Table of Contents
Features
Heavy Pressure: Student Mental Health Needs Grow
By Charlotte West
Colleges and universities are grappling with how to respond to a growing demand for mental health services that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Many states and institutions are using federal relief funding to invest in expanded counseling services, as well as mental health promotion and prevention. Experts say that prioritizing students’ mental health needs is key to advancing institutions’ academic missions.
Diverse, Inclusive, and Equitable Boards: Why So Slow?
By Cathy A. Trower
This article, the first in a two-part series around board DEI engagement, explores how building diverse, inclusive, and equitable boards requires focus on individual trustees, the board as a group, and the institution. While there is much lip service paid to wanting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable board, there are many factors that impede progress. Understanding these roadblocks are critical to making DEI progress.
A Scenario-Based Learning Approach to Board Development
By Kent Devereaux and David Maxwell
A vast majority of college and university trustees come from outside of higher education, and as a result, these “outsiders” often find themselves as new board members barraged with a dizzying array of unfamiliar concepts, vocabulary, and practices—not the least of which is the all-important paradigm of shared governance that defines the respective roles and responsibilities of the board, the president, and the faculty (and increasingly, in many institutions, students and staff ) in the deliberations and strategic decisions that shape the institution’s present and its future. An exercise in scenario-based learning can be an effective tool for boards.
Extraordinary Board Leadership: The Inspiring Stories of the 2022 Nason Award Winners
By Christopher Connell
In a time of great challenge throughout higher education, it took something extra for a governing board to merit a 2022 John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership. It was a given that the six boards receiving the 2022 laurels helped guide their institutions through the difficulties posed by switching to online education and other exigencies forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. All went beyond that. At a time of soul-searching about injustice and racial inequities in America, four were honored for advancing the work of justice, equity, and inclusion at their institutions, including diversifying their own ranks. Two boards were recognized for their leadership of institutional turnarounds amid financial upheaval.
Departments and Columns
On My Agenda
Using Assessments to Advance Strategic Priorities
By Henry Stoever
News in Brief
A sampling of national higher education news
- AGB Awarded Grant to Empower Higher Education Governing Boards’ Oversight of Equitable Student Success
- AGB Releases Top Strategic Issues for Boards 2022–2023
Legal Standpoint
In the Shadow of the Law
By Steve Dunham
Forum
The New “R” in Enrollment Management
By Robert A. Scott
Reflections
Rethinking Learning and College Access
By Peter Smith
Focus on the Presidency
How Presidents and Boards Can Work Together to Advance Civil Education
By Jonathan R. Alger
A Question For…
Nicole Lynn Lewis
How can colleges help student parents?
By Elena Loveland