisions and designs.
  • Maintaining current and relevant knowledge of higher education learning science.

Entry-level positions in innovation include job titles such as instructional innovation specialist, business transformation project manager, and systems integration and innovation coordinator. These positions work in some capacity helping to support innovation to advance institutional strategies.

Recommended Education

Associates degree, bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience.

Other options From Here

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You May Be Responsible For

  • Consulting and advising an instructional team on appropriate technological tools best suited to meet learning objectives.
  • Providing technical solutions for highly interactive learning environments.
  • Working with faculty on the design, development, and production of learning materials using digital media.
  • Following change management policies and procedures for configuration and application changes, including obtaining approval for release into production.
  • Leading systems, services, and infrastructure projects.
  • Providing administrative and/or project management support for innovation projects or initiatives.

Early level positions in information technology include job titles such as user support specialist, data analyst, desktop support technician, and network operations analyst. These positions work in some capacity helping to support institutional technology or data operations, or to maintain the institution's digital environment.

Recommended Education

Associate degree, bachelor’s degree, ITIL or IT service management training (see take action for more information), or equivalent experience. Certifications such as CompTIA A+, ITIL Foundation; vendor specific certifications such as Microsoft, AWS, for service and support roles. Certifications around data analytics and vendor specific certifications, such as Oracle or Microsoft for those working with data and databases.

Other options From Here

Interested in exploring an alternative career? Take a look at the Information Security Pathway's early level for ideas.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Assisting in the collection and analysis of data to inform decisions for information technology and the institution.
  • Administering technology training and facilitating help for students, faculty, and other institutional stakeholders.
  • Supporting and maintaining institution technology solutions such as labs, mobile technology, classrooms, and more.
  • Supporting and maintaining software applications across campus.
  • Contributing to decisions regarding institution technology adoption and implementation.

Academic Technology/Innovation Coordinator

Salary Range:
$36,000–$78,000

Collaborate with faculty, staff, and students to integrate the use of technology into curricular, cocurricular, and extracurricular learning. Administer the design, development, implementation, and reporting of digitally-mediated content and support technology within the Institution.

See Active Job Descriptions

Instructional Innovation Specialist

Salary Range:
$42,000–$75,000

Work collaboratively with faculty, instructional designers, and other staff to build and maintain online, remote, hybrid, and enhanced courses and programs, focusing on innovative techniques and practices. Provide support and assistance to faculty and students in the use of teaching and learning technologies through workshops, documentation, email, and real-time support.

See Active Job Descriptions

Innovation and Collaboration Specialist

Salary Range:
$45,000–$96,000

Incorporate innovation methodologies (such as design thinking and agile practices) across institutional initiatives. Identify and implement approaches for further integrating innovation-related activities into the daily fabric of work. Track outputs from innovation initiatives and initiate activities that work toward staff engagement and realization of staff ideas.

See Active Job Descriptions

Academic Innovation Research Specialist

Salary Range:
$39,000–$100,000

Support research and professional development programs that help faculty and/or staff effectively integrate education technology tools in their on-campus and online courses in ways that that promote student engagement, learning, and success. Coordinate data collection and communications of findings around emerging practices.

See Active Job Descriptions

Business Transformation Project Manager

Salary Range:
$65,000–$83,000

Help institutional leadership focus on achieving business results by aligning internal team workflows across the organization, by integrating across teams, and by analyzing key performance indicator data and dashboards, with the goal of aligning projects with the institution’s mission and objectives.

See Active Job Descriptions

Systems Integration and Innovation Coordinator

Salary Range:
$50,000–$78,000

Act as a lead technical and consulting resource to various institutional departments and units with respect to the planning, implementation, and maintenance of information technology systems, with a focus on the development of new products, services, or processes.

See Active Job Descriptions

Looking at cybersecurity as a career path can be intimidating, but many working in this field didn't start out with intentions to work in cybersecurity. In this podcast, we ask several higher education cybersecurity professionals how they would encourage others to consider cybersecurity as a career option.

Listen to the Podcast

Kenneth Gyan, Director of IT, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Melissa Meehan, Web Services Director, SUNY Buffalo State.

Rebecca Graetz, Senior Instructional Designer, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Lifelong Learning
  • Begin to develop foundational skills by focusing on critical areas such as academic communication, data-driven solutions, digital leadership and transformation, and technology initiatives.
Become familiar with and explore how to utilize the EDUCAUSE Student & Faculty Technology Studies to leverage data in decision-making.
Find Out More
Communication
  • Identify ways to expand your professional network and understanding of your organization by volunteering to serve on local committees or task forces.
  • Incorporate an understanding of your target audience into your communication approach.
  • Develop strategies to communicate abstract concepts and build consensus.
Want to level up your soft skills? Our Digital Learning Transformation Institute can help you become a more effective communicator through its case-based leadership program.
Find Out More
Finance
  • Understand how higher education business models evolve to reflect a data-informed and a continuous-improvement approach to management and decisions.
  • Learn how to support institutional leaders in initiatives that emphasize institution-wide data governance, prioritizing institutional benefits over departmental or individual benefits.
Learn how to prepare your institution to leverage the coming shifts in culture, workforce, and technology to their advantage.
Find Out More
Project Management & Strategy
  • Understand how project management supports nearly every aspect of technology planning, acquisition, implementation, and maintenance.
  • Develop strategies for developing and leading high-performing project teams.
  • Apply project management skills to ensure projects are completed on time and under budget.
  • Develop an understanding of project methods and evaluation in alignment with institutional mission and vision.
Become familiar with the best practices and fundamentals of project management.
Find Out More
Leadership, People, & Change Management
  • Develop an understanding of stakeholder dynamics and organizational culture.
  • Promote a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.
  • Foster innovation by seeking people from different backgrounds, sectors, and experiences.
Become familiar with and be able to explain to others the ways that digital transformation can support higher education's evolution.
Find Out More
Assess

Take our competency self-assessment for early career teaching and learning professionals to evaluate your skills and abilities and to help you identify your strengths and growth opportunities in the areas of supporting change, making well-informed decisions, exploring contemporary issues and trends, designing a change initiative, and more.

Make Connections

Join the Young Professionals Community Group, which is specifically for those in the early stages of their career.

Make Connections

Become an EDUCAUSE ambassador and help your organization get the most out of its membership by connecting colleagues with resources.

Engage in Mentoring

Find a mentor who can provide guidance, support, and growth on your career journey. Look for a mentor who has a role that you might want eventually and who can speak about the professional advancement journey.

Give Back

Support innovation projects in domains such as digital transformation, which help advance your institution’s mission.

Give Back

Look into our informal volunteering opportunities such as participating in a community group or contributing content related to your work or professional journey.

Think & Speak

Read the latest research and ideas in a higher education IT-related publication, such as the Teaching and Learning or the Digital Transformation channel of the EDUCAUSE Review. Have a topic you'd like to see covered or an article to contribute? Become a contributor.

Think & Speak

Consider a proposal for a session and/or poster at a higher education event such as the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference by leveraging our facilitation and presentation resources available on the Presenter Concierge site.

Show Up

Attend in-person or online professional development opportunities focused on key topics in innovation.

Show Up

Go to the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, designed for, and attended by, the global community of higher education professionals.

Learn

Attend the Learning Lab to advance your expertise in today’s most pressing topics

Learn

Explore our Technology Strategy toolkit and jump-start your understanding of technology’s role in advancing the core mission of the academic institution.

Learn

Explore how to put the principles of DEI into practice and the learning and engagement opportunities to deepen your understanding.

3-11 years
3-15 years
3-11 years
3-11 years

Mid Level

Mid-level positions in cybersecurity include job titles like information security analyst, information security penetration tester, information security engineer, information security consultant, information security advisor, information security manager, information senior security engineer, manager of information security and systems operations, and senior manager of research computing. In this role, your duties and responsibilities may include designing security systems, conducting reviews and audits, assessing systems for gaps, and recommending solutions.

Recommended Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, communications, or related fields, or similar certified coursework in applicable fields of study. Foundation knowledge and skills may include working knowledge of common software application packages, equipment platforms, reference database systems and sources, and training methods and a basic understanding of networks, data communication, and multimedia systems.

Other options From Here

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You May Be Responsible For

  • Managing identity and access management infrastructure.
  • Partnering with teams across the university, information security office, server operations, and integrations and application teams to create solutions that meet security and business requirements.
  • Working closely with clients and other ITS staff in support of the university’s mission and strategic direction.

Mid-Level teaching and learning roles include job titles like project manager, instructional designer, and faculty development manager, and typically require expertise in educational technology and learning design. People in these positions are beginning to have leadership responsibilities and may coordinate teams or training. At this level, people continue to develop the competencies and relationships they will need to assume senior and executive roles in the field.

Recommended Education

Bachelor's or master’s depending on career goals and institutional expectations. Consider obtaining relevant certifications to user and instructional design, curriculum development, and project management.

Other options From Here

Interested in career focused on innovation? Take a look at the Innovation Pathway Mid-Level track for options.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Designing and facilitating academic training and development for institutional teaching faculty.
  • Providing expertise in educational technology and offering input into institutional adoption.
  • Coordinating a team of learning professionals, including positions in library services, teaching and learning centers, and educational technology units.
  • Advocating for student-centered learning and design across the institution.
  • Providing project management leadership and support to course design or educational technology projects.

Mid-level positions in innovation include job titles such as digital innovation librarian, associate director of research and innovation, and program manager for innovation and digitization.  Professionals in these positions are often in management-oriented roles with responsibilities for supporting or maintaining a specific area related to innovation. They may also supervise entry-level staff.

Recommended Education

Master’s, MBA, or doctoral degree based on personal goals and institution’s expectations.

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Implementing digital learning initiatives.
  • Serving as project manager for innovation projects.
  • Supervising instructional design staff.
  • Managing an analytics team.

Mid-level positions in information technology include job titles such as operations support manager, manager of client services, or manager of reporting and analytics. Professionals in these positions are often in management-oriented roles with responsibilities for supporting or maintaining a specific area within information technology. They may supervise entry-level staff.

Recommended Education

Bachelor's, master's degree (or equivalent experience), ITIL or IT service management training, depending on career goals and institutional requirements (see take action for more information).

Other options From Here

Interested in pursuing an alternative career? Take a look at the Innovation Pathway's mid-level for ideas.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Collaborating with stakeholders across the institution to set strategic direction for information technology initiatives.
  • Leading a team of specialists to support information technology programs through the technology lifecycle.
  • Managing information technology projects including hardware and software infrastructure implementation and support.
  • Providing oversight for systems including enterprise applications, data management, and learning technology.
  • Providing oversight for systems and processes including enterprise applications, data governance, data management, and learning technology.
  • Cross-unit collaboration and/or cross-level or departmental collaboration.
  • Executing on strategic initiatives set forth by senior leadership team and managing expectations.
  • Providing subject matter expertise on mid-to-large scale technology implementation projects.
  • Supervising staff with multiple skill levels and expertise areas and aligning those skillsets to achieve goals and complete projects.

Associate Director for Digital Innovation

Salary Range:
$59,000–$109,000

Direct and facilitate the development, commercialization and transfer to practical uses of software, content and other digital technologies. This role may also support the use of data from various institutional departments in a manner consistent with institutional policies and values; provide oversight of all institutional functions, activities and units that participate in the technology transfer process.

See Active Job Descriptions

Senior Curricular Innovation Specialist

Salary Range:
$48,000–$97,000

In collaboration with faculty, develop and improve existing curricula for academic programs. Support academic improvements made through research, development, and testing of new curricula and teaching and learning methods. Analyze student data to assess and improve implementation and evaluation of learning materials. Identify innovative ways to improve learning assets for students and educators using education technology with the goals of improved student engagement, an improved student experience, and improved student outcomes. Responsible for suggesting innovative ideas that will enhance teaching and learning with a desire to enhance and improve the education system.

See Active Job Descriptions

Project Manager, Campus Innovation

Salary Range:
$68,000–$86,000

Manage projects related to institutional innovation and transformation. Communicate with internal and external staff and stakeholders, develop and monitor project timelines and outcomes, and track next steps.

See Active Job Descriptions

Associate Director of Research and Innovation

Salary Range:
$77,000–$184,000

Work with faculty to develop and secure funding for research projects related to innovation; help develop and refine research concepts and funding proposals to ensure they match the needs of sponsor organizations. Develop and sustain strong working relationships with target sponsor organizations, faculty, and with other universities and relevant industry partners.

See Active Job Descriptions

Associate Director, Innovations and Partnerships

Salary Range:
$50,000–$176,000

Advance innovation initiatives through the innovation life cycle and help develop partnerships with local business to create relevant programs or policies.

See Active Job Descriptions

Program Manager, Innovation and Digitization

Salary Range:
$45,000–$88,000

Provide support, management, and coordination for projects in the institution's innovation and digitization portfolio.

See Active Job Descriptions

Having a satisfying cybersecurity career can feel elusive, even for a seasoned cybersecurity professional. In this session, we’ll talk about things that all security professionals, of all levels and backgrounds, need to know and do, in order to achieve professional success.

Watch the Webinar

Melissa Barnett, Data Governance Manager, Georgia State University.

Steve Burrell, Vice President & CIO, Northern Arizona University

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Lifelong Learning
  • Identify tools, resources, and communities that can help you to develop your expertise and awareness of innovative practices and applications of technology in support of teaching and learning.
Explore resources and examples related to innovative practices and creative applications of educational technology in support of teaching and student learning.
Find Out More
Communication
  • Apply communication strategies to engage a diverse set of stakeholders across campus to support innovation.
  • Cultivate methods of promoting cross-institutional partnerships and collaboration.
  • Engage in communication practices that strengthen trust with internal and external partners.
Consider a course in Project Communications and Stakeholder Management to prepare you to be effective in all project-related communications, from initial planning through closure and to apply best practices for identifying and engaging stakeholders.
Find Out More
Finance
  • Manage unit-level costs to achieve organizational goals.
  • Grow knowledge of organizational infrastructure, financial processes, and funding models.
Learn about different approaches to keep college affordable, from guidelines on college costs for prospective students to new higher education business models.
Find Out More
Project Management & Strategy
  • Use planning techniques to manage project budgets, stakeholders, and deliverables.
  • Assess strategies for reducing risk and monitoring the progress of technology projects.
  • Analyze continuous improvement processes to ensure the long-term success of technology projects.
Understand what digital transformation means for higher education and for your institution, how to identify signs of readiness and lend support.
Find Out More
Leadership, People, & Change Management
  • Apply leadership practices that use personal leadership traits and abilities.
  • Build influence and trust with senior team members.
  • Implement strategies for overcoming enterprise-level challenges.
  • Assemble and retain a team to create a high-performing organization.
  • Implement proactive strategies to advocate for change and innovation.
  • Understand the importance of a clear vision and the elements that go into one.
Take some time to deepen your understanding and skills in a specific information technology topic area like HyFlex courses, framework, asynchronous and/or synchronous by signing up for a Learning Lab.
Find Out More
Assess

Take our competency self-assessment for mid-level teaching and learning professionals to evaluate your skills and abilities and to help you identify your strengths and growth opportunities in the areas of academic communication, data-driven solutions, digital leadership and transformation, technology initiatives and more.

Assess

Assess your data literacy skills and abilities by taking the Data Literacy competency self-assessment. Understand your strengths and weaknesses in the areas of data security and privacy, data management, data analysis, and more.

Make Connections

Lead and facilitate a Community Group that dovetails with your interests and expertise, like a DEI-or a leadership-focused community group.

Engage in Mentoring

Find a mentor who can speak to the challenges of being in a role where you are leading innovation. Consider a mentor who is in a different size institution or organization from yours to learn about different innovation cultures and approaches.

Engage in Mentoring

Become a mentor through our Mentoring program and help provide guidance to an entry-level IT higher ed professional.

Engage in Mentoring

Create and lead an EDUCAUSE Mentoring Circle around innovation.

Give Back

Become a Working Group member and collaborate closely with your peers from a variety of institutions to define solutions and create useful resources for the community.

Give Back

Support EDUCAUSE conference planning by reading proposals for special topic events or serving on a program committee.

Think & Speak

Give a presentation at a local campus or regional event or participate in a panel discussion to develop your professional profile.

Think & Speak

Take a deep dive into Emerging Technologies and Trends, a channel of the EDUCAUSE Review or propose an article you'd like to see covered.

Show Up

Attend in-person or online professional development opportunities focused on key topics in innovation.

Show Up

Go to the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, designed for, and attended by, the global community of higher education professionals.

Learn

Check out our Enterprise Summit Summaries for the highlights from past summit series hosted by EDUCAUSE, the National Association for College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and the Association of Institutional Researchers (AIR).

Learn

Earn your microcredential at the Data Literacy Institute, which empowers higher education professionals at all levels to use data confidently.

Learn

Attend one of our online Learning Labs on topics such as Digital Transformation, HyFlex Learning, Data Governance, Gamification, and more

Learn

Explore how to put the principles of DEI into practice and the learning and engagement opportunities to deepen your understanding.

Advanced Level

7-19 years
9-21 years
7-19 years
7-19 years

Advanced-level information security positions include information security manager, information security associate director, information security officer, information security architect, information security engineer, assistant director of information security, information security senior director, and others. People in those roles monitor the organization's information technology security system, are in charge of the institution's security risk management program, and act as advisors to executives.

Recommended Education

Bachelor’s degree in Information Security, Information Systems, or Computer Science or relevant experience. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or other equivalent certifications typically preferred. Information security, networking, server administration, and project management experience typically preferred.

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Leading and directing the activities of integrated risk management team leads, analysts, coordinators, and other information security professionals.
  • Advising information technology and other executives on the status of technology risk and compliance issues.
  • Contributing to enterprise-level policies and standards, leading incident response activities, and remediating security issues.
  • Implementing, designing, managing and allocating all the technology security measures within an organization.
  • Monitoring the organization's information technology system to look for threats to security, and establishing protocols for identifying and neutralizing threats.

Advanced teaching and learning positions include job titles like senior instructional designer, director of academic technology, teaching and learning center director, and director of online learning. Professionals in these roles provide strategic oversight at the departmental level and usually lead teams. While not at the executive level yet, people in these roles are often the most senior representative subject matter expert in educational technology or learning design.

Recommended Education

Master’s, EdD, or PhD depending on career goals and institutional expectations.

Other options From Here

Interested in a career focused on organization-wide innovation? Take a look at the Innovation Pathway's advanced level.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Leading a team of learning professionals through the processes of course design, digital learning platform implementation, curriculum development, and staff training.
  • Maintaining current and relevant knowledge of higher education learning science.
  • Communicating with institutional leaders regarding the importance of student-centered teaching and learning practices.
  • Assisting with, or assigning team members to assist with, classroom technology, learning space design, faculty development, learning approaches, and evaluation needs.
  • Contributing to the institutional mission and vision regarding student success and teaching excellence.

Advanced-level positions in innovation include job titles such as director of innovation and instructional technology, director of lean transformation, and director of digital innovation and ecosystems. Professionals in these positions are responsible for directing and leading the operations of large innovation-related projects, often with managers and other staff reporting to them.

Recommended Education

Master’s, MBA, or doctoral degree based on personal goals and institution’s expectations

Other options From Here

Interested in a career path that focuses more specifically on teaching and learning? Take a look at the Teaching and Learning Pathway in the advanced level for options.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Directing an innovation center or an office for teaching effectiveness.
  • Directing work and/or initiatives supporting transformation across the organization.
  • Establishing a strategy for and operationalizing the scholarship of innovation on your campus.
  • Leading library innovation initiatives.

Advanced level positions in information technology include job titles such as director of analytics, director of client services, and director of network work services. Professionals in these positions are responsible for directing and leading the strategy and operations of large areas of information technology, often with managers and other staff reporting to them.

Recommended Education

Bachelor's, master's degree (or equivalent experience), certification in project management or change management, ITIL or IT service management training, depending on career goals and institutional requirements (see take action for more information).

Other options From Here

Interested in pursuing an alternative career? Take a look at the Teaching and Learning Pathway's advanced level for ideas.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Leading a team charged with the supervision of institutional information technology systems, including data, client experience, and web services.
  • Leading and developing central information technology teams of staff and student employees to oversee client relationships, service and help desk support, classroom technology, and information technology project management.
  • Collaborating with institutional stakeholders to make decisions for technology procurement and implementation.
  • Providing insight and leadership for institution web applications.
  • Provide strategy for technology roadmap to improve business operations, managing large scale IT projects or initiatives (i.e. data governance or data analytics).
  • Influencing and educating peers and others on needed alignments between operational and strategic goals.
  • Tracking and reporting of operational and strategic metrics.
  • Develop, manage and approve budgets and purchasing agreements.

Director of Learning, Innovation and Teaching Excellence Center

Salary Range:
$67,000–$150,000

Guide faculty to achieve student learning outcomes through development of faculty members’ expertise in teaching methodologies and pedagogies. May be responsible for the learning management system application, assuring education of new and returning faculty to use the system to its greatest advantage.

See Active Job Descriptions

Director, Center for Innovation

Salary Range:
$85,000–$227,000

Direct operations of an innovation center. Provide leadership in program design, implementation, and oversight, as well as the development and coordination of a virtual higher education center. Work collaboratively with other institutional departments to further foster quality of programming as well as support student enrollment and retention.

See Active Job Descriptions

Director of Design Thinking Research

Salary Range:
$42,000–$136,000

Apply a design thinking approach to innovation projects. This includes bringing a design-based approach to facilitations and conducting qualitative research for strategic innovation initiatives, while growing the practice of design thinking at the institution through trainings and consulting.

See Active Job Descriptions

Director for Innovation and Analytics

Salary Range:
$76,000–$136,000

Partner with campus departmental and unit leadership to develop and monitor strategic plans designed to maximize student success and measure progress through data and analytics. May coordinate the mapping and integration of data and information across the stages of the student life cycle to help ensure student success.

See Active Job Descriptions

Director, Strategy and Transformation

Salary Range:
$93,000–$167,000

Advance the university’s strategy and vision through change initiatives that deliver measurable business improvement. Direct change management operations to ensure business capabilities and operating model are as efficient and effective as possible, being fit-for-purpose in achieving strategic aims.

See Active Job Descriptions

Director, Digital Innovation and Ecosystems

Salary Range:
$49,000–$149,000

Oversee and implement technologies across the institution in support of the strategic mission and innovation-related goals. Work with institutional leadership to develop technology resources; design programs; develop/deliver training for faculty, staff, and students; and research, recommend, and implement solutions to further innovation goals.

See Active Job Descriptions

What inspires you? Inspiration, motivation, and admiration are all qualities that either help us get to the next step in our career or our personal lives or simply help us get the morning started.

Listen to the Podcast

Andre Jenkins, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, University of Pennsylvania.

Victoria Getis, Senior Director, Teaching & Learning Technologies, Northwestern University.

The gap will continue to widen between institutions that are starting to engage in digital transformation and those that have not. We asked five institutional leaders to share their unique projects that reflect a shift to Dx.

Listen to the Podcast
Lifelong Learning
  • Identify ways you and your team can support and address high-level campus-wide issues and priorities. Look for opportunities to connect the value of your division to organizational goals.
  • Research and contribution to technology articles and reviews.
Communication
  • Identify ways to expand your professional network and organizational influence.
  • Incorporate your audience's needs and understanding into your communication approach and deliver presentations to increasingly higher level audiences.
  • Find communication strategies to communicate long-term vision and build consensus.
Participate in the Senior Directors Institute to develop your skills and techniques to effectively communicate, to motivate and engage employees, to spearhead strategies for institutional change, to exercise strategic decision-making, and to lead the way in overcoming enterprise-level challenges.
Find Out More
Finance
  • Manage departmental costs to achieve organizational goals.
  • Understand your organization's budgetary infrastructure, financial processes, and funding models. Develop relationships with those in your organization who have finance roles.
Project Management & Strategy
  • Describe how a service mindset applies to leadership in technology.
  • Practice and demonstrate to those around you, your creative problem-solving, pattern recognition, and design thinking skills.
  • Use relevant data to make effective decisions, propose solutions, and benchmark.
Leadership, People, & Change Management
  • Adopt hiring and recruiting practices that support the growth of a talented and diverse team that can execute on innovation.
  • Successfully navigate campus politics and develop conflict resolution and negotiation abilities.
  • Develop strategic goals through research, planning, and systems-thinking that will improve organizational results.
  • Think broadly about higher education and future technology trends to anticipate institutional needs.
Lead design thinking initiatives that serve key stakeholders in a way that is centered on supporting students and the institutional mission.
Find Out More
Assess

Take our competency self-assessment for mid-level teaching and learning professionals to evaluate your skills and abilities and to help you identify your strengths and growth opportunities in the areas of academic communication, data-driven solutions, digital leadership and transformation, technology initiatives and more.

Make Connections

Attend a Member QuickTalk to connect with others on timely innovation topics, like digital transformation.

Engage in Mentoring

Become a mentor through our Mentoring program and help provide guidance to higher education professionals who are early in their careers.

Give Back

Join an advisory or program committee and help shape content for the EDUCAUSE professional community. You can provide guidance and support to a particular area, lend your expertise to the development of our flagship events, or volunteer to review presentation proposals.

Give Back

Start or lead enterprise or innovation projects in domains such as digital transformation, which help advance your institution’s mission--check out our Dx library page.

Think & Speak

Propose an article for the EDUCAUSE Review.

Think & Speak

Present at an EDUCAUSE event such as the Annual Conference.

Think & Speak

Give guest lectures or talks at your institution to engage with, raise awareness of, and better understand teaching and learning concerns and opportunities for students and faculty.

Think & Speak

Facilitate QuickTalks, ELI Webinars, Learning Labs, and Institutes to stay connected and share knowledge. Find out more about how to apply to be Institute faculty.

Show Up

Go to the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, designed for, and attended by, the global community of higher education professionals.

Show Up

Take part in our innovation-related webinars featuring lively panel debates and cutting-edge insights. You can sign up for forthcoming webinars or review recordings and slides from past presentations.

Learn

Download the Building a Culture of Innovation in Higher Education report, which includes a tool for leaders to assess their organization's progress in building a culture of innovation.

Learn

Explore EDUCAUSE’s library pages of relevant resources about Innovation, and Infrastructure and Research Technologies.

Learn

Participate in this Learning Lab to practice human-centered design methodologies and user-experience principles to nurture ideas from inception to prototyping and prove the viability of an idea.

Learn

Explore how to put the principles of DEI into practice and the learning and engagement opportunities to deepen your understanding.

Unit Executive Level

Executive Level

11-27 years
11-50 years
11-27 years
11-27 years

Unit executive level positions are typically members of the senior leadership team and work with constituents across the institution—faculty, staff, and students—to develop and deliver a comprehensive security and privacy program, including liaising with the campus general counsel on risk management and compliance activities. These positions may exist in Colleges of Medicine, Colleges of Law, or perhaps at a campus within a multi-campus district. Unit executives will need to have some familiarity with each level of information security work, from the strategic to the technical.

Recommended Education

Advanced degree in computer science, information technology, or related field. CIPP/US, CISSP, CISM, GIAC, or equivalent certifications, depending on career goals and institutional expectations.

Other options From Here

Interested in pursuing an alternative leadership career? Take a look at the information technology pathway's executive level for options.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Directing the development and delivery of an awareness and training program for students, faculty, staff, vendors, and other parties interacting with the institution’s data and services.
  • Planning and overseeing information security audits and risk assessments, such as penetration testing, tabletop exercises, and threat modeling, to drive information security prioritization and contribute to the institution’s risk management program.
  • Advising the institution’s counsel and leadership team on information security matters.
  • Defining and maintaining policies, standards, and practices for information and data security throughout the institution, encompassing on-premises and cloud technology, third-party engagements, and academic systems.
  • Serving as an active contributor and subject matter expert on projects that have security/privacy implications.
  • Reporting regularly on the posture of information security at the institution to the senior staff and the board of trustees.

Unit executive level roles in teaching and learning include job titles such as associate vice president online education, and associate provost for academic technology and innovation. These roles are often referred to as the Chief Academic Technology Officer, which can be a formal job title or a more informal institutional designation. Leaders in these roles guide institutional strategy in academic technology, online learning, and learning innovation.

Recommended Education

PhD or EdD depending on career goals and institutional expectations.

Other options From Here

Interested in an exploring an alternative career? Take a look at the Information Technology Pathway's executive level.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Providing strategic leadership for teaching and learning and academic technology across the institution, often overseeing multiple functional units.
  • Overseeing professional development programming for institutional teaching faculty.
  • Advocating for digital learning practices and informing academic colleagues of implementation processes.
  • Supervising academic planning, budget cycles, and digital learning plans for the institution and advising the president's office on teaching and learning needs.
  • Contributing leadership for accreditation requirements and strategic partnerships.

Executive-level positions in innovation include job titles such as assistant vice chancellor for instructional innovation and support, chief digital transformation officer, and chief innovation architect. Professionals in these positions are responsible for providing leadership for large areas and sometimes multiple departments within the institution, usually involving strategic planning, budget oversight, and institutional leadership for innovation initiatives.

Recommended Education

Master’s, MBA, MFA, JD, or doctoral degree based on personal goals and institution’s expectations

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Establishing and providing strategic direction for innovation initiatives on campus.
  • Reporting out results of innovation initiatives to stakeholders through presentation and benchmark data.
  • Overseeing all of the digital learning units on campus.
  • Guiding innovation priorities at the system level.
  • Applying change management principles across the institution to drive innovation.

This pathway represents a role that is increasingly complex and diverse and requires individuals who can embrace technological and human aspects of innovative practice and transformational changes.  It requires individuals to build and maintain relationships inside and outside of institutions.  This often includes effective relationships with board members or Regents, and community leaders such as City Officials.  The Institutional executive must also be prepared to make complex decisions in a politicized atmosphere.  While it is unreasonable to expect executives to know everything, that have to be skilled at forming questions and questioning.  The ability to communicate very complex concepts in generally understandable terms is critical.  The role is expanding beyond cost and performance responsibilities to drive transformation through IT as a core driver of of value through shaping of culture, workforce, and technological shifts that enable new educational and operational models.  The institutional executive also acts as a mentor and coach, to elicit growth and performance of those within the IT organization and to drive digital literacy across the enterprise.  Finally, they must be able to speak truth to power, to uncover weaknesses and be vulnerable and humble in the pursuit of excellence.  They are hired for strategy and fired for operations and thus must balance their efforts to drive innovation and change, while maintaining operational integrity, security, and reliability of IT services.  They must realize that they are primarily in the people business. They are able to recognize chaos driven by factors outside of institutional and leadership control, and plan for various scenarios and possible realities in advance.

Recommended Education

Master's or advanced/doctoral degree (or equivalent experience), in business or management, higher education administration or law. ITIL or IT service management training, depending on career goals and institutional requirements (see take action for more information).

Other options From Here

Interested in pursuing an alternative career? Take a look at the Information Security Pathway's executive level for ideas.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Developing teams to include the ability to attract and recruit top talent, motivate, delegate effectively, cultivate diversity within the team, manage performance, and be a strong developer of others.
  • Creating and articulating an inspiring vision for the organization, not only for the areas the CIO is directly responsible for but also for empowering and supporting the institution and the strategic plan.
  • Defining a shared, business-driven, institution-wide data strategy to improve access to data and standardize reporting.
  • Establish standards and processes to support more effective and efficient procurement of IT.
  • Support distributed student success at the institution and determine data governance required for universal tracking and reporting metrics.
  • Redesigning technology funding models to improve services and reduce duplication.
  • Developing a business-driven, institution-wide student retention management (CRM) strategy for most common use cases.
  • Enabling the enhancement of high-performance computing capabilities to advance institutional research and innovation.
  • Collaboratively implementing an enterprise identity and access management approach across the institution.
  • Developing an enterprise approach to security operations and maintain a risk-based security strategy that proactively stays ahead of evolving security threats.
  • Seeking and analyzing data from various sources to support decisions and align others with the organization's overall strategy.
  • Effectively balancing the desire and need for broad change with an understanding of how much change the organization can handle, what steps can be taken to expand the organization’s capacity to adopt change, and how to create realistic goals and implementation plans that are achievable and successful.
  • Enhancing institution-wide technology governance to improve collaboration, efficiency, and progress towards achieving a shared technology vision, and alignment with a system-wide strategic plan.

Associate Vice Provost for Pedagogical Innovation and Effectiveness

Salary Range:
$102,000–$198,000

Provide leadership in shaping campus strategy and provide campus-wide support for innovation in face-to-face, blended and online education. Duties include assisting academic units in developing new types of educational programs, especially online programs, guiding campus policies around online programs, and promoting the use of data-informed research and analytics to improve program quality and enhance teaching and learning for our campus.

See Active Job Descriptions

Dean of Library and Academic Innovation

Salary Range:
$100,000–$203,000

Provide innovative leadership in the development, execution, evaluation and improvement of library, academic support, and student engagement strategies that result in increased student success, equity, and goal attainment. Organize and execute intentional and broad engagement across the institutional community.

See Active Job Descriptions

Executive Director of Innovation

Salary Range:
$89,000–$180,000

Collaborate with functional units to capture and prioritize ideas for innovation. Oversee experimentation and new initiatives within the organization to support positive student, faculty, and staff experiences, and drive growth across key performance indicators. Influence key decisions and business processes, leading to increased measures of institutional success.

See Active Job Descriptions

Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Innovation

Salary Range:
$89,000–$167,000

Lead institutional strategic innovation efforts, and develop, implement, and direct a comprehensive effort to assess program and institutional effectiveness that fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

See Active Job Descriptions

Chief Digital Transformation Officer

Salary Range:
$142,000–$200,000

Advise institutional leadership on all issues, processes, and organizational questions pertaining to digital transformation. Lead efforts related to coordinating, integrating, and managing the comprehensive digitalization of learning and teaching, research, and administration at the university.

See Active Job Descriptions

Assistant Vice President, Technology and Innovation

Salary Range:
$69,000–$160,000

Develop and implement innovative experiences and services for clients end users. Design and execute a strategic vision aligned with the overall institution's strategic plan for end user experience, enterprise solutions, and research support and services. Oversee activities relating to coordination of resources, services, and budgets pertaining to these areas.

See Active Job Descriptions

Chief Innovation Architect

Salary Range:
$46,000–$126,000

Lead innovation initiatives using project management best practices and enterprise architecture frameworks. Lead design efforts, oversee and perform research studies, and make recommendations for proposed implementations.

See Active Job Descriptions

John O'Brien, EDUCAUSE CEO and President, talks with Mike Corn, CISO for the University of California San Diego, and Cheryl Washington, CISO, for the University of California Davis, about the increasing relevance of the Chief Information Security Officer role.

Listen to the Podcast

Kate Hash, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Customer Experience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Many colleges and universities want to innovate. But are they ready to innovate? Watch this video on keeping pace with innovation.

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Lifelong Learning
  • Continue to build your network with executive-level professionals inside and outside your division and institution. Look for opportunities to lead your profession.
Stay current with key trends, emerging technologies, and practices shaping the future of higher education.
Find Out More
Communication
  • Deliver presentations to increasingly higher-level audiences.
  • Identify communication practices that strengthen trust with internal and external stakeholders and partners.
Learn and apply a process to help you imagine new strategic possibilities, to test and de-risk these possibilities, and to build compelling business cases to grow confidence and consensus.
Find Out More
Finance
  • Demonstrate advanced business acumen, including the ability to plan through strategic thinking; to understand all areas of operations and how they are interconnected; and to recognize critical financial elements.
  • Engage with strategic partners and funders outside the institution.
Project Management & Strategy
  • Show creative problem-solving, pattern recognition, and design thinking skills.
  • Use relevant data to make effective decisions, propose solutions, and benchmark.
  • Use planning techniques to manage project budgets, stakeholders, and deliverables.
Leadership, People, & Change Management
  • Demonstrate ethical decision-making and behavior.
  • Develop strategic goals through research, planning, and systems-thinking.
  • Foster strong team and morale building.
  • Plan for sustainable organizational change through global thinking and the development of a culture of innovation.
Take some time to deepen your understanding and skills in a specific information technology topic area like UDL and its implementation across campus to increase persistence, retention, and satisfaction for all learners by signing up for a Learning Lab.
Find Out More
Assess

Complete this self-assessment to understand your institution’s capabilities for digital transformation in strategic innovation; data and analytics; institutional alignment, flexibility and agility; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and transformation of work and skills.

Assess

Use our Analytics Services to identify peer institutions, learn more about technology solutions, and benchmark resources through the Core Data Service (CDS).

Make Connections

Seek an executive coach to support critical transitions. EDUCAUSE offers one-on-one coaching at its annual conference.

Make Connections

Join the CIO Community Group to discuss issues and challenges that affect executive leaders in higher education.

Engage in Mentoring

Become a mentor through our Mentoring program and help provide guidance to an experienced professional looking for career support.

Give Back

Serve on consortiums and nonprofit committees and boards, including the EDUCAUSE board. Learn more about the nomination process and how to apply.

Give Back

Volunteer for leadership and board roles with professional associations.

Give Back

Lead through volunteerism and chair an EDUCAUSE committee.

Think & Speak

Give guest lectures to engage with, raise awareness of, and better understand opportunities and needs for innovation.

Think & Speak

Facilitate QuickTalks, ELI Webinars, Learning Labs, and Institutes to stay connected and share knowledge. Find out more about how to apply to be Institute faculty.

Think & Speak

Prepare to present at an EDUCAUSE event, such as our annual conference, by leveraging our facilitation and design resources to polish your approach—or leverage our Presenter Concierge services.

Show Up

Attend trainings and conferences outside the higher education sector.

Learn

Stay apprised of user data, higher education technology trends and practices, and collaboration opportunities. EDUCAUSE’s Center for Analysis and Research uses data, analysis, and actionable recommendations to help you improve your IT service delivery and increase the strategic value of IT for your institution.

Learn

Participate in EDUCAUSE’s Executive Leaders Academy that focuses on how leaders can successfully develop individuals and teams, exhibit leadership in change and innovation, develop strategic goals for optimal outcomes, and advance their own leadership skills.

Learn

Renew your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Review EDUCAUSE’s DEI book recommendations list for suggestions provided by community members, and watch this CIO Minute video about understanding your DEI story.

Learn

Explore how to put the principles of DEI into practice and the learning and engagement opportunities to deepen your understanding.

Institutional Executive Level

19-50 years
3-11 years
19-50 years
19-50 years

Under the general direction of the vice chancellor, president, and/or CIO, institutional executive-level positions are typically responsible for the development and delivery of a comprehensive, university-wide or district-wide information security and privacy program. These positions help inform and provide strategic guidance around information security to the CIO, the members of the institutional senior management team, the Board of Trustees, and the broader institutional community.

Recommended Education

Advanced degree in computer science, information technology, or related field. CIPP/US, CISSP, CISM, CCSP, CEH, GIAC, or equivalent certifications, depending on career goals and institutional expectations.

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Staying current on the latest security and privacy legislation, regulations, advisories, alerts, and vulnerabilities pertaining to the institution and its mission.
  • Coordinating the development of institutional information security policies, standards, and procedures. Working with key information technology offices, data custodians, and governance groups in the development of such policies. Ensuring that university policies support compliance with external requirements.
  • Serving as the university compliance officer with respect to institutional, state, and federal information security policies and regulations, and submitting required reports to external agencies.
  • Leading and overseeing incident reporting and response systems to address security incidents, responding to alleged policy violations, or complaints from external parties, and serving as the official contact point for information security, privacy, and copyright infringement incidents, including maintaining relationships with law enforcement entities.
  • Coordinated with third party vendors and vendor contract procurement. Supports security screenings such as the HECVAT and VPAT.

Institutional Executive Teaching and Learning include job titles such as Chief Online Learning Officer; Vice-Chancellor, Academic Affairs; and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. These roles are typically positioned at the institutional or district level of the organization and are responsible for providing institution-wide leadership, supervision, guidance, and direction for all educational programs, faculty and staff, and instructional policies and procedures. They may also provide leadership and supervision for academic support services, including tutoring, testing and assessment, and library services.

Recommended Education

PhD or EdD depending on career goals and institutional expectations.

Other options From Here

Interested in other senior leadership options? Consider the Innovation Pathway's institutional executive level.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Overseeing university curricula.
  • Providing leadership for evaluating and ensuring quality in all aspects of instructional and educational programs.
  • Directing budget preparation for the academic and academic-related programs.
  • Recommending, developing and implementing instructional policies, procedures, and practices that foster and promote student learning throughout the organization.
  • Building an innovative culture and guiding innovation process throughout the organization.

Institutional executive-level positions in innovation include job titles such as chief learning and innovation officer, vice president for research and innovation, and vice president for strategy and innovation. Professionals in these positions work with other executives and provide leadership for institution-wide initiatives and strategy.

Recommended Education

Master’s, MBA, or doctoral degree based on personal goals and institution’s expectations.

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

  • Representing the institution externally.
  • Directing institutional strategic planning and goal-setting.
  • Guiding partnerships with other institutions or industry.
  • Overseeing the transformation of every business process.

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Recommended Education

Recommended education for Info Sec early level

Other options From Here

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

You May Be Responsible For

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Chief Learning and Innovation Officer

Salary Range:
$81,000–$273,000

Lead the rethinking and reimagining of student and adult learning across the institution. Supply the vision, ideas, innovations, and practices that will allow the institution to transform and modernize teaching and learning over time. Develop the vision, strategy, messaging, alignment and resource base to transform the University for a digital future. Collaborate with internal and external partners to build an innovative, enterprise-wide digital ecosystem that maximizes value, and minimizes silos. Bring a strategist mindset to the fore, anticipating future trends, adapting to new conditions and advising stakeholders on better opportunities. Ensure technologies reflect and advance the University's enduring commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

See Active Job Descriptions

Chief Innovation Officer

Salary Range:
$104,000–$275,000

Provide leadership as a member of a collaborative team to ensure that curriculum and instruction initiatives are aligned with institutional innovation priorities. Invest in and engage with internal and external stakeholders in discussions about innovative business models and educational practices.

See Active Job Descriptions

Vice Chancellor for Innovation

Salary Range:
$104,000–$280,000

Developing an innovation strategy and garnering support from business stakeholders, such as fellow C-level executives, employees, and partners; creating an innovation portfolio and roadmap to drive growth and spur investment; overseeing new innovations as they are introduced to the marketplace; ensuring innovation provides value to stakeholders and cultivates long-term relationships with those stakeholders; driving action on innovation plans in collaboration with relevant team members; building a strong network of connections who can support collaboration and provide valuable feedback innovation processes; establishing clear processes for generating ideas, creating prototypes and producing them; evaluating and balancing risk/reward for innovation and organizational objectives; supporting staff development; championing change management; and assessing competition and maintaining overall market awareness.

See Active Job Descriptions

Vice President for Research and Innovation

Salary Range:
$115,000–$290,000

Lead the strategic growth of research activities and oversee the management of research operations in the institution. Lead activities that enable and support innovation in research. Foster creativity and innovation by providing new insights into situations, questioning conventional approaches, encouraging new ideas, and supporting the design and implementation of new or novel programs/processes. Develop and share institutional expertise on contemporary library research consulting services, information pedagogy, data services, open educational resources, and/or access services.

See Active Job Descriptions

Vice President, Strategy and Innovation

Salary Range:
$138,000–$285,000

Further strategic innovation at the institution by identifying, analyzing, and recommending ways to address emerging trends in the higher education ecosystem. Provide oversight of approved long-term plans and strategies; recommend priorities and resources to other campus leaders; and play a central role in realizing the institution's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

See Active Job Descriptions

Vice President, Digital Innovation

Salary Range:
$111,000–$258,000

Lead cross-departmental efforts to develop innovative, agile, and flexible services that support the institution's digital ambitions. Serve as a central advisor and strategic partner in implementing the institution's strategic vision.

See Active Job Descriptions

Emily Harris, Director of Cybersecurity, Marist College

Looking at info techas a career path can be intimidating, but many working in this field didn't start out with intentions to work in cybersecurity. In this podcast, we ask several higher education cybersecurity professionals how they would encourage others to consider cybersecurity as a career option.

Listen to the Podcast

Watch this video with Keith McIntosh, Vice President & Chief Information Officer at the University of Richmond, as he discusses the 3 most important relationships to develop at your institution.

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Lifelong Learning
  • Consider pursuing formal training to deepen your business knowledge.
  • Seek out 360-degree feedback to help you deepen your understanding on your own performance from the perspective of your peers, subordinates and superiors.
  • Seek developmental job assignments to help you focus on honing a newly acquired skill from formal training and have the opportunity to concretely apply what you’ve learned on the job.
  • Practice self-directed learning through structured curriculum, a reading list, or a sequence of tutorials.
Communication
  • Outstanding oral and written communication skills with an ability to speak to a variety of audiences, transform ambiguity into clarity, and articulate campus needs and aspirations with persuasiveness and conviction; excellent listening skills; and the capacity and willingness to engage in intellectual debate and discussion and change course based on new information and persuasive argument.
  • Strong diplomacy and negotiation skills; ability to bring key stakeholders together across differences to achieve goals.
  • Strive to be a clear communicator with a knack for translating complex issues into common understanding.
Finance
  • Demonstrated organizational abilities working in a complex academic organization, including strategic planning and budgeting, budget management, personnel management, labor relations, proposal development, and grant management.
Learn an accessible and actionable process to do the work of innovation. Learn and apply a process to help you imagine new strategic possibilities, test and de-risk these possibilities, and build compelling business cases to grow confidence and consensus.
Find Out More
Project Management & Strategy
  • Develop an understanding of digital transformation in higher education and explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
  • Assess strategies for reducing risk and monitoring the progress of technology projects across the organization.
  • Analyze continuous improvement processes to ensure the long-term success of technology projects.
Review the EDUCAUSE Digital Transformation (Dx) research on how the Dx phenomenon is playing out in higher education.
Find Out More
Leadership, People, & Change Management
  • Elevate leadership ability and performance by developing traits such as situational awareness, influence, agility, transformational change management, emotional intelligence, and resilience.
  • Lead and educate on critical issues in higher education, such as new sources of competition, uses of technology in teaching and learning, online learning, changing modes of scholarly communications, and the student experience.
  • Good political acumen with a keen sense of how and when to engage the participation of different constituencies and the ability to build productive alliances.
  • Engage in learning from a variety of sources to understand the levers of change in higher education and society.
The Executive Leaders Academy enables executive-level leaders to assume greater leadership roles within their institutions by broadening perspectives, building high-level leadership abilities, and creating a community of leaders who learn together.
Find Out More
Assess

Complete this analytics capabilities institutional self-assessment to understand your capabilities in the areas of Workforce, Data Governance, Data Management, Leadership, and Data-Informed Culture.

Make Connections

Look for opportunities to build relationships with innovators outside of higher education by participating in leadership and networking programs.

Make Connections

Seek an executive coach to support critical transitions. EDUCAUSE offers one-on-one meetings with professional executive coaches at its annual conference and online.

Make Connections

Attend some non-IT conferences such as AAC & U, APLU, or NACUBO to gain a broader understanding of higher education.

Engage in Mentoring

Become a mentor through our Mentoring program and help provide guidance to an experienced IT professional looking for career support to get to the executive level.

Give Back

Contribute to advancing higher education by becoming a member of the EDUCAUSE Board of Directors.

Give Back

Serve on consortiums and nonprofit committees and boards.

Give Back

Volunteer with professional associations.

Think & Speak

Facilitate Webinars, Learning Labs, and Institutes to network and share knowledge. Find out more about how to apply and serve as a faculty member at EDUCAUSE.

Think & Speak

Attend or speak at higher education and industry events to advocate for higher education needs and learn of innovative practices.

Show Up

Attend trainings and conferences outside the higher education industry.

Learn

Expand your view of innovation by reading books and articles on the topic from the corporate or nonprofit sectors.

Learn

Explore EDUCAUSE’s Executive Leaders Academy that focuses on how leaders can successfully develop individuals and teams, exhibit leadership in change and innovation, and advance their own leadership skill levels.

Learn

Stay apprised of user data, higher education technology trends and practices, and collaboration opportunities. EDUCAUSE’s Center for Analysis and Research uses data, analysis, and actionable recommendations to help you improve your service delivery and increase the strategic value of information technology for your institution.

Learn

Explore how to put the principles of DEI into practice and the learning and engagement opportunities to deepen your understanding.

Ways to Keep Growing

Throughout and beyond your innovation career, there are ways to keep contributing and providing thought leadership to the profession that may fall outside of the particular career levels identified above. Explore ways to make connections, to continue leading, and to support other professionals and institutions with your hard-earned expertise and experience.

Make Connections

Look for opportunities to build relationships with innovators outside of higher education by participating in leadership and networking programs.

Show Up

Attend trainings and conferences outside the higher ed world.

Show Up

Facilitate webinars, Learning Labs, and institutes to network and share knowledge. Find out more about how to apply and serve as a faculty member at EDUCAUSE.