The role of the university president is continuously evolving as the challenges facing America's institutions and the world at large become more complex and farther reaching. With increased globalization, decreased public financial support, and more external interventions, higher education leaders must balance often competing demands representing…

Discussion of longevity in the college presidency considers particular challenges that may contribute to a short tenure, including the limits of the search process, competing constituencies, conflict between constancy and growth, the need for quick and wise decisions, isolation, and burnout. (DB)

Argues that both global interdependence and the need to preserve higher education's freedom of inquiry and expression demand a greater commitment to public service, and that the college president's active participation in this endeavor is crucial. This role includes helping others develop a vision, educating Americans in working toward consensus,…

Argues that with the increasing complexity of American college and university governance, the presidency should be strengthened, and the president's goal should be to use the powers of the office in serious, not cosmetic, collaboration with others who have responsibility and interests in the institution, and to bring partial views together in a…

Offers five suggestions to college presidents for enhancing the college-community relationship: attending most community or neighborhood meetings to which invited; having the public affairs staff build a mailing list of community representatives; being prepared to do special favors; building an institutional tradition of community service; and…

While binge drinking and widespread alcohol abuse will not disappear soon from college campuses, with thoughtful leadership presidents can creatively engage their communities to prevent those forms of alcohol-induced conduct that violate a sense of peace and security and passively contribute to the degradation of student lives. Other segments of…

Seven women college chancellors and presidents describe their most significant leadership challenges. Topics discussed include risk-taking, communicating shared values and vision rather than individual power, double standards, women's long-range perspective, coping with large-scale change, discrepancies between the expectations of men and women…

A university president emeritus offers lessons on effective leadership, focusing on five areas presidents often neglect: personal exhaustion; muddled or lack of priorities; relationships with family members and friends; personal isolation; and intellectual starvation. Suggested antidotes include serious reading, continued teaching, participation…

Interview with higher education leader Clark Kerr focuses on changes and trends in the profession. Topics discussed include changes in the college presidency; the president's professional role and responsibility to himself; Carnegie Commission on Higher Education; federal research policy; faculty mobility; the future of universities and community…