Leading Where it Counts: An Investigation of the Leadership Styles and Behaviors that Define College and University Pres
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Leading Where it Counts: An Investigation of the Leadership Styles and Behaviors that Define College and University Presidents as Successful Fundraisers Received (in revised form): November 2, 2007
William D. Nicholson II serves as Vice President for University Advancement at Coastal Carolina University. He holds a B.A. in Communications from Charleston Southern University in Charleston, South Carolina and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
Abstract This paper provides presidents and academic leadership with a body of literature that will strengthen the leaders’ understanding of the unique behaviors and characteristics that are paramount to successful fund raising in the academic arena. A better understanding of transformational, transactional, and transformative leadership theory, and the attributes that are associated with them, can not only help leaders shape and mold their approach to fund raising but also enable them to infuse a greater sense of meaning into their respective institutions while increasing the amount of financial support they garner. International Journal of Educational Advancement (2007) 7, 256–270. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ijea.2150072 Author’s Contact Address: William D. Nicholson, II, Coastal Carolina University Myrtle Beach Sa 29528, USA Email: [email protected]
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Keywords: presidential leadership, fund raising, transformational leadership theory
Introduction With characteristic bluntness, Upton Sinclair once remarked that the college president spends his time running back and forth between Mammon and God (Sinclair, 1923). Sinclair may have accurately described the nineteenthand twentieth-century president, but twenty-first-century university and college presidents appear to be driven by mammon alone. Cook (1994) suggests that the role as fund raiser has become the most important one for university and college presidents. More and more, the success of a university or a college depends on the president’s ability to successfully integrate an effective leadership style with his/her fund-raising activities. University and college presidents admit that their role is increasingly about mammon and that they are ultimately responsible and accountable
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT. VOL.7 NO.4 256–270 © 2007 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD. ISSN 1744–6503 $30.00 www.palgrave-journals.com/ijea
Leading Where it Counts
for the bottom line of their university or college. Birnbaum (1989) concludes that university and college presidents, operating in complex, ambiguous settings, are asked to be all things to all people. While Birnbaum’s conclusion may be true, for university and college presidents, the bottom line is, more often than not, fund raising. The leadership and fund-raising theory outlined in this paper provides a framework for presidential and academic leaders that will help guide their approach to fund raising. By reviewing characteristics of top fundraising presidents, academic leaders may
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