Improving how colleges find new presidents is a perennial concern. Here are the key points from some articles and reports on the topic.
“Renewal and Progress”
This 2017 report from the Aspen Institute recommends changes in how colleges prepare and select their leaders in the face of mounting demographic and fiscal challenges across higher education. It includes three major areas of focus: Expand and improve development and peer-learning opportunities for new and veteran presidents; provide more assistance to governing boards in “setting institutional goals and supporting effective leadership”; build new and better pathways to the presidency for women and people of color, including looking beyond academe for a more diverse group of candidates.
A national search with paid consultants has become the norm. But it’s not the only way.
“Succession Planning: Colleges Should Practice What They Teach”
Clara M. Lovett, president emerita of Northern Arizona University, wrote this opinion article for The Chronicle this month. In it, she explores the question of why most institutions fail to build leadership pipelines that allow midlevel professionals “to broaden their experience and thus ascend to executive positions.”
“Selecting a New President, What to Do Before You Hire a Search Firm”
This guide, published in 2004 by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in, offers governing boards advice on what they should be doing before, during, and after a search for a new president. “When a presidential vacancy occurs, boards are rarely prepared to undertake a search. In a panic, they rush to appoint a search committee and hire a search firm,” the council’s report says. “Some of the most important decisions occur before the search firm is on board — including whether to engage a search firm at all.”
“21st-Century Presidency: a Call to Enterprise Leadership”
This 2017 paper from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges doesn’t address the search process, but it broadly explores how the college presidency “has changed — and might need to continue to change.” The effectiveness and survival of a college require leaders who can “make a clear-eyed appraisal of their institution’s competitive position in the market for higher education services, bring an entrepreneurial spirit to their work, and possess the talent to advance the enterprise in the face of often conflicting demand,” the report says.
“You Don’t Need a Search Firm to Hire a President”
This 2014 opinion article in The Chronicle by the late Milton Greenberg, former provost and interim president at American University, argues that “there is no evidence that the use of a search firm improves the quality or longevity of administrative leaders compared with those chosen the old-fashioned way, by an internal committee, the board of trustees, or the appointing officer based on crony politics.”
Eric Kelderman writes about money and accountability in higher education, including such areas as state policy, accreditation, and legal affairs. You can find him on Twitter @etkeld, or email him at eric.kelderman@chronicle.com.
