New Book by Gearhart and Miller Focuses on College Leadership

A new book by College of Education and Health Professions professors G. David Gearhart and Michael T. Miller focuses on the challenges, opportunities, rights, and responsibilities of college leaders.

Case Studies in College Leadership, The American College President, a book featuring 15 real-world case studies, was published this month.

"The cases in the book are all based on real-life experiences of college presidents," said Gearhart, a professor of higher education and chancellor emeritus of the University of Arkansas. "The college presidency has been described as the most difficult job in higher education and one of the most difficult in the entire country, and we tried to highlight some of the challenges that make the role so difficult."

Cases in the book focus on topics such as land acquisition and campus expansion, sexual harassment, guns and shootings on campus, athletics and admissions preferences. "We really tried to cover a broad range of topics," said Miller, professor of higher education. "We've been working on this book for over a year, and we wanted to make sure that we were covering topics that are critical to campuses today."

"The book also complements the work of the National Lab for the Study of the College President," said Gearhart. "We've had several speakers on campus, are into the fourth year of our publishing our journal, and we are excited to get back on campus and to bring experts on the college presidency to Fayetteville this fall."