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Helping Higher Education Leaders Build Thriving Workplaces

The higher education workplace is at a breaking point—burnout, disengagement, and turnover are at an all-time high. Leaders want to make meaningful changes, but many don’t know where to start.

Dr. Kevin McClure delivers research-backed, engaging, and actionable keynotes that help colleges and universities create healthier, more sustainable workplaces.

Bring Kevin to Your Next Event​

  • Dynamic Keynotes that challenge and inspire
  • Workshops & Breakout Sessions tailored to your team’s needs
  • Practical, Research-Based Strategies for real change
Book Kevin to Speak

Signature Keynotes & Workshops

The Caring University: A Roadmap to Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace (Flagship Keynote)

Many colleges and universities continue to experience high turnover, low morale, and questions about how to engage employees. Drawing on his best-selling book, Dr. McClure explores the roots of higher education’s workplace problems, connecting his personal experiences to the latest research on designing workplaces that attract, grow, and retain talent. The presentation shares compelling narratives from Dr. McClure’s research and introduces his model of organizational care, providing attendees with multiple concrete strategies to advance organizational change and better support the wellbeing of staff and faculty.

Changing with Care: Infusing Organizational Change Processes with an Ethic of Care

Change is constant in higher education, and many teams and units are trying to figure out how to change better. This interactive presentation lays out the main roadblocks to transformational change in higher education and shares lessons on effective change processes from Dr. McClure’s book, The Caring University. Participants walk away with principles for infusing change with an ethic of care, strategies to shift mindsets and foster transformational change, and examples of successful, people-centered change.

Key People Indicators: Unlocking Organizational Excellence by Understanding the Employee Experience

This interactive presentation challenges participants to grapple with the question: “How well do you really know the employees you supervise or lead?” Too often, higher education institutions, divisions, and offices set lofty goals without truly considering the capacity of their most important resource: people. Grounded in principles of talent management derived from Dr. McClure’s forthcoming book, the presentation helps attendees move from awareness of workplace well-being to strategic action. It identifies barriers preventing leaders from understanding the employee experience and shares concrete strategies to overcome these barriers and improve organizational performance.

Co-Constructing a Caring University: How Faculty and Staff Can Shape Their Workplaces

Designed specifically for staff and faculty audiences, this interactive presentation shares Dr. McClure’s vision of the Caring University and the research underlying it. Participants then walk through a series of small- and large-group discussions aimed at helping them see avenues for creating cultural and structural conditions for employee well-being. This workshop helps participants see the ways in which they can build an ethic of care into their daily work and be involved in improving the higher education workplace.

From Care Rhetoric to Care Reality: Making the Employee Experience a Strategic Priority

Higher education institutions frequently espouse values of care and community, yet too often these commitments remain aspirational talking points rather than embedded organizational practices. This interactive presentation challenges participants to examine the gap between care rhetoric and care strategy in their own institutional contexts. Through guided reflection, collaborative discussion, and forward-thinking planning, participants will develop concrete approaches to centering the employee experience as a genuine strategic priority. Attendees will leave with both a sharpened critical lens and actionable next steps they can implement within their spheres of influence.

Key People Indicators: Unlocking Organizational Excellence by Understanding the Employee Experience

This interactive presentation challenges participants to grapple with the question: “How well do you really know the employees you supervise or lead?” Too often, higher education institutions, divisions, and offices set lofty goals without truly considering the capacity of their most important resource: people. Grounded in principles of talent management derived from Dr. McClure’s forthcoming book, the presentation helps attendees move from awareness of workplace well-being to strategic action. It identifies barriers preventing leaders from understanding the employee experience and shares concrete strategies to overcome these barriers and improve organizational performance.

Why Bring Kevin to Your Event?

An Engaging, Research-Based Approach

Kevin blends storytelling, data, and real-world strategies.

Relatable & Actionable Insights

Practical takeaways that leaders can apply immediately.

Proven Impact

Trusted by universities, professional associations, and leadership teams nationwide.

What Others Are Saying

We invited Kevin to speak at our annual State of the Profession Symposium, a by-invitation engagement for our most senior leaders whose work is rewarding yet increasingly demanding. Kevin’s deep understanding of the challenges facing the higher education sector and the nuances of this delegation’s work was undeniable and critically important for his session’s success. With a warm and engaging presentation style, he challenged assumptions and provided important a-ha moments, while encouraging the leaders in the audience to go beyond traditional data points to truly understand how to support employees and help them thrive in the workplace. Thought leaders like Kevin are unique and add a high-impact voice to any professional development agenda.
Holly Stapleton, Ph.D.Chief Operations Officer, ACUHO-I
Kevin did a great job! His presentation style is very engaging, and his research is very relevant for higher education HR leaders. The time flew by!
Andy BrantleyPresident, College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
It was a pleasure to have Kevin present on “Changing with Care: Lessons from The Caring University on Infusing Change Processes with an Ethic of Care” at our NCCI annual conference. His enthusiastic delivery, timely content, and ability to thoughtfully tailor his message to the interests of our diverse audience of change leaders made the session both engaging and highly relevant to the current higher education landscape.
Ralph Gigliotti, Ph.D.President, Network for Change and Continuous Innovation
Dr. Kevin McClure was a pleasure to work with—professional, flexible, and attentive to the needs of our attendees. He delivered a presentation that was relevant to our niche audience of higher education business officers and did so in a way that was thoughtful and engaging. His genuine effort to connect with attendees was seen when he joined them for a networking breakfast before the session as well as when he took the time to sign books and talk with individual audience members after his formal talk. His presentation gave our audience much to think about regarding postsecondary workplaces, and the true care he demonstrated for our audience left a lasting impressing on our event.
Lindsay Wayt, Ph.D.Senior Director of Business Intelligence, NACUBO
Kevin’s talk as part of our kickoff for our division’s work in the coming semester hit an excellent tone of connecting with attendees, motivating us towards even more caring support of each other, and challenging everyone to contribute to an enhanced work environment. I would highly recommend Kevin to speak to any group seeking to learn from and instill the principles from the Caring University in their professional settings.
David EberhardtAssistant Vice President for Administration, University of Texas at Arlington
From our post-survey and conversations with attendees after the event, we received a lot of positive feedback around the idea of institutional care and how we can reorient our work across the university to be more collaborative and less competitive. Multiple people said Dr. McClure's case studies of different people's experiences resonated ... We are excited to use Dr. McClure's keynote and book as a springboard for reimagining existing processes and identifying opportunities for more employee supports that improve working and learning conditions for employees and students alike.
Emily HoweManager of Special Projects and Research, PASSHE
It was a pleasure to have Kevin McClure as the keynote speaker for our Student Success Conference at Rutgers. The presentation was engaging, insightful, and highly relevant, leaving attendees energized with practical ideas to support student success. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, and the keynote was a highlight of the conference.
Phillip Smith, Ed.D.Associate Dean of Students, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
Kevin was phenomenal! He spoke with poise, professionalism, candor, and vulnerability. The audience enjoyed the stories he shared regarding his research and career. He was easily one of the highlights of our conference this year.
Christopher Lavan, Ph.D.Associate Vice Provost, Office for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
Truly a highlight, stand-out session. As a scholar-practitioner, it filled my heart with joy seeing a higher ed professor present research to a (mostly) non-scholar audience. We need more of this within our higher ed spaces. your content is needed now for academic and non-academic administrators. Just loved it!
Alan T.CUPA-HR Workshop Participant

Book Kevin for Your Next Event

Kevin is available for keynotes, workshops, and virtual presentations. Whether you’re hosting a leadership retreat, campus-wide event, or industry conference, he’ll deliver a compelling, insightful session tailored to your audience.

Kevin is represented by Jamie Brickhouse at redBrick Agency.

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