Diverse Paths to the Presidency

Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time.

Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.

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SCUP Link

In University Business magazine, Melisa Ezarik (who often comes to SCUP conferences, we hope to see you in Minneapolis in July, Melissa!) shares this article which is blurbed: "With shrinking candidate pools, retirements on the horizon, and new realities for institutions and their leaders, it’s time to broaden higher education’s idea of the best career path to get there."

As higher education evolves, what it means to be a college president may well evolve, too. “Clearly the times are demanding people to think creatively and differently about pedagogy, curricula, delivery systems, and the entire process,” says Courtice. He sees some institutions deciding they don’t need to change the model of who a president is just yet, while others will realize they’ve got to change now.

Storbeck believes a close look at the expectations of presidents is in order. “The nature of the job, the 24/7 [aspect]—it’s heavy lifting in every direction. … There must be ways to make the job a little bit more manageable for people so they’re not feeling after two to three years that they’ve used up all the gas in the tank,” she says.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
• April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"

The Worst Academic Profession Career Structures: Our Suggestions for Ranking

Philip G. Altbach must be one of the more prolific authors in all of higher education. Here's another piece, with Christine Musselin, about poorly designed or badly implemented academic career structures and the harm they can do:

A few examples will illustrate how poorly designed or badly implemented academic career structures can have a severely negative impact on the profession—and ultimately on the future of higher education. Many look to the United States as the world's leading university system and to the American professoriate as highly productive. The US "up-or-out" tenure system is seen as a rigorous but effective way of ensuring careful selection while at the same time providing a clear career path. While the system has been criticized for downplaying teaching and sometimes imposing unrealistic time constraints on junior staff, it is widely seen as effective. The problem is that fewer than half of new academic appointments in the United States are made on the traditional "tenure stream"; most new appointments are either part-time or full-time contracts. While the situation is somewhat better at the top institutions, this new arrangement makes an academic career impossible for participants of this new system. While this policy may save money and increase flexibility in the short run, it will have a highly negative impact on the American academic profession. The first increasing difficulty involves attracting the most qualified individuals to academe and constrains young researchers while autonomy should be provided at an age when creativity and innovation are usually at the highest levels.