Governing board professionals, described in The Chronicle of Higher Education as "a pocket of power advising both the board and the administration," (Jesse, 2023, para. 3) are charged with ensuring governing boards meet their fiduciary obligations and operate effectively. Despite the role's growing recognition as a "linchpin…

College trustees are stepping up their oversight as institutions seek new revenue sources and as government scrutiny of higher education continues to increase, a panel of management experts said last week at the annual conference of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. Across the country, board members are hiring…

This article suggests that trustees give the same high level of thoughtful consideration to selecting the board chair as they give to filling the presidency. More than the routine filling of a vacancy, the process for naming the board's next chair amounts to the selection of a governance team. The board's most important responsibility is not only…

When colleges and universities seek new presidents and chancellors, search committee members and consultants usually focus on their responsibility to make judgments about the candidates. The competition for the strongest candidates can be fierce and fast. The search committee will be striving to attract these candidates by telling a compelling…

The responsibilities of university presidents and board chairs have evolved significantly from the early days of public higher education. There was a time when the power of the board was absolute, but those days are long gone, and it remains an open question whether the structures of public boards have kept pace with the complex social…