AGB in the News

Outgoing Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey is the newest member of the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Board of Trustees, courtesy of an appointment by Gov. Ron Desantis. The Governor named Gainey, who also chairs the Santa Fe College District Board of Trustees, to the 13-member FAMU Board. The move comes about a year and four months after DeSantis appointed Gainey as Alachua Sheriff.

Marked by large-scale campus protests, congressional hearings on antisemitism and waning public trust, 2024 was a hard year for college presidents.

When a typical student applies to UNC-Chapel Hill, they might submit their application and go months without hearing an update from the university. But for applicants who have ties to members of the university’s Board of Trustees, updates about admission are more readily available – just a text message away in some cases.

College enrollment has been falling in recent years, largely due to declining birth rates. For struggling schools, risk-sharing fees could tip the balance, said Larry Ladd, a consultant with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

The search for the next permanent president/superintendent at College of the Desert has been canceled, after a reported breach of confidentiality by “one or more members of the presidential search committee has compromised the fairness and trust that are fundamental to this process,” the college’s spokesperson said in a statement. The search committee includes 19 voting members, all of whom signed confidentiality agreements. The board of trustees approved the committee’s structure at the Aug.

PALM DESERT — It has long been said that it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, and Laura Hope has exercised her prerogative and changed her mind — again. She has officially applied for the permanent position of Superintendent/President of College of the Desert, Nicholas Robles, Interim Public Information Officer & Interim Director of Educational Partnerships, confirmed for Uken Report. First, she was applying, then she wasn’t, and now she is.

The Kansas Board of Regents is looking into leadership salaries at six Kansas universities to ensure they are staying competitive for recruiting purposes. “The Board is committed to attracting and retaining distinguished leadership,” a document read.

The Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) is set to host its 3rd Annual Advance Armenia Gala on December 6, at the Landmark in Mission Hills. This evening will spotlight FAST’s flagship initiative, Generation AI, which aims to transform Armenia into a key player in the global AI landscape by integrating advanced Math, Python programming and advanced AI education into public school curricula to nurture the next generation of innovators and creators.

The HLC requires that a governing board must not be influenced by donors or those outside the university and must not interfere in the day-to-day business of the administration. An outside investigation completed earlier this year found that two trustees have done just that. The HLC promised a review of the board concerns last year when accusations of impropriety first surfaced.

Following Alma College’s announcement of a national search for its 14th president in April, the Board of Trustees has moved to the next phase of leadership transition, naming Jeffrey Abernathy as President Emeritus, and appointing Eric Blackhurst as Interim President, effective November 20, 2024.

When Penn State University’s trustees gather for official meetings, they tend to spend only a sliver of their time discussing their views or asking questions before a vote, if they speak at all.

People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill—they want a quarter-inch hole, the Harvard University marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously said. The point he creatively made is that it’s the job the customer wants done that matters, not the device. Higher education doesn’t give enough intentional attention to the variety of jobs of faculty governance.