As part of a multiyear initiative to explore the dimensions of the "college cost crisis," Lumina Foundation, in collaboration with the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, called together more than 350 participants for a national summit in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2005. The summit brought together…

The vast majority of research that examines public boards of trustees concerns the role and responsibility boards are given after they have been formed. However, a key step that is regularly overlooked in predicting or evaluating the performance of a board is the appointment of its trustees. To begin to address this fundamental "first…

This booklet focuses on assessing the performance of individual trustees, a responsibility that often falls to the committee on trustees (called the nominating committee on some campuses). It includes a checklist, sample job description, and self-assessment survey that can be tailored to reflect unique institutional characteristics. Every board…

This completely redone edition is meant to be a primer on the financial responsibilities of trustees of colleges and universities and on complex trends and issues bearing on the responsibilities of governing boards. Trustees must deal with a complex blend of competing values, evolving information, and challenging analyses while taking into account…

This report is the second in a series that focuses on the appointment and training of public college and university trustees. It reports on a study that compared the perceptions of governors, who are usually involved directly in the appointment process, and state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs), who are usually on the fringes of the…

This handbook is designed to be used as a quick reference and to provide Nevada public library trustees with basic information for helping Nevada public libraries increase their services to meet the informational, educational, and recreational needs of the people of Nevada. The handbook consists of the following chapters: Take Time to Learn the…

This issue is intended to help trustees understand how their boards can monitor the complex responsibilities of today's faculty and encourage work arrangements that best tap faculty expertise, improve the professoriate's professional development, and advance the institution's academic mission. Trustees must consider the modern academic landscape,…

Author feels that trustees must abandon their traditional secrecy and open their meetings to the public and to students. (GB)

Discusses governance problems at Red Deer College in Alberta, Canada, and its significance to other higher education institutions. (PG)

Funds awarded to the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees for the purpose of expanding 2-year Stamford College never arrived at the college. Trustees feel that the University at Storrs should be the only public 4-year institution. (HS)

The author strongly suggests that the Board of Regents of the University of California is corrupt and, to a great extent, unfit to serve. (HS)

Public junior college boards of trustees popularly elected from districts fall under the mandate of the one man-one vote principle. (MN)

Representation on boards of trustees should be proportional to the contribution and involvement of the groups making up the junior college community. The suggested model would include: three taxpayer representatives; one representative each from the administrative, faculty, and student constituencies; and one representative from the alumni or…

Increasing institutional accountability for student learning without interfering in the internal operations of the junior college, was a primary concern of the Invitational National Workshop for Junior College Boards of Trustees. The conference was attended by trustees representing junior colleges throughout the United States. (JO)