Navigating presidential search amid competing demands in an era of tumult: an action research report to enhance the college presidential search process.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20406263

Campus life is disrupted. Boards and campus leadership are under immense pressure from all directions. Candidates face the uncertainty of the higher education landscape. Search firms must manage competing, conflicting, and uneducated opinions of how to run a presidential search. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate and improve the process of selecting college and university presidents against this upheaval. Interviews and surveys were conducted in Cycle 1 to ensure the vast array of opinions were considered in Cycle 2 as communities of practice sought to address the challenges of presidential search identified. Presidential searches are extremely complex. This study demonstrates the need for more candidate education, more time for boards and search committees to understand the search process, and for search firms to find new and inventive ways to address challenges that arise in the search. As the higher education landscape continues to change, search firms will need to proactively address equity issues for candidates, break down barriers to equity in the search process, educate search process stakeholders, and change their management of the search process. Presidential searches will become more and more complex. This study provides a roadmap for continual evaluation of the search process and how to examine challenges for the various stakeholders in the search process utilizing communities of practice. --Author's abstract