The private college president's role in fostering governing board effectiveness
University of Virginia, PhD Thesis, (1998)Abstract
Recent literature on institutional governing boards suggests that academic presidents committed to enhancing the effectiveness of their boards can achieve improvements both in the board and in their relationships with trustees. The literature offers suggestions for what college presidents may do, but few studies in this area have been undertaken to determine whether presidents are incorporating these suggestions. The purpose of this study was to examine how presidents of Virginia's private colleges provide leadership to foster institutional governing boards' effectiveness. Data collection for the study was accomplished by sending questionnaires to the presidents of the eighteen private, not-for-profit institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia classified as Baccalaureate I and II in the Carnegie Classification System. Based on the results of the study, several conclusions were drawn. Presidents are providing relevant information and incorporating a variety of pedagogies to insure that their trustees are informed and engaged with the institution. In addition, presidents are contributing to the development of the governing board as a group by fostering the composition of the board through the trustee selection process and by providing opportunities for trustees to build trustee-to-trustee relationships and be recognized for their contributions and efforts, thereby emphasizing the sense of inclusiveness within the board. This study provides the following recommendations for how college presidents may foster governing board effectiveness: (1) presidents should combine relevant topics along with a variety of pedagogies, including regional meetings of peer trustees and Association of Governing Boards conferences, in the trustee education program; (2) presidents should take advantage of trustee contact with key stakeholders to identify crucial knowledge gaps of the governing board; (3) presidents should encourage the governing board to adopt goals for the group and encourage the board to conduct a regular performance evaluation on those goals; and (4) presidents should encourage structural changes on the governing board (e.g., rotation of committee assignments and formation of a trusteeship committee).