Description
Book SynopsisUsing case studies and relevant literature, this book illustrates the challenges to legitimate, Shared-governance domains when the routine of the academy is forced to deal with big issues, often brought on by external forces. Mortimer and Sathre have gone beyond a discussion of faculty/administrative behavior by focusing on what happens when the legitimate governance claims of faculty, trustees, and presidents clash. They place these relationships in the broader context of internal institutional governance and analyze the dynamics that unfold when advocacy trumps collegiality. The book closes with a defense of shared governance and offers observations and practical suggestions about how the academy can share authority effectively and further achieve its mission.
Trade ReviewMortimer and Sathre get to the heart of good governance in the 21st century. Good intentions and good ideas are not enough. This book offers ways to get things done in an increasingly competitive environment. -- William G. Tierney, University Professor & Wilbur-Kieffer Pr, Director, Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Ken Mortimer and Colleen Sathre make The Art and Politics of Academic Governance come alive. They argue that to survive, trustees, faculty leaders, academic administrators, and policy makers need to be market smart, mission centered, and politically savvy. How to do that is the challenge, and here the book is at its best as it weaves together high-stakes governance struggles with a remarkable command of the scholarly literature. For students of academic governance and practitioners alike, this book is a real find. -- Stanley O. Ikenberry, past president, American Council on Education; interim president, University of Illinois
This well written primer on the politics of institutional governance reminds us why process is as important as substance in academic decision making. The book emphasizes contemporary issues, the current bibliography will help bring readers up to date on the governance literature, and the several real-life cases illustrate how the best laid plans of academics, as well as mice, can easily go awry. -- Robert Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus of Higher Education, University of Maryland, College Park
Mortimer (president emeritus, Western Washington U. and U. of Hawaii) and Sathre (vice president emeritus of planning and policy, U. of Hawaii) note that academic governance is a complex, controversial, and 'messy' of blend of politics, influence, competing interests, and authority - and that managing and negotiating it properly is an art form. The issue here is shared governance and the relationships between school boards, administrators, and faculty. The authors discuss the elements of shared governance and, ideally, how they work together to produce desired results. This is a reprint of a 2007 book. * Book News, Inc. *
