Ellen-Earle Chaffee

Ellen Chaffee’s distinguished career spans institutional, system, policy, and national professional leadership in both public and private higher education, as well as extensive research and publication. Past president of two universities and two national professional associations, she has led executive, academic affairs, student affairs, research, and equal opportunity functions. She has served on and consulted with numerous governing boards as well as national organizations in higher education research, health care, allied health, and foundations. 

Chaffee is a senior fellow at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). From 2009-2011, she directed a Lumina Foundation project for AGB that helped presidents and governing boards work together to meet key goals by improving academic, strategic, and financial performance in an environment of scarce resources. She co-directs a Teagle Foundation project for AGB to assist boards in defining how they can best oversee educational quality.

Chaffee was president of Valley City State University for 15 years and served nine of those years simultaneously as president of Mayville State University.  Her leadership created an award-winning culture of innovation, change, and accountability. She then spent a year as president in residence at Harvard University.  Previous positions include academic vice-chancellor for the North Dakota University System and director of organizational studies at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). Chaffee was president of the Association for Institutional Research and the Association for the Study of Higher Education, as well as the public member of the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE), the accrediting board for pharmacy. Trustee of a major healthcare system for eight years, Chaffee chaired the board and guided its 50/50 merger that resulted in a $2 billion healthcare system.

Throughout her career, Chaffee has focused on leadership and organizational effectiveness, strategic thinking, organizational change, turnaround management, innovation, continuous quality improvement, accountability, decision making, and the role of information and technology. Chaffee has published five books and dozens of articles in refereed journals, as well as 750 weekly columns in community newspapers. Chaffee earned both the MA and PhD in higher education administration and policy analysis at Stanford University.