Modern chief administrators in higher education are facing a moment of significant crisis. Confidence in higher education decreases yearly, a growing anti-intellectual movement erodes trust, and educators feel ill-prepared for contemporary challenges. The pressures of the role lead to shorter tenures in the chief academic position. So, academic…

Higher education is facing a wave of presidential transitions. While the transition of a president can be a monumental and celebrated occasion for a college or university, it is often accompanied by work disruptions, job uncertainty, and turnover of senior administrators. University presidents can face numerous challenges as they try to adapt to a…

Equity in action starts with a leader's critical consciousness in relation to their identities, ideologies, and positionalities. In this essay, the following factors: ideologies, identities, and positionalities are explained and emphasized as they are essential factors that impact equity work. Leaders who center equity must explore their own…

We examine the political power exerted by Italian rectors by investigating the preferential treatment received by the organisational subunits they belong to in terms of personnel resource allocation. During the rectors' mandate, their organisational subunits tend to grow significantly more (by [approximately]9%) than the others. The effect…

This qualitative narrative study delved into the experiences and journeys of Dominican women ascending to administrative leadership positions within U.S. higher education institutions. The main purpose was to explore the challenges and successes encountered by these women, addressing the identified issue of their underrepresentation in such roles.…

This critical discourse analysis examined the perceptions and their role in social practice of both internal and external constituents of five women and five men university presidents at doctoral-granting institutions who resigned or were fired from their positions through an analysis of publicly available commentary (e.g., social media, blogs).…

Votes of no confidence have increasingly been used, particularly by internal campus constituents, to indicate severe discontent with and distrust of higher education presidents. No national benchmarking institution or educational agency collects data on votes of no confidence or sets standards for what is considered a normal number of votes of no…

When students, professors, and faculty understand the tasks associated with their institutional roles, it can help them more easily negotiate power differentials and take conflict less personally. Our framework of role-to-role relationships reduced explosive drama in a case study with a higher education president and vice president locked in a…

In the early 2010s, the higher education sector in the United States faced unprecedented challenges and disruptions, driven by factors, including technological advancements, demographic shifts, and changing societal expectations. The role of executive leaders in navigating these challenges and guiding their institutions through periods of…

This chapter reflects on how the Michigan Center for Student Success (MCSS) has leveraged its position within a membership organization for community college presidents and trustees to engage in statewide student success efforts in a state with a unique higher education governance structure. With no formal higher education governing body to set…

Research has identified a clear underrepresentation of race and gender diversity in the community college presidency and scant progress in diversification. This phenomenological study used critical race theory (CRT) and glass ceiling theory (GCT) lenses to examine the lived experiences of minority community college presidents, including those who…

Building from Freire's ideas of liberatory education in the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," Carter G. Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro," and Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth," we outline a new and audacious approach in this chapter, in hopes that it will better position a more transformative and…

The boundaries of higher education organizations (HEOs) are becoming increasingly porous both in the USA and globally. Research has shown that individuals within universities (e.g., trustees and faculty) can serve as boundary spanners who connect universities to their external environments. However, our knowledge of how individuals span HEO…

Many institutions of higher education are better known for their athletics programs than their academic offerings. Should a crisis arise, athletics scandal and notoriety can threaten the future trajectory and financial health of the campus. As such, lapses in intercollegiate athletics oversight can create fractures and tensions within institutions…

Expressions of criticism have plagued historically black college and university (HBCU) presidents' leadership practices since the 1970s. Unstable leadership at these institutions could threaten their existence. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to explore how HBCU presidents develop new facets of their leadership…