Blog Posts

June 08, 2020 - Security remains a top priority for institutions as they suddenly switched to full-time remote work during the COVID-19 crisis. While a complete security overhaul might be too formidable in the immediate term, these three tips can help get you started employing …

June 04, 2020 - As we face some of the most difficult challenges of our lifetime—a global pandemic and widespread civil unrest across the nation—presidents, boards, and campus communities face some of the most onerous decisions: if, how, and when to begin the next …

June 01, 2020 - What better way for the White House to learn about the challenges facing U.S. higher education institutions seeking to reopen for the fall semester than to engage in a conversation with college and university presidents? That’s what happened May 13, …

June 01, 2020 - Colleges and universities that had barely recovered from the Great Recession find themselves blindsided again by the economic freeze meant to stamp out the spread of COVID-19. For many institutions, this is the third major blow to enrollment, and potentially …

May 27, 2020 - Recently, AGB conducted surveys of four groups of members to gauge how higher education institutions are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: board chairs, institution presidents, institution board professionals, and foundation board professionals. AGB asked board chairs and institution presidents about …

May 18, 2020 - Presidents and boards have struggled recently to revise their working relationship to handle the revolutionary challenges their institutions have encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Campus responses to COVID-19 have already gone through three separate crisis phases, with more to come. …

May 11, 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted great pressure on higher education institutions even as they were dealing with preexisting, intense disruption in the industry.  Having closed Marylhurst University in 2018, I know what these pressures feel like, and worry that additional …

May 08, 2020 - Both private and public colleges and universities have struggled with financial pressures and, increasingly, some have taken extraordinary measures in response.  From 2016 to early 2020, roughly 40 nonprofit institutions closed and another 50 experienced some form of merger or …

May 07, 2020 - This excerpt is adapted from Crisis Leadership for Boards and Presidents: Anticipating, Managing, and Leading Beyond Pandemics, Disruptions, and Ethical Failures, a forthcoming book from AGB Publications.   Crises are a fact of life for higher education presidents and their boards. All …

May 06, 2020 - As a public health professional, I see the COVID-19 pandemic as a tragedy marked by prevention paradoxes. Life-saving health care workers lack the protective equipment to keep themselves safe. Reopening businesses to save the economy comes at the cost of health …