Understanding University Leadership ~ Advice From Presidents-Emeritus

MIT's Stephen Immerman suggested that Bob Simha and I add two recent Chronicle of Higher Education pieces to the reading list for our Understanding MIT class, thinking ahead to our next installment of the seminar this Fall 2008.

1. What I Might Have Told My Successor: A former university president looks back on 19 years of lessons learned at the top, by Stephen Trachtenberg, who served as president of George Washington University for nearly two decades.
2. Why Presidents Fail -- and How They Can Succeed, by Harry Peterson, president emeritus of Western State College of Colorado and author of Leading a Small College or University: A Conversation That Never Ends.