All changes helped the university increase enrollment from 1,487 students in 2000 to 2,717 in 2009, build a second campus and award more than double the number of bachelor’s degrees — 605 were granted in 2009.

Manning offers advice for college leaders seeking change. 

Be bold but "know when to move slowly to honor heritage and legacy issues," Manning said. School officials kept Villa Julie College of Arts and Sciences to honor the school's history.

Davis described taking his university, the largest in Australia, and shifting curriculum to convey to students the purpose of education went beyond training them for a profession but to learning about the world. 

“You have to convey that the purpose hasn’t’ changed, but they way you go about it has,” Davis said. 

For Sessoms, he knew he had to implement a system with focus on students and increase retention and graduation rates. Enrollment was down to about 4,700 from about 15,000 in the 1970s when UDC opened.

Change isn't easy, nor is it overnight, Sessoms said. It's going to take another decade, but officials have begun to "transform an environment that no one thought was transformable."

Change also come in forms of diversity and changes to campus culture. In a separate conference session, "Diversity in Higher education in the Post-Obama Election World," Northern New Mexico College presidential appointee Dr. Nancy 'Rusty' Barcelo challenged college diversity officers to make diversity a core value of their institutions and build it into the institution's strategic plan.

"We have to frame diversity as an educational goal," Barcelo said. 

She also advised folks that centuries of racism won't vanish just because voters elected President Barack Obama. "Our work now is as urgent," she said. 

The conversation must shift from looking at equality and diversity as a "problem to fix." But rather to use it as a strategy to continue to transform organizations, Barcelo said.