The president has just announced her plans to leave the college within the next year. What is the board going to do? At Wilmington College in Delaware, the board relaxed and continued with its business without missing a beat. That's because a succession plan had been in place for several years, and it was just a matter of deciding the details of the transition in naming Jack P. Varsalona, executive vice president, to the presidency. At the College of New Rochelle in New York, by contrast, the board considered for several months whether a national search was necessary. It then decided to elevate Stephen J. Sweeny, the chief academic officer, without a search. At most colleges, news of a president's resignation or retirement prompts the board to revisit its standing process of choosing a successor. Some boards immediately will begin the process of choosing a search consultant or assembling a search committee, either to conduct the search itself or to choose a search firm. Others first will discuss whether to consider suitable internal candidates before leaping into a search for an external candidate. But at most colleges and universities today, succession planning is nonexistent--especially for presidents or chancellors. To be sure, many institutions are concerned about staff development and upward mobility, and elaborate programs to accomplish them commonly exist. But they always stop short of the most senior position. Is succession planning rare in higher education because of our bias toward external searches to fill the position of president? Or are there other reasons that keep us from orderly succession planning?