The Atlantic Coast Conference’s Academic Leadership Network (ACC-ALN), sponsored by the ACC’s Academic Consortium, is designed to facilitate cross-institutional networking and collaboration among academic leaders while building leadership capacity for participating institutions. The ACC-ALN builds upon existing campus programs by creating distinctive learning opportunities to further develop our leaders along a range of dimensions, in ways that no single university can accomplish on its own. Each year, up to five administrative faculty participate in this premier professional development program for academic leaders.
Meet the 2026 ACC-ALN Fellows - Clemson Cohort
Natasha Croom, Professor, College of Education and Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Graduate School
Michael LeMahieu, Professor and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Humanities
Karolina Mukhtar, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science
Danny Weathers, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Marketing, Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business
Participant Objectives
- Continue to grow in leadership effectiveness with other academic leaders at various levels in the participating universities.
- Leverage the network to build and develop cross-institutional communities of practice.
- Build relationships and network with other participants in ways that leverage institutional contacts for the benefit of all.
- Gain practical insight into emerging trends and the broader landscape of higher education.
- Broaden awareness of higher education leadership needs and challenges in a setting that provides exposure to multiple disciplines, organizational roles, and organizational structures.
Benefits to Clemson University and all other participating ACC institutions
- Access to an additional level of leadership development for promising academic leaders, building from existing campus programs.
- The ability to access and leverage information, perspectives, people, and approaches that no one university can offer on its own.
- Building internal leadership capacity, diversifying the leadership pool, facilitating succession planning, and developing internal networks and collaboration.
- Sharing and studying best practices and benchmarking across a diverse range of institutions, creating an enhanced ability to build departments, programs, and approaches that can result in competitive advantages.
- Seeing additional inter-institutional collaborations that will strengthen participating universities as well as the overall ACC Academic Consortium.
ACC-ALN Program Structure
The ACC-ALN program includes three on-site sessions over the course of the calendar year, each hosted at a different participating university campus. These sessions are designed to build leadership awareness and effectiveness in the context of higher education and facilitate conversations over a range of topics that support leadership growth in key areas across multiple spheres of influence. On-site sessions include content and discussion designed to further knowledge and skills of intra- and inter-personal leadership styles, building fair-minded leadership capacity, leading and navigating complex challenges in higher education, and collaborating on complex challenges for leaders in academia. In addition to a range of topics that build from session to session, the following are common to all on-site meetings:
- Intentional inter-institutional networking;
- Exploration of differences, pressures, strengths, and strategic opportunities across ACC institutions; -Interactive campus tours;
- Conversations with the President/Chancellor and Provost of the host institution;
- Discussion of current events in higher education;
- “Swap & Share” dialogues about current challenges, sharing resources, and approaches for best outcomes;
- Working and reporting sessions for the cross-institutional communities of practice
2026 ACC ALN Sessions
February 6, 2026
Kickoff on Zoom
March 23-25, 2026
Host: Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
June 29-July 1, 2026
Host: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.
October 5-7, 2026
Host: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Monthly – Campus Meet-Ups
Host: Clemson University Faculty Affairs
