Ideas to Action

Making change happen in higher ed.

Moving higher ed from ideas to action.

Moving higher ed from ideas to action.

Meet Teri

Teri is an award winning teacher, speaker, and leader who works with individuals and organizations to help move ideas to action, and create positive and lasting change. Bringing years of experience coupled with creativity and vision, Teri makes things happen by empowering the people around her.

A graduate of Dartmouth College in Biology and Earth Sciences, with a Ph.D. in soil microbiology from the University of California at Berkeley and postdoctoral research in ecosystem ecology at Stanford University, Teri integrates a global worldview, systems thinking, and nearly three decades of lived experience as a senior leader. Named 2010 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie-CASE Institute, chosen as a Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair to India in 2015, and having served at all academic levels from assistant professor to president (interim), Dr. Balser is committed to helping colleges and universities remember their humanity and reimagine their contribution to social impact and public good. 

  • Speaking

    Teri is a passionate scholar and and award-winning educator who has delivered hundreds of talks and workshops worldwide during her career. She challenges her audience to think differently about the problems we face in higher ed.

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  • Consulting

    Humane and person-centered, Teri emphasizes pragmatic action and shared process to generate innovative and unique solutions to even the most intractable problems. She helps build capacity for action across all levels of an organization.

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  • Coaching

    Teri supports people and teams in achieving their goals by helping them get out of their own way. She guides people in backward designing their careers, and helps to build institutional capacity for values-based, authentic leadership.

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  • "Teri Balser is a leader with a rich record of leading with integrity. She lifts others up rather than tears people down, she engages generously with people she agrees with, and with those who think differently than she does. She does this with the aim of making decisions in ways that bring people together. My professional assessment is that she is a leader who outlines her commitment to collaboration and collegiality, and then actions that commitment.”

    Associate Professor, University of Calgary Faculty of Arts

  • “Dr. Balser brought vision and forward thinking to the University that enthused and energized staff, faculty, and students. Her energy, commitment, and integrity inspired us to see many new ways to engage in academic leadership”

    Faculty of Health Faculty Council, Dalhousie University

  • “You have such great balance between steady leadership and bottom-up innovation, which seems so key for the world right now.“

    Dr. Wesley Teter, Senior Consultant for Educational Innovation and Skills Development, UNESCO Bangkok

  • "Dr. Balser is the embodiment of everything a teacher should be... It is teachers like these who most deserved to be recognized. A true leader attracts others with their resilience, and their endless passion for making the world a better place.”

    Fourth Year Student at UF

  • “I wanted to let you know that you did make a difference and definitely opened my mind to new and more effective ways of teaching. I truly believe that all your efforts and initiatives significantly contributed to make me a better teacher.”

    UF Faculty Member

  • “Even after years of experiencing her infectious enthusiasm for teaching and learning, Teri continues to impress me with her insight, creativity, and dedication to finding better ways to help our students learn...”

    Former MS Student

Speaking

Teri is internationally known for her teaching and leadership, and has given workshops and keynote presentations worldwide. A master teacher, she brings a mix of humour and practical advice while looking at the world from a different perspective — often turning upside-down our expectations and assumptions. She is a regularly requested speaker on leadership, innovation in higher education, and teaching and learning.

Consulting

Teri brings expertise in facilitation, planning, change management, unit reviews, and holistic performance evaluation. She uses creativity to redesign and reimagine the status quo into the future. Bringing an anti-bias lens and EDI experience, she focuses on collaboration and inclusion in the design of policies, procedures and processes that are participatory and equitable. She can help you create forward-thinking organizations capable of adaptive and transformative change.

Coaching

Teri is a trained life and career coach, specializing in supporting faculty and academic leaders at all stages of their careers in clarifying their goals and removing barriers to achieving them. She is available on a limited basis to provide one on one or group coaching. Her approach is informed by change theory and bringing ideas to action.

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