A new president comes to the job with enthusiasm and optimism. The board that hired the president, as well as the faculty and staff members who anticipate the new leader’s arrival, share those sentiments. Some people hope he or she will do as well as the previous president; more often, they hope the new president will do everything that the predecessor did well and improve on what that person did not do well. An impossible assignment? No, but a difficult one.
Author: Harry L. Peterson, president emeritus of Western State College of Colorado, also served as a senior administrator at the Universities of Idaho and Wisconsin. This article is adapted from his book Leading a Small College or University: A Conversation That Never Ends, to be published this month by Atwood Publishing.