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“My mission is to help my clients and students achieve their desired impact at work and in their lives, to think creatively about diversity and inclusion, and to bring out the best in others. With deep care, I help chart a transformational path of access, support, growth, acceptance, and improved student/faculty/staff well-being, satisfaction, and retention rates in higher education spaces.”

- Teara Flagg Lander

This month, the School of Education & Human Development is launching a new center called The Collaborative at CU Denver. The Collaborative develops executive leaders who will incorporate and implement shared equity leadership through their institutions through engagement in a year-long process. Dr. Teara Flagg Lander, was specifically hired to launch the center. As executive director of The Collaborative at CU Denver and assistant teaching professor teaching master’s and doctoral students in higher education, she brings a pragmatic and inspired approach to leadership, talent development, team building, and facilitation to all her endeavors.

The Collaborative at CU Denver enables higher education executive leaders and teams to develop equity mindedness in an inclusive and collaborative environment. Lander creates powerful alliances with higher education leaders through an open but rigorous process. She encourages leaders to challenge the status quo, while encouraging meaningful goal setting, innovative approaches, and behaviors to improve student success. The result is sustainable improvement in organizational performance.

“I help higher education leaders start to think about how they actually walk the talk, if you will,” Lander said. “If our institutions want to remain accessible and equitable for all, do we actually have the tools to do that? The Collaborative at CU Denver can help provide guidance and solutions in that respect.”

Before her current role, Lander was on the executive team at Oklahoma State University where she supervised academic advising, admissions, recruitment, student life, diversity, equity and inclusion and three TRIO programs. Throughout her career, she has helped lead inclusive campus and community engagement initiatives for veterans and military families, international students, LGBTQ+ students, adult learners, multicultural engineering students, and students dealing with racialized incidents on campuses. In addition, she has taught numerous leadership and multiculturalism classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

“There are some great impacts being made in higher education,” she said. “I am a determined advocate in this space who helps actualize big visions and dreams. I collaborate with leaders in a strategic manner to make sure that anyone who wants to pursue higher education really can do so in a positive, supportive environment.”

Lander was a first-generation college student whose father served in the military. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Central Oklahoma and her MEd in Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma. She earned her EdD in Educational Leadership from Kansas State University. Her parents were adamant that she and her siblings would receive a great education. She cherishes the career and life she has had because of those degrees.

"Higher education is really the great equalizer,” she said. “That is why I think that folks should have better access to it.”

Lander’s research interests include women and other minoritized individuals who pursue high-ranking university leadership roles such as President, Chancellor, Provost, and Vice Chancellor. In addition, she is interested in the trajectory of the names and future iterations of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices in higher education. Also, she wants to contribute to literature and working groups that support mother scholars and military-affiliated students.

When not leading or teaching, Lander enjoys reading, watching movies, or spending quality time with her husband and children.

“Building improved educational systems for my children, and my nieces and nephews drives me.” she said. “I often say I want there to be a better world for my grandkids, if my kids decide to have kids. I had a wonderful college experience, but I want their college experience to be even better. I want the folks who are ushering them in not stereotype them, and not to assume certain things about them because of their background or what they look like. I have two humans that I am responsible for ushering into adulthood who depend on us to really figure things out so that we can leave them a positive legacy. The collaborative piece of this work is positive. It keeps me energized, hopeful and enthusiastic.”

To partner with The Collaborative at CU Denver, please visit: education.ucdenver.edu/collaborative