Spring is interview season for aspiring presidents, provosts, and deans. It's when search consultants spend a lot of time sitting in meeting rooms at airport hotels watching candidates engage with hiring committees in the ritual dance of the preliminary interview. Even after 15 years of that, the author is constantly surprised by the approaches…

Colleges and universities looking to recruit leaders from within the faculty ranks will face more and more difficulty. From their respective positions--as a provost (Janel) and a search consultant (Dennis)--they often hear senior executives in higher education say that building a new generation of faculty leaders will be a major challenge in the…

There will be an increase in the number of college and university presidencies becoming vacant due to retirements over the next several years. Since most of the incumbents, including provosts and presidents (the largest source for new presidents), are Baby Boomers, the pool of potential replacements is likely to include more candidates, such as…

A topic of continuing interest in American higher education and society is the future of historically black colleges and universities, commonly referred to as HBCUs. The nation's public and private black institutions of higher education have proved their mettle, and yet they face persistent challenges to survive. A huge part of the challenge black…

Trustees and presidents are in the midst of hiring the next generation of leaders for the nation's community colleges. Major leadership development initiatives are under way to address a projected shortage at the highest levels of college leadership--the result of impending presidential and senior executive officer retirements. In 2006, the…

As open-door institutions, community colleges provide access to students from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. Yet while enrollment of students of color in community colleges continues to increase, representation by faculty of color has not. This qualitative study investigated community college faculty search committee…

In this article, the author shares some of the lessons about leadership he learned when he became chancellor of the University of Georgia in 2006. He realized that the route to leadership in the private sector differs significantly from the route in higher education. The path to leadership in the academe is not only poorly marked, but it does not…

Few board decisions are more important than selecting a new president or chancellor. Done correctly, the appointment of a new CEO impacts positively on the institution's health and future success. Before launching a presidential search, the board and search committee should analyze the institution's mission and goals, and thoroughly review the…

This book offers sample documents for candidates as well as for the search committees, and includes a substantive bibliography. From her vantage point outside the institution, the author is able to provide a unique point of view and insightful comments on the complex and often daunting process of the academic executive search. Key selling points…

This report focuses on the critical relationship between the presidents and governing boards of this nation's higher education institutions. At the outset of the 21st century, colleges and universities face an array of daunting challenges. To name a few: intense global competition, rapid technological advancements, changing demographics,…

This report, an expanded version of the working document that anchored the 1992 Center for Creative Leadership conference on executive selection, summarizes and evaluates the contributions of research and practice to the understanding of how to choose the most effective leaders for organizations. Following a brief look at the realities of…

Guidelines for the process of searching for a new college president are offered, including a number of recommendations concerning the search committee (composition, leadership, selection, size, and responsibility), factors in the search process (use of consultants, confidentiality, institutional analysis, and leadership criteria), sources of…

This booklet for trustees of institutions of higher education provides guidelines for conducting a presidential search. The booklet notes that the presidential search can offer the institution an opportunity to take stock of its recent history and future prospects and draw a campus together. Among guidelines offered for planning the search are:…

The search for a leader is seen as a symbolic process through which institutional goals are discovered, political influence is negotiated, organizational values and myths are confirmed, uncertainty is reduced, and processes of choice are simplified. (Author/MLW)

This book presents a comprehensive approach to the presidential search for institutions of higher education. Beginning with the premise that each institution must tailor the search to its own needs and circumstances, the book offers options and guidelines in nine chapters. The first chapter reviews initial steps including the size, composition,…