On August 27, the CCA Accelerator community gathered for a webinar on leadership and culture featuring guest presenter Dr. Susan Elkins, a CCA Fellow whose career reflects more than three decades of dedication to access in higher education and student success.
About Our Guest Presenter
In February 2013, Dr. Elkins was named the first Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Palmetto College, a role in which she served as chief administrative officer for 12 years until stepping down in May 2025. During her tenure, she built Palmetto College from the ground up, growing enrollment at the two-year campuses by 54 percent and helping more than 4,000 students complete their bachelor’s degrees through the online completion programs, all in service of her lifelong mission of making higher education accessible to students wherever they are.
Before her role at USC, Dr. Elkins served as Vice President of Extended Programs and Regional Development and as the founding Dean of the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Tennessee Tech University. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Education from Tennessee Tech, and she completed her doctoral work in Educational Leadership, with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration, at Vanderbilt University. She is also a past President of the Association for Continuing Higher Education International and Past President of the Society for Advancement of Management International.
Leadership Is a Practice, Not a Position
The heart of Dr. Elkins’ message was simple but powerful: leadership isn’t about the title you hold, it’s about the difference you make. No matter what role you’re in, you have the opportunity to lead well.
She encouraged attendees to think about developing their own leadership style by reflecting on people in their professional lives who have demonstrated positive leadership traits, and then considering how those same traits might show up in their own work. It’s a practice she framed as something every person in higher education can adopt, regardless of title or position.
Culture Is the Foundation for Student Success
Dr. Elkins also spoke about the importance of building a positive organizational culture, noting how difficult it is to implement a student success strategy when the culture underneath it isn’t working. Strategy alone isn’t enough: if the culture of an institution doesn’t support collaboration, trust, and shared purpose, even the best-designed student success initiatives will struggle to take hold. For campus leaders, that means culture work has to go hand in hand with strategy, not come as an afterthought.
Recommended Reading on Leadership and Culture
Dr. Elkins shared several books she’s found valuable for thinking through leadership and organizational culture in higher education:
- Bolman, L.G. & Deal, T.E. (2021). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (7th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
- Schein, E.H. with Schein, P. (2017). Organizational Culture and Leadership (5th ed.). Wiley & Sons.
- McNair, T.B., Albertine, S., McDonald, N.L., Major, T., Jr., & Cooper, M.A. (2022). Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
- Gottlieb, B. (2024). Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High-Performance Teams. Forbes.
Save the Date: Our Next Webinar
Mark your calendars! The next CCA Accelerator webinar will be held on October 29 at 1:00 PM EST, focused on Institutional Policy. Register here to save your spot.
Missed this session or want to revisit past webinars? Catch up on our full library on the CompleteCollege YouTube channel.
Thank you to everyone who joined us, and a special thank you to Dr. Susan Elkins for sharing her time, wisdom, and passion for student success with the CCA Accelerator community.
