Table of Contents 

Features

Governing and Hiring for Systemness
Revenue, Resources, Planning, and Collaboration

By Jason E. Lane and Nancy L. Zimpher

The future of higher education lies in greater collaboration and coordination. The authors explore the role of governing boards in overseeing higher education systems, the mindsets needed to adopt systemness as an operational standard, and how boards can use hiring and other strategies to leverage the collective assets of a system to support students and the state.

Transforming Des Moines University
A Case Study in Integral Leadership

By Angela L. Walker Franklin

Founded in 1898 as the nation’s second college of osteopathic medicine, Des Moines University is again in a pioneering position as it fulfills a bold plan to deliver a new campus. This endeavor tells of a visionary and disciplined board of trustees that, in the words of former chair Larry Baker, “could not have been possible under our old ways.”

Fostering Change in Higher Education
Institutions Need Room to Experiment—and Fail—in Order to Succeed

By Bridget Burns

Hiding institutional failures, the ones that others could learn from, is deeply embedded in the fabric of most American colleges and universities. Trustees can fuel innovation if they help their institutions get comfortable with short-term failure and understand that failure is the greatest teacher.

Higher Education as a Strategic Asset
An Emerging National Call to Action

By David Rosowsky

Earlier this year, a coalition of national leaders convened the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset (HESA) to begin work on a report to national leaders focused on strategies for higher education to “drive global competitiveness, keep our nation secure, sustain our democracy, and propel economic and social prosperity”—bold goals at a challenging time for higher education and our nation.

Departments and Columns

On My Agenda
Rethinking Our Needs for a New Era
By Mary Papazian

News in Brief
A Sampling of National Higher Education News

Inside AGB
-Ellen-Earle Chaffee Assumes Leadership Role at AGB
-Recent HESA Convening
-Sponsored Podcast Spotlight

Legal Standpoint
Existential Crisis
A Play With Three Acts
By Lee Tyner

Foundations of Consequence
First 100 Days
How to Succeed as a New Foundation CEO
By Laura Wilcox

Forum
A Gaggle of Gags (Not the Funny Kind)
By Kevin P. Reilly

Focus on the Presidency
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
By Anne M. Kress

A Question for The Rev. Dennis Holtschneider
For Catholic Colleges, Strategy is Everything
By Carol Schuler