Leadership changes are reshaping two regional institutions as Notre Dame of Maryland University’s board unanimously selected Abagail Van Vlerah as the next president and New Mexico Highlands University’s board fired President Neil Woolf after a closed-session decision and escalating internal conflict. Van Vlerah began her presidency Monday, succeeding Marylou Yam, who led the university for 12 years. At NDMU, the transition arrives amid enrollment and cost pressures typical of smaller religious colleges, including moves such as going co-ed in 2022 and acquiring a graduate health college in 2025. Van Vlerah said her goal is to keep the university “mission-driven” while responding to a “rapidly changing world.” In New Mexico, trustees put Woolf on administrative leave in early May and later moved to terminate him, despite limited explanation under New Mexico personnel-law constraints—an environment that prompted continued public scrutiny and “dueling narratives.”