Presidential Transition in Higher Education:
Managing Leadership Change
James Martin, James E. Samels & Associates © 2004

Presidential transitions at institutions of higher education occur at about one-quarter of the nation’s colleges and universities at any given time. In this theory-based and practitioner-oriented book, James Martin and James E. Samels bring together a distinguished group of higher education professionals to provide a comprehensive guide to managing change at the top. The text is divided into three parts: “Context,” “Action,” and “Key Issues.” Collectively, the chapters advocate a new model of “transition management,” which approaches the principal elements of the experience with a coordinated, constructive, and strategic intent. Presidents, administrators, trustees, faculty, and others involved in leadership change will benefit from the wide-ranging discussion combined with specific action plans. The volume’s contributors address topics such as proactive management, the transformation of challenges into opportunities, executive search firms, interim presidents, and the best practices for sudden transitions.
     Hardcover copies of this book are $45 and may be ordered
from Johns Hopkins University Press at (800) 537-5487 or www.press.jhu.edu.

Scholarship & Christian Faith:
Enlarging the Conversation
Douglas and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen © 2004

Many scholars have debated how best to understand the role of faith in the academy at large and in the special arena of church-related Christian higher education. In particular, the authors, who are faculty members at Messiah College (PA), argue that Christian scholarship itself has generated remarkably little attention. They offer a new definition and analysis of Christian scholarship that respects the insights of different Christian traditions, and they contend that Christian scholarship can flourish in a variety of academic settings. Their goal is both to “map the complex terrain of Christian scholarship” and to help “foster better connections between Christian scholars of differing persuasions and between Christians and the academy as a whole.”
     Hardcover copies are $29.95 and may be ordered from Oxford University Press at (800) 451-7556 or www.oup.com.

A History of American Higher Education
John R. Thelin © 2004

Emphasizing the notion of saga—the proposition that institutions are heirs to various historical strands—John Thelin offers a wide-ranging account of the origins and evolution of America’s public and private colleges and universities. “Since American higher education today is a formidable modern enterprise,” writes Thelin, “academic leaders can easily overlook its past. However, …the discussion of timely higher-education topics starts—not stops—with history.” Thelin draws on both official institutional histories and informal memories to offer an interpretation of an institutional past that encompasses both well-known colleges and universities and such understudied institutions as community, women’s, and historically black colleges, proprietary schools, and freestanding professional colleges. Thelin’s history challenges conventional wisdom about how these institutions developed and functioned in the past.
     Copies are $19.95 (hardcover, $55) and may be ordered from Johns Hopkins University Press at (800) 537-5487 or www.press.jhu.edu.

Defining Women’s Scientific Enterprise: Mount Holyoke
Faculty and the Rise of American Science
Miriam Levin, Release Date: January 1, 2005

This soon-to-be released book by Miriam Levin examines the efforts of women science faculty at Mount Holyoke College (MA) to advance themselves and their institution from its founding as an evangelical Protestant seminary for women. Levin asserts that New England Protestant culture and the learning environment at Mount Holyoke during the institution’s first 100 years enabled women science faculty to establish a niche for themselves, develop new ways of teaching science, and ultimately to contribute to the development of American scientific enterprise. Levin’s reappraisal of the relationship of women and the scientific enterprise provides a case study of an alternative way of doing science—college-based, women-based, religion-based, teaching-based—that is far different from the research university model that has become the foundation for academic science in the United States.
     Copies are $26 and may be ordered from University Press of New England at (800) 421-1561 or www.upne.com.

Transforming a College: The Story of a Little-Known College’s Strategic Climb to National Distinction
George Keller © 2004

Four decades ago, Elon University (NC), then Elon College, was described as “a small, unattractive, parochial bottom-feeder,” and struggled to attract students and pay its bills. Yet today, Elon is a “beautiful, medium-size university attracting students from 48 states” that is listed “among the 300 finest undergraduate institutions in the land.” It has added many campus facilities, the number of applications has risen 40 percent since 1995, and average SAT scores of incoming students have improved by 98 points. George Keller examines Elon’s transformation, and identifies what other colleges and universities can learn from such a remarkable turnaround. He reviews the decisions made by Elon’s administration, trustees, and faculty that turned an institution with a limited endowment into a top regional university. Using Elon as a case study, Keller reveals the high-stakes capitalist competition among America’s colleges and universities—where losers face contraction or closure and winners gain money, talented students, and top faculty.
     Hardcover copies are $26.95 and may be ordered from Johns Hopkins University Press at (800) 537-5487 or www.press.jhu.edu.

A Handbook to Guide Educational Institutions Through the Accreditation Process: The ABCs of Accreditation
Kitty R. Coffey and Ellen M. Millsaps
Release Date: January 30, 2005

This practical and scholarly guide to the entire accreditation process will help college administrators, faculty, and staff members to conduct a successful self-study from its inception to the final response to the regional or specialized accrediting body. The authors begin with a basic definition of accreditation, trace its beginnings, and lay out future challenges. The handbook includes
best practices, which allow readers to choose the ones most useful for their own institutions.
     Copies are $99.95 and may be pre-ordered from Edwin Mellen
Press at (716) 754-2788 or cservice@mellenpress.com.

Bethany College
Brent Carney © 2004

This rich history of Bethany College (WV)—the oldest degree-granting institution in West Virginia—traces the vision of founder Alexander Campbell, the inspiration of the Christian Church that supports Bethany’s mission, the beautiful historic architecture, the athletic moments that rallied school pride, and the great legacy of alumni and faculty members. Author Brent Carney includes vintage photographs, collected from the Archives and Special Collections of Bethany’s T.W. Phillips Memorial Library, to capture the vibrant history of Bethany College.
     Copies of this book are $19.99 and may be ordered from Arcadia Publishing at (888) 313-2665 or www.arcadiapub lishing.com.