AGB Releases Groundbreaking Book on How Higher-Ed Boards and Presidents Lead Institutional Change

Washington, D.C. – AGB Press today released an important addition to higher-education leadership literature with Leading Change: How Boards and Presidents Build Exceptional Academic Institutions. Leading Change focuses on the changing level of board engagement in a time of transformation in higher education.

Leading Change, by Terrence MacTaggart, is the product of a research study of 40 institutions that underwent transformational change. The book focuses on 18 institutions at which the board played a significant collaborative role with the president, the leadership team, and the faculty to lead change. The institutions—colleges, universities, and complex state systems—cross the spectrum of the higher-education sector. All either faced serious challenges, from unsustainable business models and financial risks, or opportunities to re-envision themselves entirely.

Change-adept boards share two common traits: an energetic engagement of the board with the college or university and a productive partnership with the president. Based on the research, MacTaggart identifies the attributes and practices that create change-adept leadership, providing practical tools and sound advice for presidents, board members, institutional leaders, and others committed to improving higher education.

“Terry MacTaggart asks the right questions about the academy and its state today,” said Association of Governing Boards (AGB) President Richard D. Legon. “He peers under the hood of higher-education boards and gets to the heart of how institutions and their leaders recognize the need for change and then work in partnership to achieve it.”

Among the essential topics covered in Leading Change are:

• How board members and presidents at change-adept institutions engage in effective partnerships
• Why some boards, presidents, and chancellors navigate change successfully when others do not
• Building the change-adept board
• The board’s role in pursuing high aspirations
• How good institutions can become even better through strategic change
• Lessons learned about change: collaboration, strategy and metrics, and good governance are all essential

Case studies share stories of these 18 institutions:

• Agnes Scott College
• American University
• Hendrix College
• Johnson & Wales University
• Metropolitan State College of Denver
• Northern Kentucky University
• Northwestern Health Sciences University
• Oberlin College
• Roosevelt University
• The College of New Jersey
• Thunderbird School of Global Management
• Tulane University
• University of Dubuque
• University of North Carolina
• University of North Florida
• University System of Maryland
• University of Wisconsin System
• Widener University

Part of AGB’s project on Governance for Student Success, funded by Lumina Foundation, Leading Change is the culminating project of two years of study into the role of governing boards, working in collaboration with institutional presidents,  in achieving the nation's educational needs.  The project has focused on three important components for success in higher education: leadership, productivity, and quality.

MacTaggart is a longtime leader in higher education, having served as chancellor of the Minnesota State University System and twice in the same position for the University of Maine System. He has led or participated in significant institutional transformations at several public and independent colleges and universities while a faculty member and administrator. His expertise ranges from governance to improving relations between institutions and the public to restoring institutional vitality.

Leading Change: How Boards and Presidents Build Exceptional Academic Institutions is available at the AGB bookstore, http://agb.org/publications.  (ISBN 978-0-9754948-2-0; AGB Stock # 401)

The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) is the only national association that serves the interests and needs of academic governing boards, boards of institutionally related foundations, and campus CEOs and other senior-level campus administrators on issues related to higher-education governance and leadership.  Founded in 1921, AGB’s mission is to strengthen and protect this country's unique form of institutional governance through its research, services, and advocacy. AGB is committed to citizen trusteeship of American higher education.