Beginning with the earliest efforts to regulate schools, the author reveals the rationale behind accountability and outlines the historical development of how US federal and state policies, accreditation practices, private-sector interests, and internal requirements have become so important to institutional success and survival

How experienced college and university leaders guide successful institutions—and why they sometimes lose their way. Today's college and university leaders face complex problems that test their political acumen as well as their judgment, intellect, empathy, and ability to plan and improvise. How do they thoughtfully and creatively rise to the challenge? In Leading Colleges and Universities, editors Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Gordon Gee bring together a host of presidents and other leaders in higher education who describe how they dealt with the issues. Each contributor has been effective as a president or other significant leader in postsecondary education. In this book they share real-life examples and stories that illustrate how they have dealt with the challenges they encountered. Together they answer these and other core questions: • How do you manage college athletics, faculty, a governing board, donors, and a local community? • What do you need to know about crisis management and legal affairs? • When should you be outspoken in the media and when should you be quiet? The book does not shy away from hot contemporary issues, tackling such controversial matters as free speech, Title IX, athletics, fraternities, student and faculty diversity, and board relations. Presidents and would-be presidents—as well as boards, search committees, state boards, legislators, and others involved in higher education—will find much helpful guidance in this timely book.

Discover how one public higher education institution was able to succeed despite the many obstacles and challenges that it faced. This is the story of how and why Baruch College of The City University of New York became a “positive outlier,” overcoming serious financial constraints, physical space limitations, and other difficulties to be highly ranked academically and financially stable. During a tumultuous time for public higher education, Baruch has graduated tens of thousands of smart and striving individuals (the majority of whom were the first in their family ever to attend college) with little or no educational debt. As the former president of the college, Mitchel Wallerstein analyzes the lessons learned, and he identifies the specific factors that explain Baruch’s success. He addresses the question of whether there is anything unique about BaruchÕs approach—a “secret sauce,” so to speak—that accounts for its academic success and financial strength, and he considers whether the Baruch model can be replicated by other public institutions. Book Features: Reviews the history of public higher education, its development in the state of New York, and the important role it has played in the economic development of the United States.Presents a unique, comparative analysis of 15 public higher education institutions in 6 states across the country, comparing their strengths and standing in relation to one another and to Baruch College.Explores the replicability and sustainability of the “Baruch model” in the context of other public higher education institutions across the country.Reflects on the current and future challenges facing public higher education in the 21st century.