Governing with Purpose Session 2: Strengthening Institutional Vitality for the Future

Higher education is entering a period of significant change, bringing new opportunities for boards to help shape a stronger, more resilient future. Enrollment shifts, affordability expectations, evolving dynamics in intercollegiate athletics, and questions about long-term sustainability are prompting institutions to think more strategically about mission, value, and vitality.

For boards, this moment calls for purposeful, mission-centered governance and a clear understanding of how today’s decisions can strengthen tomorrow’s institutions. This webinar will explore how boards can engage these issues with confidence, curiosity, and a future-focused mindset.

Learning Objectives

1. A future-focused understanding of how enrollment shifts, affordability expectations, athletics, and sustainability considerations are reshaping institutional vitality and creating opportunities for strategic board leadership.
2. Practical governance strategies for asking the right questions, monitoring key trends, evaluating institutional value, and aligning decisions with mission and long-term resilience.
3. Greater confidence in partnering with institutional leaders to anticipate risks, identify opportunities, and build a stronger, more sustainable future for their institutions.

Moderator:

Jackie Gardina, JD, senior director of institution and system programs, AGB

Panelists:

Ali R. Malekzadeh, PhD, president, Roosevelt University

Cynthia Shapira, chair, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

About the Series:

There is no fee to attend the webinars. Attending each session is not required for participation, and jumping in at any point in this series is encouraged. Live sessions are open to all. On-demand session recordings are only available to AGB members. Learn about the full series.

AGB’s Top Strategic Issues Webinar Series is designed to help members navigate the urgent forces reshaping higher education and board governance. Through discussions on mission, institutional autonomy, leadership, student success, financial vitality, and higher education’s evolving purpose, the series offers trustees and institutional leaders insights to govern with confidence, map strategic direction, and position their institutions for long-term resilience and impact.

Through this series, which is based on AGB’s new publication Top Strategic Issues for Boards 2026–2027, trustees, presidents, chancellors, and other institutional leaders will:

• Assess the urgent forces reshaping higher education and their implications for effective board governance.
• Gain insights to help trustees and institutional leaders govern with confidence and map strategic direction.
• Explore how boards can strengthen mission, leadership, student success, financial vitality, and long-term institutional resilience.