EdUp Provost

About EdUp Provost

The EdUp Provost Podcast is a proud member of the EdUp Experience® podcast family, America’s leading higher education podcast network. Brought to you by the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO), EdUp Provost offers a platform for sharing best practices, discussing current academic challenges, and promoting the educational and organizational interests of Chief Academic Officers. Each episode provides thought-provoking conversations with leaders in higher education, equipping CAOs with insights and resources to navigate societal challenges and enhance their institutions.

Publisher

Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO)

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Sept 2024

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

104 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   6. Leading European Higher Ed Transformation: A Conversation with Nadine Burquel

   For this episode, EdUp Provost host Gregor Thuswaldner sat down with Nadine Burquel, Director General of HUMANE (Heads of University Management & Administration Network in Europe), to discuss the evolving landscape of European higher education leadership. Their conversation explored the structural differences between European dual-governance systems and North American institutional models, emphasizing the strategic elevation of administrative roles into high-performing "professional services" to support the core academic enterprise. Burquel outlined the major headwinds facing European institutions—including demographic shifts, severe budget strains, digital transformation, and geopolitical tensions—while highlighting how global partnerships are shifting from high-volume agreements to highly vetted, strategic alliances. She also emphasized the importance of cross-silo executive leadership, relentlessness in institutional transformation, and the necessity of keeping human-centered passion at the heart of higher education management. Takeaways Elevating Professional Services: European universities are transforming traditional administrative support into strategic "professional services" that work alongside academic leaders to navigate institutional complexity and execute strategy. Dual Governance Structures: Unlike the single-board models common in North America, European institutions typically operate under dual governance balancing executive boards with senates or councils for academic legitimacy. Shared Global Pressures: European higher education leaders face strategic challenges nearly identical to those in the U.S., including shrinking 18-year-old demographics, severe budget cuts, and elevated risk assessment in international research partnerships. Quality Over Quantity in Partnerships: Institutional internationalization has evolved past "naive" agreement-signing into carefully curated, strategic cross-border alliances aligned directly with core institutional missions. Breaking Down Functional Silos: Effective senior leaders must transcend specialized domains—such as HR, finance, and research—to cultivate cross-functional alignment and drive transformational institutional change.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   5. Turning Higher Ed Ideas Into Action: A Conversation with Stephen Whitehead

   In this episode of EdUp Provost, host Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner sits down with Stephen Whitehead of Commonwealth University and 5th Hammer Innovation to discuss why great ideas in higher education so often stall before they become real change. Drawing on his consulting work, his military background, and his experience coaching academic leaders, Dr. Whitehead unpacks why execution—not creativity—is the real bottleneck in the provost's office, and offers practical frameworks for building ownership, trust, and momentum around change. Takeaways: Ideas rarely die from a "no" — they die in the handoff, when no one owns the next step. Focus your energy on the persuadable 60%, not the immovable 20% who will never come along. Fall in love with the problem before designing the solution — curiosity beats speed. Academic leaders often mistake activity (meetings, plans, dashboards) for actual progress. A new provost's most important 90-day habit: build a listening-to-action system and act on something visible, fast.

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   4. Rethinking Shared Governance for Today's Higher Ed: A Conversation with B. David Rowe and Frank Boyd

   In this EdUp Provost episode, host Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner sits down with Dr. B. David Rowe, Founder and President of Windermere Consulting, and Dr. Frank Boyd, Vice President of the Higher Education Practice at McAllister & Quinn to discuss how shared governance works, where it breaks down, and how it needs to change. Drawing on their experience as a college and seminary president, trustee, faculty leader, and provost, they examine the president-provost partnership, the provost's position between faculty and board, and how boards and presidents can avoid mutual over-deference. They also explore how governance should function in a crisis, why faculty and board members perceive time so differently, and how a shared governance system can help an institution find and amplify its mission. The conversation draws on the paper they co-authored, which looks at governance through both the presidential and faculty perspectives, and closes with a look at whether current structures are equipped for today's pressures, plus book recommendations from each guest. Takeaways Good governance is fluid and shifts with the season an institution is in, and no single model fits every campus. Governance starts with structure: the bylaws, faculty handbook, and charter should be reconciled and read together before a crisis arrives. Faculty and boards experience time differently. Slower faculty processes are meant to get decisions right, while boards have to weigh the long-term fiduciary consequences of inaction. Provosts do their best work when they hold both the faculty and administrative identities at once, and when they are clear about what they are not working on. Boards are responsible for far more than finances. Fiduciary duty extends to the academic mission, and every academic decision has a financial component.

Who has been a guest on EdUp Provost

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dr David Dausey
• Catharine E O'Connell
• Dr Audra Spicer
• Raul Villamarin Rodriguez
• Raul Rodriguez

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 39 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

78

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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