Blog Posts

April 09, 2025 - As noted previously, a critical element of a successful strategic planning process is the need to establish performance benchmarks, or dashboards, for an institution as well as key performance indicators (also known as KPIs) for each of its business units. …

April 07, 2025 - Among the differing goals and objectives laid out by colleges and universities for their endowments, one that is universally shared is intergenerational equity, or the concept that endowed institutions should provide the same level of support to future generations as …

March 27, 2025 - For our quarterly meeting of the AGB Council of Board Professionals, Alex Nock, principal of the Penn Hill Group, joined us to discuss the ever-dynamic federal landscape and its impact on higher education. Nock’s 25 years of experience shaping federal …

March 25, 2025 - Since 1991, AGB has been surveying board professionals from the public, independent, and institutionally related foundation sectors of higher education to capture data on their demographics, roles, responsibilities, and desires for professional development. The survey is conducted every five years. …

March 19, 2025 - Michael Townsley’s Small College Guide to Financial Health: Weathering Turbulent Times (NACUBO, 2009) offers an alternative way to pose Eric Denna’s inquiry regarding, “Where the institution is today, but more importantly where it is headed?” In his chapter on strategic …

March 10, 2025 - Higher education boards play a pivotal role in shaping an institution's vision and long-term strategy regardless of how the board is set up. For a board to effectively exercise its authority, each member must be motivated and inspired to actively …

March 05, 2025 - While judging the resiliency of an institution’s governance structure to deal with economic and political dislocation is a prerequisite in today’s higher education climate, comprehending the properties of its business model and how it may need to evolve in the …

February 28, 2025 - It is ironic or perhaps well-timed that AGB is hosting this year’s Board Professionals Conference in Chicago—one of the great “epicenter” cities of the country. “Epicenter” is symbolic of who we are as board professionals. In each of our campus …

February 26, 2025 - AGB has advocated for college and university governing boards to prepare policies, practices, and communications in advance to enable timely decisions when incidents of campus unrest occur. An October 2024 blog post highlighted the tensions between the First Amendment, on …

February 24, 2025 - The Association of Governing Boards (AGB) is one of the most influential organizations shaping the leadership and governance of higher education institutions across the United States. For over a century, AGB has provided essential guidance to college and university governing …