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A Complete Guide to Presidential Search for Universities and Colleges, Third Edition
By James P. Ferrare and Melissa K. Trotta
PRINT EDITION
$90.00
(Member Price $60.00)
PRINT EDITION
$90.00
(Member Price $60.00)
About:
This new edition focuses on how to most effectively conduct a presidential search. The guidance it provides recognizes the many forms a successful search can take, but it underscores, as well, the importance of some common elements:
- a representative, well-led, and well-organized search committee
- experienced search consultants
- widespread agreement among board members and key constituencies on desirable experience and attributes of the new president
- comprehensive and intentional outreach to candidates
- persuasive presentation of the opportunity
- thoughtful vetting
- productive interviews
- the right balance of openness and confidentiality
- clear communication with candidates and the community
- well-planned campus visits
- an effective contract negotiation
- a well-considered transition plan and launch
It offers expert guidance to those who have a role in presidential search, selection, appointment, and transition. The audience includes not only boards, which have ultimate responsibility for ensuring that their institution has the best leadership possible, but also board leaders, general counsels, and board professionals who might be planning for leadership transitions and potential candidates for executive positions at a college or university. It also encompasses search committees and transition groups to which boards delegate, under their oversight, much of the work that results when a presidential vacancy occurs.
Title Information:
- A bulk discount is available for orders of 10 or more copies
- Publication Year: 2026
- ISBN: 978-1-951635-52-7
About the Authors:
James P. Ferrare, PhD—As the founding managing principal of AGB Search, Dr. James (Jamie) Ferrare helped build and lead an extremely successful team of consultants, research associates, and office personnel committed to best-practice search processes in full search, interim search, and compensation evaluation. He stepped down as managing principal in 2017 and remains with the firm as an executive search consultant.
Before joining AGB Search, Dr. Ferrare was senior consultant and past president at another Washington, D.C.–based search and consulting firm. He led hundreds of searches for presidents, vice presidents, and deans in public and private colleges and universities as well as in religiously-affiliated schools and independent liberal arts and fine arts institutions.
Dr. Ferrare previously was dean of the School of Education at Drake University, where he was associate professor of leadership and adult development. He also served as associate executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa and as associate superintendent of schools for the nationally renowned West Des Moines Community School district. He has taught at the middle and high school levels in public school districts in Pennsylvania and coordinated federal programs in support of children in underserved communities. Dr. Ferrare is currently a member of the Board of Trustees at Dominican University of California and chairs the academic and student affairs committee.
Dr. Ferrare holds a bachelor of science degree in education and a master’s degree in education and education leadership, both from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. His PhD, in education policy and administration, is from Iowa State University.
Melissa K. Trotta, EdD—Dr. Melissa Trotta joined AGB Search as associate managing principal in 2017 and is currently associate managing principal and senior vice president for client development. She has more than a decade of experience in executive search for higher education and more than 25 years in higher education administration at universities including Georgetown, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins. Her previous executive search experience was at another higher-education-focused search firm, where she was a vice president and conducted both academic and administrative leadership searches. She partners with a wide array of institutions on searches for presidents, provosts, deans, vice presidents, and a variety of other senior leadership positions, always with an eye to the alignment of candidates with institutional needs, priorities, and values.
Dr. Trotta has presented as a speaker and panelist at numerous meetings and conferences of education-related professional organizations, including the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges’ National Conference on Trusteeship, the American Conference of Academic Deans’ (ACAD) Annual Meeting, the National Association of College and University Business Officers’ (NACUBO) Annual Meeting, ACE’s Women’s Leadership Forum, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Higher Education Leadership Conference.
She chaired the Alumni Advisory Board of the Executive Doctorate Program at the University of Pennsylvania and was previously on the executive committee of the Education Alumni Association at Penn’s Graduate School of Education. Dr. Trotta was co-chair of ACE’s Executive Search Roundtable from 2021 until 2023 and is an active member of the Roundtable. She is also AGB Search’s liaison to the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants.
Dr. Trotta holds a bachelor of arts degree in communications (Phi Beta Kappa) and a master’s degree in higher education administration, awarded with distinction, from Boston College. She earned an EdD in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.