When contemplating a major change to public higher education governance, state leaders should bear in mind several guiding principles. Such principles can ensure that current and future students will have access to an affordable, quality postsecondary education. They can also help ensure that the state's system of higher education meets public…

Based on a 2011 survey, this report is intended to provide foundation staff and boards, as well as administrators and boards of public colleges, universities, and university systems, with an understanding of common foundation governance practices and board composition. Among other things, this report demonstrates the enormous heterogeneity of…

Maine is blessed with universities that have records of significant achievement. The seven campuses of the University of Maine System (UMS) together educated over 23,000 students (full-time equivalent) during the past year. But for good reason, in recent years public confidence in higher education throughout the nation has fallen. Half of the…

This report examines Idaho's undergraduate-degree-granting colleges and universities. The authors focus on what students are learning (the curriculum), whether the marketplace of ideas is vibrant (intellectual diversity), how the universities are run (governance), and what a college education costs (affordability). In each case, the authors…

Leading the board of a public academic institution or system of institutions is a daunting responsibility. The vicissitudes associated with open-meeting laws; the incessant quest by the news media for "scoops"; misunderstandings that can pervade appointed or elected trustees concerning their responsibilities and conduct; the advertent and…

The Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) of the state of Washington is charged with the responsibility for approval of new degree programs to be offered by public four-year institutions. It is responsible for the review and approval of both on- and off-campus programs, including branch campus offerings. This report offers guidelines and…

This booklet addresses issues concerning the various responsibilities of trustees on governing boards of public colleges and universities. Introductory information notes the increasing complexity and significance of the trusteeship role, and its unique context in public institutions. The booklet distinguishes between board and individual trustee…

This monograph, directed to trustees and board members of public colleges and universities, is intended to offer basic information about board and trustee responsibility; to highlight the principles of board and trustee membership; to help members keep themselves, the board, and their institution out of trouble; and to provide information on…

Five public higher-education officials, including a former lawmaker, discuss how "citizen boards" of public colleges and universities deal with the inherent conflicts and ambiguities between the interests and ambitions of their institution and the financial, strategic, and public-policy demands of their state. They describe how they…

This article argues that the debate over the public's right to know versus a public college or university's need to make some decisions in private often generates more heat than light, and that the most important interactions put at risk by open-meeting acts and sunshine laws involve board dynamics. Some suggestions are made for minimizing this…

A college or university governing board's development committee (or foundation board in a public institution) has both oversight of and broad responsibility for institutional fund-raising activities. Committee members have an additional role that colleagues on other committees do not--active participation in fund-raising. The committee sets goals,…

The author of recommended reforms for public college and university governing boards that had been outlined in an Association of Governing Boards policy paper, responds to criticism of the reform strategies and expands on his suggestions in four areas: the call for larger boards; merit selection of trustees; greater trustee philanthropy; and…

This paper proposes approaches for both strategic and operational reform and restructuring of higher education. An approach to strategic decision making requires a detailed examination of mission, clientele, programs, competitiveness, and strategic objectives. There are operational efficiencies that institutions can obtain with the proper…

Critics have condemned the state higher education coordinating board model as excessively bureaucratic, unresponsive to market demands, and indifferent to legitimate campus aspirations. Systems that prevail are those that collaborate in setting a statewide agenda; earn political support; present clear, meaningful missions; manage and resolve…

Summarizes an Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges study concerning state officials' perceptions of citizen governing boards and academic governance in public institutions. Findings and recommendations are outlined in five areas: preparing for the future; serving the public interest; navigating a new political environment;…