Following Alma College’s announcement of a national search for its 14th president in April, the Board of Trustees has moved to the next phase of leadership transition, naming Jeffrey Abernathy as President Emeritus, and appointing Eric Blackhurst as Interim President, effective November 20, 2024.
When Penn State University’s trustees gather for official meetings, they tend to spend only a sliver of their time discussing their views or asking questions before a vote, if they speak at all.
People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill—they want a quarter-inch hole, the Harvard University marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously said. The point he creatively made is that it’s the job the customer wants done that matters, not the device. Higher education doesn’t give enough intentional attention to the variety of jobs of faculty governance.
Cal State San Bernardino hosted “Growing Philanthropy in Support of Your College,” a regional workshop designed to empower community college leaders and foundation board members to build sustainable philanthropic support for their institutions and communities. The event, held on Nov. 1 at the CSUSB Alumni Center, was organized by the CSUSB Philanthropic Foundation, in partnership with the Association of Governing Boards (AGB).
GENESEE COUNTY, MI — Mott Community College will interview three national search firms to find the college’s next permanent president. Trustees Andy Everman and Jeffrey Swanson voted in an ad hoc committee meeting on Monday, Nov. 4, to bring three search firms – Academic Search, AGB Search and Greenwood/Asher & Associates – to the full board to select one on Nov. 18. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
At its Oct. 22 meeting, the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees voted to add two new at-large trustee seats to its board as permitted under C.R.S. § 23-71-110. Currently, the CMC board consists of seven elected trustees who represent the following school districts: Eagle County, Lake County, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Summit, Salida, Roaring Fork RE-1, Garfield District 16 and Garfield RE-2. Since 2020, a non-voting trustee liaison has represented Salida on the CMC board.
Ilya Nemenman, an Emory University physics professor, seethed as summer break neared its end. The problem was that the president had not received the University Senate’s approval first. “This is not just a corporation,” Dr. Nemenman chided the president, Gregory L. Fenves, during an Aug. 28 meeting, according to interviews and contemporaneous notes that summarized the discussion.
Like much of America, higher education is consumed with uncertainty over Tuesday’s presidential election.

