Over the past month, we've talked with university presidents, trustees, and faculty, cultivating a dialog around building strong relationships between institutional leadership. In the face of strained board-president relationships, diffused shared governance practices, challenging financial and regulatory environment, stresses on the balance of leadership abound.

In light of the search for this careful balance of accountability, authority, and responsibility at the top, our conversation today focuses on the role of the board in helping the institution improve its decision-making prowess, provide leadership and vision at the strategic level, and above all else, to be consequential in the ongoing development and growth of the institution. What does it take to build a consequential board? What should we expect of the board of 2020? And what sort of impact does the board need to have in higher education?

This week we welcome Richard Chait to Navigating Change. Dr. Chait is Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and co-author of “Consequential Boards: Adding Value Where It Matters Most” published by AGB.

Links & Notes

• Consequential Boards — AGB Report

About Richard Chait

Richard Chait (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin), Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Chair of COACHE's National Advisory Council, studies the management and governance of colleges and universities. Chait has expertise on terms and conditions of faculty employment, including promotion and tenure procedures, academic freedom, and faculty evaluation. He also studies the roles, responsibilities, and performance of boards of trustees, and has written on faculty work life. For over 20 years, Chait has taught in HGSE's summer institute programs for executives in higher education. He has been a professor at the University of Maryland and at Case Western Reserve University, and was formerly associate provost at Pennsylvania State University. In 2001, Chait was selected by the Fulbright New Zealand Board of Directors as a Fulbright U.S. Distinguished American Scholar. In 2005, Chait received the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Academic Leadership Award and a Research Writing Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). His recent books include Governance as Leadership (with W. Ryan and B. Taylor) (2004) and The Questions of Tenure, ed. (2002).