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There are many
helpful books on the college presidency but the perspective and
touch of this new contribution is refreshingly human, candid, and
accessible. By stressing the experiences of a small college
president, this book covers the entire range of direct and
immediate encounters with diverse constituencies that might escape
the attention of those who lead larger institutions but this
comprehensiveness provides a context useful for the presidency of
any kind of college and university....In plain language it conveys
a real sensitivity to the deep responsibilities and ambiguous
controls of the presidency and how that sensitivity is the
foundation of effective leadership.
~ David Ward
President, American Council on Education
This wise manual
should be a handbook for all presidents, wannabe presidents, and
trustees who hire presidents of small colleges. Its observations
and advice spring from the real-life experience of a successful
small college president who understands that the special
challenges—and rewards—of such leadership differ from those of
large university presidencies. It is unique in offering advice
about the personal, as well as the professional, challenges
presidents face and telling the reader how to recognize when
outside expertise is needed and how to use it....
Moreover, system
presidents and boards of trustees who are responsible for hiring
college presidents need to appreciate the unique challenges of
these positions and muse on how they can help these indispensable
leaders succeed in the very special milieu of small colleges and
communities.
~
Katharine Lyall
President Emeritus, University of Wisconsin System
This book belongs
on the bookshelf or in the brief case of every small college
president or trustee, or anyone who aspires to those posts.
Writing in a learned, humane, and genial style, Peterson delivers
sage advice based on his personal experience and wide reading on
small college leadership....His chapter on why otherwise talented
people fail as presidents may help save some careers.
~
Terry MacTaggart
Former Chancellor, University of Maine System
and Minnesota State University System
Harry Peterson
knows small colleges, their commitment to excellence, their
people, their inner dynamics, their quirks and foibles. This
manual tells what you need to know, whether you are a sitting or
aspiring president, dean, trustee, or citizen dedicated to seeing
that small colleges in America remain a primary national resource.
~
Marvin Henberg
Former Academic Vice President and Interim President, Linfield
College, McMinnville, OR
The only resource
better than this handbook for small college presidents would be to
know and to work directly with Harry Peterson over a period of
time. Lamentably, only a few of us have had that extraordinary
privilege and opportunity.
I followed Harry
as president of our college and his brilliant mentoring has made
it possible for me and our campus community to build upon the
strong organizational foundation that he established several years
ago. Leading a Small College or University is likely the next best
thing (though a distant second) to working with Harry Peterson.
~
Jay Helman
President, Western State College of Colorado
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