Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

An insider's account of higher education from a legendary university leader

Lessons Learned gives unprecedented access to the university president's office, providing a unique set of reflections on the challenges involved in leading both research universities and liberal arts colleges. In this landmark book, William Bowen, former president of Princeton University and of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and coauthor of the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, takes readers behind closed faculty-room doors to discuss how today's colleges and universities serve their age-old missions.

With extraordinary candor, clarity, and good humor, Bowen shares the sometimes-hard lessons he learned about working with trustees, faculty, and campus groups; building an effective administrative team; deciding when to speak out on big issues and when to insist on institutional restraint; managing dissent; cultivating alumni and raising funds; setting academic priorities; fostering inclusiveness; eventually deciding when and how to leave the president's office; and much more. Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Bowen demonstrates how his greatest lessons often arose from the missteps he made along the way, and how, when it comes to university governance, there are important general principles but often no single right answer.

Full of compelling stories, insights, and practical wisdom, Lessons Learned frames the questions that leaders of higher education will continue to confront at a complex moment in history.

1116828964
Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

An insider's account of higher education from a legendary university leader

Lessons Learned gives unprecedented access to the university president's office, providing a unique set of reflections on the challenges involved in leading both research universities and liberal arts colleges. In this landmark book, William Bowen, former president of Princeton University and of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and coauthor of the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, takes readers behind closed faculty-room doors to discuss how today's colleges and universities serve their age-old missions.

With extraordinary candor, clarity, and good humor, Bowen shares the sometimes-hard lessons he learned about working with trustees, faculty, and campus groups; building an effective administrative team; deciding when to speak out on big issues and when to insist on institutional restraint; managing dissent; cultivating alumni and raising funds; setting academic priorities; fostering inclusiveness; eventually deciding when and how to leave the president's office; and much more. Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Bowen demonstrates how his greatest lessons often arose from the missteps he made along the way, and how, when it comes to university governance, there are important general principles but often no single right answer.

Full of compelling stories, insights, and practical wisdom, Lessons Learned frames the questions that leaders of higher education will continue to confront at a complex moment in history.

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Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

by William G. Bowen
Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President

by William G. Bowen

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Overview

An insider's account of higher education from a legendary university leader

Lessons Learned gives unprecedented access to the university president's office, providing a unique set of reflections on the challenges involved in leading both research universities and liberal arts colleges. In this landmark book, William Bowen, former president of Princeton University and of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and coauthor of the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, takes readers behind closed faculty-room doors to discuss how today's colleges and universities serve their age-old missions.

With extraordinary candor, clarity, and good humor, Bowen shares the sometimes-hard lessons he learned about working with trustees, faculty, and campus groups; building an effective administrative team; deciding when to speak out on big issues and when to insist on institutional restraint; managing dissent; cultivating alumni and raising funds; setting academic priorities; fostering inclusiveness; eventually deciding when and how to leave the president's office; and much more. Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Bowen demonstrates how his greatest lessons often arose from the missteps he made along the way, and how, when it comes to university governance, there are important general principles but often no single right answer.

Full of compelling stories, insights, and practical wisdom, Lessons Learned frames the questions that leaders of higher education will continue to confront at a complex moment in history.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781400837588
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 11/01/2010
Series: The William G. Bowen Series , #67
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 184
File size: 455 KB

About the Author

William G. Bowen is president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University. His many books include the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions and Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities (both Princeton).

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: Preamble and Context 1
CHAPTER TWO: Governing 7
The Trustees and the Resident Campus Community 8
Consultation and Decision-making on Campus 16
The ROTC Debate as an Illustrative Case of Shared Governance 21


CHAPTER THREE: Administering 24
Building an Effective Administrative Team 24
Structuring Interactions 30
Compensation--for Administrators and for the President 32


CHAPTER FOUR: The University in Society: "At a Slight Angle to the Universe" 35
Basic Principles 35
The Proposed Boycott of J. P. Stevens 42
Divestment and South Africa 44
Freedom to Speak--and to Hear 46
Handling Dissent and Invoking Discipline 53


CHAPTER FIVE: Setting Academic Priorities: Annual Budgeting 59
Process 59
Principles 61


CHAPTER SIX: Setting Academic Priorities: Strategic Decisions 66
Coeducation 67
Investing in the Life Sciences 73
Graduate Education and Professional Schools 76
Strategic Decision-making in General 81


CHAPTER SEVEN: Building the Faculty 84
Recruiting and Retaining Faculty 84
Reviewing Tenure Recommendations and Salary Proposals 91
Faculty Diversity 95


CHAPTER EIGHT: Undergraduates: Admissions, Financial Aid, and Inclusiveness 98
Diversity and Financial Aid 99
Affi rmative Action and Race 101
Socioeconomic Status 106
Athletic Recruitment 109
Religious Divides: Jewish Students 112
Residential Life 115


CHAPTER NINE: Fund-Raising and Alumni Relations 119
Knowing Your Needs--and Your Donors 120
The Robertson Foundation Saga 124
Alumni Relations in General 127
Contending with Hostile Groups 129


CHAPTER TEN: Life in a President's Offi ce--and When to Leave 133
Partners, Colleagues, and Friends 133
Deciding What Not to Do as Well as What to Do 136
On Leaving 140
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Epilogue: Why Colleges and Universities Matter So Much 144


Acknowledgments 149
References 155
Index 161

What People are Saying About This

Bacow

I loved reading Lessons Learned. It is thoughtful, pithy, and wise. This is a terrific book. I am only sorry I did not have the benefit of reading it nine years ago. I would have saved myself from making a few big mistakes.
Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts University

Taylor Reveley

This book, it seems to me, is Bill Bowen the teacher in full cry, delivering the goods with his usual insight, clarity, and force. This is not a memoir or history of his years in Princeton's Nassau Hall but rather a sophisticated, winsome guide to what worked—and didn't work—as he navigated the presidential wilds. Lessons Learned is in a league by itself.
Taylor Reveley, president of the College of William and Mary

Derek Bok

There is an unusual amount of wisdom and good common sense in these pages from which any academic leader or aspiring leader could learn a lot.
Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University

Hanna Holborn Gray

The lessons Bowen cites are wise and sound and balanced and, in my opinion, absolutely right on.
Hanna Holborn Gray, former president of the University of Chicago

From the Publisher

"The lessons Bowen cites are wise and sound and balanced and, in my opinion, absolutely right on."—Hanna Holborn Gray, former president of the University of Chicago

"Lessons Learned is so compelling that I read it in one sitting the day I received it. Bowen's specific and vivid examples masterfully illustrate the general points he makes about governance, administration, setting priorities, recruiting faculty and students, and fundraising. I found it most stimulating as well as illuminating to read."—Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania

"There is an unusual amount of wisdom and good common sense in these pages from which any academic leader or aspiring leader could learn a lot."—Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University

"I loved reading Lessons Learned. It is thoughtful, pithy, and wise. This is a terrific book. I am only sorry I did not have the benefit of reading it nine years ago. I would have saved myself from making a few big mistakes."—Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts University

"This book, it seems to me, is Bill Bowen the teacher in full cry, delivering the goods with his usual insight, clarity, and force. This is not a memoir or history of his years in Princeton's Nassau Hall but rather a sophisticated, winsome guide to what worked—and didn't work—as he navigated the presidential wilds. Lessons Learned is in a league by itself."—Taylor Reveley, president of the College of William and Mary

Amy Gutmann

Lessons Learned is so compelling that I read it in one sitting the day I received it. Bowen's specific and vivid examples masterfully illustrate the general points he makes about governance, administration, setting priorities, recruiting faculty and students, and fundraising. I found it most stimulating as well as illuminating to read.
Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania

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