Leading

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Case study: The art of board education

Stakeholder management is perhaps the most important skill for a higher-ed leader, and trustees are among the most important stakeholders to manage. What does it take to work effectively with board members? It’s not just about diplomacy; it’s about education.

Recently I spoke with an expert on this topic who shared an example of how she educated her board on the characteristics of Gen Z, the cohort that includes today’s traditional-age undergraduates. Elizabeth Davis, president of Furman University since 2014, delivered a presentation not only to help trustees better understand Furman’s incoming classes, but to help herself. It’s easier to get buy-in from trustees if they’re on the same page about what today’s students need, she said.

Here is how Davis approached the Gen Z presentation — and how she thinks more broadly about educating trustees.

Make education a regular agenda item. Davis includes educational sessions in every board meeting so they become routine. This avoids trustees feeling alarmed or confused if she adds an educational item from time to time.

Use visuals to help trustees grasp new information. Davis showed Furman trustees a timeline that detailed the major life events of Gen-Z students, who were born starting in 1997. It included the fact that they have never known life before 9/11 or without active shooter drills.

Use education to answer the “why …” Davis found her trustees sometimes questioning investments in certain types of facilities or services because they were relying on their own recollections of how things worked when they were in college. Her presentation helped explain Gen Z’s focus on mental health and the need to foster a sense of belonging.

The presentations give the board information it can use to make financial decisions like whether to spend more on mental-health services or include lots of common-room space in a new dorm.

“It’s not enough to just say that students are different, but to be able to show them the characteristics, the expectations, of students,” she said, “justifies why we want to do things a particular way.”

… and to dispel political misconceptions. Boards and presidents often face accusations that colleges brainwash students with a liberal point of view, Davis said. Educating trustees about the wants and needs of Gen Z helped her explain that when Furman might appear to be taking progressive or liberal stances, it is often just trying to meet the stated needs of incoming students. Even politically conservative students are often more progressive than students of previous generations, she said.

In brief

Florida governor’s new probe of classroom speech. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has asked the University of North Florida to report on the state resources it spends on programs and courses related to critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion, The Chronicle reports. The memo comes at a time when many professors in the state already view the governor as bent on restricting free speech in the classroom.

UC strike ignites unionizing frenzy. The six-week strike of graduate students at the University of California has touched off a cross-country wave of union organizing that could fundamentally reshape how teaching and research is conducted, The Los Angeles Times reports. Graduate-student workers at an increasing number of institutions are demanding higher wages, motivated not only by rising inflation, unaffordable housing, limited access to health care, and mounting student debt, but also by frustrations brought about by the pandemic, like being forced to teach in person.

U.S. News bends to law-school exodus. In response to the recent revolt of elite law schools dropping out of its rankings, U.S. News & World Report has modified its scoring process, The Washington Post reports. The changes, which will give more weight to steps schools take to promote public-service careers and less weight to how judges and lawyers perceive the schools, so far have not convinced top schools to reconsider participation.

Opinion: It’s time to disrupt our approach to advising. The rapid changes to age-old processes that the pandemic forced on the industry should be a wake-up call for those who want to reform student advising, writes Jonikka Charlton, associate provost of student success and dean of University College at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, in The Chronicle. The field is ripe for major change, she said, and perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of good.

Opinion: To win back the public, get back to basics. Research universities can help restore faith in higher education by doubling down on quality, equitable undergraduate education, write Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities, and Holden Thorp, editor in chief of Science and former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in The Chronicle. These major institutions often get preoccupied with their many stakeholders and functions in society, but the public primarily expects them to prepare students for jobs, the pair argue.

Motivate top talent when you can’t promote. How do you retain a top employee when you don’t have the capacity to promote them? First deduce the person’s underlying needs, write two workplace experts in the Harvard Business Review. Do they want more responsibility? A chance to manage? Higher pay? Narrow down what they’re looking for, and then see if you can meet their needs with your existing resources.

Moves

Marshall Criser, a former chancellor of Florida’s university system, has been named the next president of Piedmont University, in Georgia.

Naydeen González-De Jesús, executive vice president for student success at Milwaukee Area Technical College, has been named president of San Antonio College.

Yale Divinity School announced that Bishop William J. Barber II will lead its new Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. Barber was previously pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, N.C.