When students, professors, and faculty understand the tasks associated with their institutional roles, it can help them more easily negotiate power differentials and take conflict less personally. Our framework of role-to-role relationships reduced explosive drama in a case study with a higher education president and vice president locked in a…

This chapter reflects on how the Michigan Center for Student Success (MCSS) has leveraged its position within a membership organization for community college presidents and trustees to engage in statewide student success efforts in a state with a unique higher education governance structure. With no formal higher education governing body to set…

Research has identified a clear underrepresentation of race and gender diversity in the community college presidency and scant progress in diversification. This phenomenological study used critical race theory (CRT) and glass ceiling theory (GCT) lenses to examine the lived experiences of minority community college presidents, including those who…

Building from Freire's ideas of liberatory education in the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," Carter G. Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro," and Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth," we outline a new and audacious approach in this chapter, in hopes that it will better position a more transformative and…

The boundaries of higher education organizations (HEOs) are becoming increasingly porous both in the USA and globally. Research has shown that individuals within universities (e.g., trustees and faculty) can serve as boundary spanners who connect universities to their external environments. However, our knowledge of how individuals span HEO…

Many institutions of higher education are better known for their athletics programs than their academic offerings. Should a crisis arise, athletics scandal and notoriety can threaten the future trajectory and financial health of the campus. As such, lapses in intercollegiate athletics oversight can create fractures and tensions within institutions…

Expressions of criticism have plagued historically black college and university (HBCU) presidents' leadership practices since the 1970s. Unstable leadership at these institutions could threaten their existence. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to explore how HBCU presidents develop new facets of their leadership…

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the perspectives of 11 leaders in higher education. Specifically, we addressed the following research question: How do millennial leaders approach leadership in higher education? The study framework included adaptive leadership as a guide to understand the perspectives of newer…

Higher education quality and standards are rarely far from the headlines or ministerial speeches. This Policy Note considers the important -- and changing -- role of England's governing bodies in academic governance, as they are expected to provide increased assurance that standards are being maintained or enhanced. The author suggests some…

Collective bargaining in postsecondary institutions is a complex phenomenon. Many observers believe collective bargaining is inherently a conservative process designed to preserve the status quo, one that rarely encourages change or innovation. The reality is that the two parties often face different pressures and have dichotomous interests and…

Higher education in the United States is threatened by the continued decrease in state and federal funding, increasing competition for the ever-decreasing funds. The need to understand and articulate institutional value is critical so institutions can communicate their worth as a means of ensuring viability. There currently exists an unclear…

This case study explored the consideration, inclusion, and significance of market forces in the development of strategic planning at higher education institutions. The design examined methods, procedures, behaviors, and attitudes that Presidents in higher education applied to designing strategic planning processes. Guiding this examination was the…

This article explores genres as recurrent acts of positioning that contribute to associating particular positions with the genre users as social actors. As an illustration, the study investigates the positioning of Chinese university presidents in their published opening convocation speeches. By combining rhetorical move analysis with the…

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of first-at-institution female community college presidents in the United States, focusing on the social influences they encountered. Despite community colleges serving a large number of female, underrepresented, and low-socioeconomic students, leadership roles are…

On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, igniting the 2023 War in Israel and Palestine. As human rights atrocities unfold, the war has sparked contentious political debate and civil discourse. Given their positions of authority, university presidents and chancellors have weighed in on the conflict through their public statements, while seeking…