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Cover image of Leading Colleges and Universities
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Leading Colleges and Universities

Lessons from Higher Education Leaders

edited by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee

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How experienced college and university leaders guide successful institutions—and why they sometimes lose their way.

Today's college and university leaders face complex problems that test their political acumen as well as their judgment, intellect, empathy, and ability to plan and improvise. How do they thoughtfully and creatively rise to the challenge? In Leading Colleges and Universities, editors Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee bring together a host of presidents and other leaders in higher education who describe how they dealt with the issues.

Each contributor...

How experienced college and university leaders guide successful institutions—and why they sometimes lose their way.

Today's college and university leaders face complex problems that test their political acumen as well as their judgment, intellect, empathy, and ability to plan and improvise. How do they thoughtfully and creatively rise to the challenge? In Leading Colleges and Universities, editors Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee bring together a host of presidents and other leaders in higher education who describe how they dealt with the issues.

Each contributor has been effective as a president or other significant leader in postsecondary education. In this book they share real-life examples and stories that illustrate how they have dealt with the challenges they encountered. Together they answer these and other core questions:
• How do you manage college athletics, faculty, a governing board, donors, and a local community?
• What do you need to know about crisis management and legal affairs?
• When should you be outspoken in the media and when should you be quiet?

The book does not shy away from hot contemporary issues, tackling such controversial matters as free speech, Title IX, athletics, fraternities, student and faculty diversity, and board relations. Presidents and would-be presidents—as well as boards, search committees, state boards, legislators, and others involved in higher education—will find much helpful guidance in this timely book.

Reviews

Reviews

This volume of brief essays by three dozen experienced presidents and other leaders in higher education is intended to provide candid reflections and examples from successful practitioners, illustrative of how they faced the many challenges that confront college and university presidents today.

Trachtenberg and Kauvar’s previous book shared candid stories of how even well-trained, highly talented chief executives can fail. While that book did not focus on success, this one does. Bringing together a multitude of experienced, wise, and, once again, candid leaders, this new volume offers the solutions and paths forward to overcome the challenges within any presidency.

This book is a valuable resource for university leaders navigating this extraordinary moment in higher education. Guided by decades of personal experience, the book's editors have compiled practical reflections and thoughtful insights on a range of important topics, including shared governance and crisis management.

Leading Colleges and Universities covers the waterfront of complexity in higher education. From building quality teams to dealing with the 24/7 news cycle, this collection of essays from leaders in the field uses their real-life experiences to inform and shape one’s thinking. For anyone stepping into a leadership role in our nation’s colleges and universities, it is a must-read.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
328
ISBN
9781421424927
Illustration Description
1 halftone, 1 map, 3 graphs
Table of Contents

Preface, by Gerald B. Kauvar, E. Gordon Gee, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
1. Becoming a President, by William Kirwan
2. Transition to the Position, by James P. Clements and Michael Young
3. Leadership

Preface, by Gerald B. Kauvar, E. Gordon Gee, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
1. Becoming a President, by William Kirwan
2. Transition to the Position, by James P. Clements and Michael Young
3. Leadership team, by Mildred Garcia and Marvin Krislov
4. Maintaining a good relations with the board, by Lawrence S. Bacow
5. Developing relations with faculty and staff, by Freeman A. Hrabowski, III and A. Lee Fritschler
6. Knowing how and when to delegate and the extent to which delegating absolves leaders, by Holden Thorp and Mark Yudof
7. When and how to participate in curricular decisions, by Jane McAvliffe and Mark Ungar
8. Complexity and chicanery in collegiate athletics, by Robert Donaldson, Gerald B. Kauvar, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
9. Title IX, by Allen Sessoms
10. The complex issues surrounding freedom of speech, by Ben Trachtenberg
11. What you need to know about emergency management, by Scott Cowen and Charles Steger
12. How tenuous is tenure, by Ann Weaver Hart and Ben Nelson
13. Working with elected and community officials, by Christopher B. Howard and Robert Scott
14. Institutional autonomy, by William R. Harvey and John Ebersole
15. Managing donor relations, by Georgia Nugent and Angel Cabrera
16. How to deal with changing forms of accreditation, by Judith Eaton
17. Litigation or the threat of litigation as a constraint, by John M. McCardell
18. Balancing system-wide needs with institutional autonomy, by Rebecca Blank, Nancy Zimpher, and R. Bowen Loftin
19. When to take a stand on national policy, by Mary S. Coleman and Lee Bollinger
20. Presidents and general counsels, by Eduardo Padron
21. Exiting with grace and ahead of the sheriff, by Richard Joel and Richard Levin
Concluding Thoughts, by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee
Aptitude test for aspiring presidents, by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg was a long-serving president of George Washington University and the former president of the University of Hartford. He is the author of Big Man on Campus: A University President Speaks Out on Higher Education, Reflections on Higher Education, and Speaking His Mind: Five Years of Commentary on Higher Education.
Gerald B. Kauvar
Featured Contributor

Gerald B. Kauvar

Gerald B. Kauvar is the special assistant to the president emeritus and a research professor of public policy and public administration at George Washington University. He is a coauthor of Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It.
E. Gordon Gee
Featured Contributor

E. Gordon Gee

E. Gordon Gee is the president of West Virginia University. He is the coeditor of Leading Colleges and Universities: Lessons from Higher Education Leaders, and a the coauthor of Land-Grant Universities for the Future.