Effective governance requires high levels of trust and mutual respect among trustees who must commit to serving as stewards of the college's resources. This chapter describes rogue trustees, their tactics, and their negative impact on the governing process and college culture. The chapter includes strategies to mitigate the disruptive and…

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…

The Aurora Institute works to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all. In pursuing this mission, Aurora has built the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as well as anti-racism, into its strategic plan. To support its…

As the largest sector of higher education in the US, community colleges serve a critical role in helping many students pursue and achieve their educational goals. Most community college districts are led by a team that includes a governing board of trustees and a lead administrator (often called a superintendent, president, or chancellor) who…

According to John Carver (1990), no single relationship in an organization is as important as that between the board and its chief executive officer. That relationship, well-conceived, can set the stage for effective governance and leadership. However, the line between governance and administration in community colleges is not always as clear as…

Concerns about racism and race equality have been widely reported in the first decades of the 21st century, following the Black Lives Matter protests and campaigns such as 'Rhodes Must Fall'. Yet 'race' remains largely absent from policy debate and research concerning further education colleges in the four countries of the UK, particularly in…

While the extant literature related to firm financial performance and chief officer turnover is extensive in the for-profit literature, less is known about this relationship in the nonprofit setting, particularly universities. Further, the moderating role of corporate governance on performance -- turnover sensitivity has not been studied in the…

Changes to the structure of English education because of decentralisation policy, particularly since 2010, have resulted in the creation of large groupings of schools -- multi-academy trusts, organisations with multi-level governance structures, set out in schemes of delegation. Although the government has demanded absolute clarity on the role and…

This paper draws on coupling and systems frameworks to investigate the relationships between two English Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and their member schools in how decisions are made around budgeting, recruitment processes, and curriculum and assessment. Findings demonstrate when and under what conditions executive leaders and specifically CEOs,…

Background/Context: U.S. higher education governing boards have received enhanced public attention over the last decade in response to national media coverage and emerging governance scholarship. Despite the rise of attention on this topic and the maintained influence of board decisions, governing boards remain one of the least understood aspects…

In recent years, higher education has faced what seems like endless crises, controversies, and conflicts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, financial constraints, sexual assault, high staff and leadership turnover, admissions policy changes, questions about the value and import of higher education, and inequity and injustice. These difficulties…

This chapter reviews social and organizational theories that influence governance to contextualize new ways to think about the roles of boards of trustees. This chapter discusses how various organizational theories help define the roles of boards of trustees, the CEO, and other stakeholders with respect to governance. Using this backdrop, reforms…

Community college boards of trustees are not highly visible, but they play a vital role in college and student success through governance and oversight of the mission of open access higher education. The stakes are high as community colleges compete for scarce resources in state budgets making the local and state-level trustee/governing role as…

Multi-academy trusts are groups of schools in England led by an Executive Head Teacher and a Board of Trustees. High profile failures of these organisations raise questions over the way they are strategically led. Leadership studies argue that the absence of strategic thinking is a major detractor from performance & sustainability. However,…

Despite decades of appointments to the board of trustees, little is known about the roles and experiences of students on higher education boards. The focus of the paper centers on the lineage of student members on the University of California (UC) Board of Regents. The authors expand knowledge and understanding of the student trusteeship in higher…