Leadership Development in the Context of a University Consolidation: An Initial Evaluation of the Authentic Leadership Pipeline Program

University mergers and consolidations are on the rise, and the trend is likely to continue in the near term future. Such a trend is significant, as a university consolidations are inherently challenging and require strong and well-developed leadership to be successful. In the current paper, a low-cost leadership development program (the Authentic Leadership Pipeline program) that was initiated and developed to meet the leadership needs of Augusta University, the institutional result of the consolidation of Georgia Health Sciences University and Augusta State University is described. In addition, an initial pilot evaluation of the program that examined reactions and subjective perceptions of learning and behavior change is described. The findings were promising and suggest a high level of satisfaction, significant learning, and new behavior. Implications, applications, and future directions are discussed.