The City College of New York (CCNY) is one of the most diverse campuses in the country--approximately 90 foreign languages are spoken on campus. Educating recent high school graduates to working adults, CCNY also ranks among the leading schools conferring bachelor's degrees to African-Americans. The University of Maryland, College Park, celebrated…

This book invites readers to contemplate careers in administrative leadership. Drawing from knowledge acquired as president of Kansas State University, and from his multifarious experiences at other universities and in government service, the author takes the reader through the cycle of a presidency--from the decision to apply, to life after…

The search process for a new president at Salisbury State University (Maryland) yielded lessons for other institutions operating under open meeting (sunshine) laws. Factors found important in the process include search committee cohesiveness, committee leadership viewed by constituencies as open and objective, a single voice speaking for the…

The president of Pennsylvania State University (PSU) identifies five areas of technology that institutions of higher education must address: connectivity, curriculum, cost, competition, and collaboration. Examples are from PSU, with additional comments from the presidents of the University of Michigan, New York University, Northern University…

The world of system chief executive officers (CEOs), including how their responsibilities differ from those of campus presidents, is discussed by the chancellor of the University System of South Texas. The system CEO's responsibilities include nurturing, leading, and managing. (MLW)

In its search for a new president, the University of Michigan was forced, under open meeting laws, to invent a semi-public search, with governing board members unable to talk privately with search advisory committee members. However, the four outstanding candidates were brought into the process before it became public; next time, the search might…

A study of presidential search processes reveals a variety of organizations, procedures, and attitudes about appropriate and effective methods. Among the issues discussed are the dominance of local standards and considerations, the roles of faculty and trustees, recruitment and nomination, interviews, premature disclosure of the decision, and…

An interview with Marie McDemmond, president of Norfolk State University (Virginia) and the first woman to head a Virginia public university, examines her response to the university's hidden fiscal crisis, her conception of shared leadership, her experience as a woman administrator, controversies over her spending choices, and administrative…

Four essays address the issue of leadership in higher education institutions. "Leadership: The Presidential Imperative," by Hollis Moore, discusses the need and the ability of college presidents to exercise the considerable influence they possess. It is noted that perhaps the greatest danger today is that administrators feel so buffeted…

In his inaugural address as president of Indiana University, Brand emphasized the importance of higher education for nurturing of future achievement. In opening this subject he recalled the pioneers who founded the university 175 years earlier and their efforts for the future in establishing the institution. Moving on, Brand addressed the current…

This report examines the problem of strained relations between State universities and the State government and addresses why this condition might exist for many schools of higher education. It suggests that the proper role of the campus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in improving state relations, and in all other institutional relations, is as…

Seven principles of higher education leadership may offer state college systems solutions for responding to external pressures to reform and internal pressures to satisfy faculty demands. External pressures on colleges and universities include erosion of the economic base for higher education, increasing public expectations, and criticism of the…

In an interview, Blenda J. Wilson discusses aspects of her role as president of the University of California-Northridge, including decision making in the face of an earthquake and of controversial campus freedom-of-speech situations, the preparation and selection of college presidents, the threat to affirmative action policy, and being a role…

The president of Idaho State University explains his institution's unusual increase in support to graduate study in pharmacy as part of an overall commitment to improved health care in the state. (MSE)

This report contains the testimony of administrators, faculty, representatives of different sectors of higher education in California, and other interested individuals as presented to the Ad Hoc Committee on Community College Transfer of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. First, prefatory material provides information on the…