AGB research agenda, 2007-2010

The Next Generation of Higher Education Trustees & Leaders

The next generation of higher education trustees and leaders will take on responsibility for evaluation of existing and new/alternative means used for the development of a new generation of citizen trustees to govern America’s colleges and universities. Issues regarding trustee selection and board membership in both public and private institutions run an entire spectrum of concerns, including—

the need for increased diversity among trustees as well as broader talent to meet the growing complexity of trustee responsibilities. Boards need to attract more diverse boards to reflect and understand the needs of the communities they serve.
the expectation of trustees disclosing more personal information, assuming greater risk, and operating with more public scrutiny may be taking its toll of the willingness of potential trustees to serve on boards.
tremendous variation of institutional type and status includes large colleges and universities as complex organizations, much like large cities with budgets to match, while many small, private institutions operate on the brink, financially vulnerable to enrollment fluctuations and market changes.

In short, presidents and boards need new tools to attract, orient, and engage a new generation of volunteers.

When Boards Must Lead: Governing and the Transition in Academic Leadership

A multi-year study of the process(es) entailed by the departure of a sitting president, the search and recruitment of a new president, and the integration of a new president into the institution she/he will lead. With the pending retirement of unprecedented numbers of presidents over the next decade, “getting right” the ways boards oversee and direct the exit of one president and the selection and induction of a new one is essential.

Boards can seize this opportunity to create the right conditions for what AGB has called for as “integral leadership”—“a well-defined, broadly affirmed institutional vision that links the president, the faculty, and the board together in a purposefully devoted and well-functioning partnership.” Done well, the transition of both presidents and the institution can strengthen a college or university and set it on a path toward fulfillment of that vision; done poorly, the transition can undermine a presidency and allow the institution to drift. Fragile institutions cannot afford a misstep of this magnitude.
In particular, boards whose trustees anticipate the need for major institutional change in addition to the change in presidents will require practiced intelligence to guide them in selecting a leader who can effect change and remain effective.

AGB Higher Education Governance Annual Survey

AGB will launch an annual survey that will continue over time to reveal the state and health of higher education trusteeship. The initial survey, which is sponsored by the TIAA-CREF Institute, is slated for 2007-08, and will focus on specific themes in higher education governance policies and practices. It is anticipated that the survey will look at such things as:

the focus of board agendas;
board structure and leadership;
president and board relationships;
board committee structure and responsibilities;
presidential assessment and compensation practices; and
other strategic concerns.

AGB anticipates that the analysis and publication of trends that demonstrate new and current approaches to a board's work will form a unique and invaluable contribution to existing literature on boards and trustees. Additionally, AGB plans to compile and analyze trends and new issues confronting boards over time to develop comprehensive and informed benchmarks based on several years of data.

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