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Professional Development
Priority Application Deadline: January 31, 2025
Higher education managers face a wide array of leadership and managerial challenges — from planning and implementing strategic action to allocating financial resources and enacting the vision of senior leadership. To succeed, administrators need skills that enable them to work throughout the institutional hierarchy while staying true to their own personal and professional identities.
The Management Development Program (MDP), a five-day program held on Harvard’s Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, helps higher education managers acquire the knowledge and insight needed to think more strategically, balance competing demands, and engage in more forward-thinking leadership.
"MDP changed the way I think about leadership. The program broadens your horizons and makes you consider the larger purpose behind your job. I’m not prone to hyperbole, but MDP was a life-changing experience." Hari Rajagopalan, Dean, School of Business Francis Marion University (SC)
"MDP changed the way I think about leadership. The program broadens your horizons and makes you consider the larger purpose behind your job. I’m not prone to hyperbole, but MDP was a life-changing experience."
Hari Rajagopalan, Dean, School of Business Francis Marion University (SC)
Designed for early-career leaders, MDP provides participants with the critical skills and mindsets needed to navigate complex institutional environments. Topics will include leadership effectiveness, negotiation tactics, fiscal decision-making, equity and inclusivity, ethics, and strategic planning.
A combination of case studies, small group discussions, interactive presentations, and immersive experiences will help you learn how to incorporate broader strategic considerations into your management decisions.
Throughout MDP, you will have the opportunity to learn and network with a diverse and dynamic cohort, deepen your working relationships through regular roundtable discussions, and continue these connections through a post-MDP participant webinar.
Dr. Eduardo “Eddie” Contreras is an educator with over 20 years of experience as a successful teacher, facilitator, curriculum developer, advisor, mentor, and collaborative administrator. Throughout his career, he has been committed to upholding internationalization and inclusive excellence in U.S. public and private higher education. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Contreras earned his B.A. in history and master’s degree in Asian cultures and languages from the university, followed by his Ed.M. in higher education and Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is fluent in Spanish and brings additional languages, including Hindi/Urdu (speaking/reading/writing) and Sanskrit (reading/writing ability).
Dr. Contreras joined Baylor University as Vice Provost for Global Engagement in 2023, coming from the University of Portland (UP), a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, where he initially served as director of the Office of Studies Abroad before becoming assistant provost in 2018. He served as UP’s first associate provost for international education, diversity, and inclusion, where he led Study Abroad, International Student Services, the Collaborative on International Studies and Global Outreach, Diversity and Inclusion, and the Diversity Center.
He has presented his research extensively at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the American Educational Research Association, the American Historical Association, and the Global Inclusion Conference. He has been a committee member for the annual Diversity Abroad Global Inclusion Conference since its inception in 2013 and a conference committee chair since 2016. In addition to his leadership of the Management Development Program, he serves on the Forum on Education Abroad Board, and North American Advisory Board for Education New Zealand.
Liya Escalera, Ed.M.’09, joins HGSE as a lecturer on education in 2024. Currently serving as the vice provost for student equity, access, and success at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Escalera brings a vast knowledge and expertise in navigating shared governance, strategic planning, and resource development — especially in open access public institutions of higher education.
Early-career college and university administrators responsible for the strategic direction, administrative management, and local leadership of their respective departments and areas, including:
This program only accepts individual applications. First-time applicants need to create a Professional Education account to apply.
Click the "Apply" button at the top of this page to log into your Professional Education account and access the application page. Proceed with the application form until submission. Please note that applicants should be prepared to submit their most recent CV with the application.
Invoices will only be available upon your acceptance.
The tuition covers all instructional materials, a daily continental breakfast and lunch, and beverages and light refreshments during our scheduled breaks between sessions.
Travel, lodging expenses, and most dinners are not included in this fee. We have blocked a limited number of rooms in select hotels in the Cambridge/Boston area. The daily rates for these hotels typically range from $250 to $375 per room, plus applicable taxes. Once your applicants are accepted into the program, they will receive detailed information about these hotel options.
Tuition assistance is available for this program on a need and application basis. Tuition assistance is granted based on participant and institutional needs. Requests for tuition assistance do not affect an applicant's prospects for admission. You may access the tuition assistance application after you have submitted your program application. Tuition assistance applications should be submitted at least one month prior to the final application deadline.