ABSTRACT
Governing the twenty-first-century university requires an academic leader who has moved up through the ranks, gaining extensive experience as both a good teacher and scholar, who thus has an in-depth and firsthand understanding of faculty issues and goals. Transparency in governance means a free exchange between faculty and administrators on the fundamental issues that face the institution. It facilitates agreement between these parties on the institution's priorities, general implementation mechanisms and monitoring of implementation. The chapter proposes an improved model of university governance with five distinguishing characteristics: transparency; leadership from the top; open communication; treating people with dignity; authentic core values. Many universities, having no other means of measuring academic quality, invest an inordinate degree of value in the national rankings assigned by publications such as US News and World Report. University presidents wield considerable influence over the extent to which constituents buy into the institution's core values.
