Biggest Challenges Faced By An Assistant Provost For Institutional Equity At Willamette University
Emilio's biggest challenge as Assistant Provost, Institutional Equity, is the slow pace of institutional change; moving from a nimble nonprofit setting where "the change was made right away," to a bureaucratic environment with "a lot of meetings" and multiple layers of approval, creates frustration despite a continued belief in the possibility of positive change.
Higher Education, Institutional Change, Bureaucracy, Leadership in Higher Education, Equity and Inclusion
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
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Traits
Emilio Solano
Assistant Provost, Institutional Equity
Willamette University
Willamette University, 2009
Loyola Marymount University, Master of Arts, Urban Education: Policy & Administration and Lewis & Clark College, Doctorate of Education, Education Leadership
History, Art History
Education
Education
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. The slow pace of institutional change can be frustrating, as ideas need to go through multiple layers of approval, which can delay implementation.
2. Navigating bureaucratic structures and multiple reporting lines can be challenging and require patience and persistence.
3. It's important to effectively communicate the value and importance of ideas to different stakeholders who may have varying perspectives, and to anticipate and address their questions or concerns.
Transcript
What's the biggest challenge in your current role?
Institutions take a really long time to change. Coming from a college access program within a university, working for a nonprofit, was different. If my program director and I wanted to make a change for students, we could talk and it would be done right away.
We had 150 students to support with two to two and a half full-time staff and a number of college student workers. Now, in this new role, it's a lot of meetings and talking about the things we want to discuss.
There's a lot of, "Hey, I have an idea." Then, "Okay, cool. Why don't you run it up the ladder to these five other people to figure out if we can do it or not?" I think that's really difficult.
There are many stopgaps in place for good reason, but it can also be really frustrating. I believe institutions can change and we can create structures and systems to support students. However, it takes a while.
You might have a brilliant idea that makes sense to you, but then you meet with someone and they pick it apart. You don't always have answers for their questions, and you realize you need to keep thinking about it.
This is good, and I appreciate it, but it can be frustrating in the moment. You know it's a good idea and it makes sense, but not everyone sees it that way. Because they don't, they'll have questions.
This can feel like poking holes or attacking your perspective, when in reality, they might just be trying to understand why it matters or why it's important from their perspective.
It can be really tough to work in this bureaucratic space with many different reporting lines. Some of these lines are blurry, and some are not. This can be really challenging in this work, but I haven't lost belief yet that we can change.