Lean HE Americas

How to get involved: 

Getting involved is easy – Complete this short membership form with your contact information and you'll be connected with our network of Lean coaches, internal consultants, trainers, and practitioners. You'll be placed on an email list and added to our bimonthly Zoom Lean Coffee Chat meetings and get notices of upcoming events, like Lean Quick Takes and the annual Lean HE International Conference. The email list is used to communicate meeting dates, information, and updates related to the group.

If you're interested in participating in an upcoming event, let us know and we'll connect you.

Contact Information:  
    Ruth Archer, PhD
    Director of Continuous Improvement    
    Michigan Technological University,
    Michigan, USA 
    raarcher.906@gmail.com  

Lean HE Americas Bylaws
Our bylaws define essential elements of our organization, including membership, steering committee structure and roles, and internal rules, policies, and procedures related to governance. 

Publications and Links to Resources in the Higher Education Field: 

Lean Higher Education: Increasing the Value and Performance of University Processes, 2nd ed., 2020, William K. Balzer. There is a companion guide for individual or group study. 

A Guide to Evidencing the Benefits of Change in Higher Education, 2017, Heather Lawrence and Nicola Cairns

Network for Change and Continuous Innovation: www.ncci-cu.org

Upcoming Events:

2024 Lean HE International Conference was at University of Cambridge in England! 23-25 October 2024. The theme is "Sustainability in Lean: Bridging innovation and tradition". 

Lean HE Canada is an active network in the Americas. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to Ray Konecsni.

Lean Quick Takes
4pm ET,  Feb 18, May 20, Aug 19, and Nov 18, 2025
Register here for the February event!
Lean Quick Takes is a quarterly 60-minute virtual event that showcases 3 Lean-related ideas, 15 minutes each, with 8-10 minutes of presentation and 4-5 minutes of Q&A for each idea. The purpose of Lean HE Quick Takes is to educate our Lean higher ed community on Lean culture, principles, processes, methods, and tools as they are applied at universities and colleges.
Submit a Lean Quick Takes presenter proposal here! 

Lean Coffee Chats. 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 4:30 ET. ★★ This is a twice monthly, 30 minute, virtual networking event. Our purpose is to get to know our colleagues. It's a casual, drop in event. There is no expectation of attending every week. You'll be automatically invited when your email is added to our list.

Information

The Lean HE Americas division gives university, college, and community college Lean practitioners in North and South America an opportunity to network and learn from others in the Lean-in-higher-education arena. This forum will give members opportunities to share best practices and emerging techniques that will support service improvement across their organization. The network will support the use of Lean methodology in higher education. We would like to invite higher education organizations who are practicing Lean, or are in the process of adopting this methodology for their business process improvement initiatives, to join the network. 

Lean HE Americas Steering Committee

Lean HE Americas is governed by a steering committee. The following universities are currently represented on the Committee: 

We welcome all interested higher education staff and faculty to attend our seminars, meetings and conferences. Members of the network are from the organizations listed below: 

Lean HE Institutions Listed by Country

News and Updates