Crisis Leadership in Higher Education

Program Overview

From campus protests to natural disasters, public health crises, and faculty misconduct, you cannot predict when a crisis will hit your institution—but you can control how you prepare and respond. And you can learn to handle crises in a way that will better protect your students and your institution's reputation.

The Crisis Leadership in Higher Education program equips senior academic leaders with the critical strategies needed to manage crises effectively, safeguarding both students and the institution’s reputation. You’ll gain the tools to respond to emergencies with confidence, develop crisis protocols, and foster long-term institutional success.

Strategies for a Crisis

The Crisis Leadership in Higher Education program offers essential frameworks for proactive crisis planning, ensuring that you have robust management systems in place before a crisis occurs. Designed by faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Kennedy School, this program draws on their extensive experience in crisis leadership, higher education policy, and strategic operations.

Program Curriculum

Crisis Leadership in Higher Education is a four-day on campus executive program led by a teaching team from Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Participants will engage in real-world crisis scenarios, such as campus violence or natural disasters, and learn to address the strategic and operational challenges that arise in higher education during crises. You'll also explore communication strategies tailored to the unique needs of educational institutions. 

Key outcomes include:

• Practical tools to diagnose and understand crises 
• Frameworks to help recognize critical distinctions between different types of crises
• Skills to ensure accountability and build situational awareness
• Understanding both policy and operational challenges during crises

Learning Objectives

Over four days, using real-world case studies, lectures and small group discussions, program faculty will guide you through a variety of concepts and scenarios, examining practical challenges ranging from natural disasters to emergent infectious disease to reputation-threatening campus incidents. Specific program objectives will help you to:

• Effectively diagnose crisis events
• Differentiate between crisis types and responses
• Build situational awareness across campus leadership
• Understand and manage both policy and operational concerns
• Maintain accountability during all phases of a crisis
• Implement effective crisis training exercises
• Guide your institution from immediate response through long-term recovery

Application Information

Faculty & Research