Trusteeship - March/April 2021 - ABG10

Board members were urged to redefine
the purposes and goals of their institutions
to help " nurture academic freedom and
repel the attacks of society on academic
institutions. "
Following Zwingle's retirement in 1973,
Robert L. Gale, a former Carleton College
vice president and Peace Corps official,
was appointed president of AGB. At the
same time, a four-year grant in excess of $1
million arrived from the Lilly Endowment.
New programs and publications increased,
and the association blossomed.
The centerpiece of the Lilly-funded
effort was the development of the
Board-Mentor Program, a board self-assessment workshop utilized by more than
350 boards. Other important projects
of the 1970s included the studies on the
board's role in financial affairs, presidential

selection, and presidential assessment;
filmstrip on tenure, budgeting, and fundraising; and publications on many other
important topics, as well as the first-ever

nationwide survey of the composition and
characteristics of governing boards.
The momentum created by the Lilly
grant continues today. By the early 1990s,
virtually all of AGB's available publications at that time were produced during
the 1980s. Other products of the 1980s
included the establishment of AGB's Office
of Public Policy, the Institute for Trustee
Leadership, the National Center for Nonprofit Boards, which is now named BoardSource-a now-independent organization
for trustees of nonprofit organizations-and
numerous workshops, seminars, and panels.
Until the 1960s, the public took little
interest in academic trusteeship, and little
was written or known about the subject.
The enormous jump in college and university enrollment as the Baby Boom generation reached adulthood and the activism

2010 Report on

2013 After AGB's

2013 AGB

2014 AGB releases

2017 AGB launches the " Guardians Initiative "

how boards oversee
educational quality
is released, as part
of a larger project
on Governance for
Student Success.

successful threeyear campaign, the
U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission
(SEC) decided to
exempt college and
university board
members from
the commission's
oversight rules that
changed the definition
of a " municipal
advisor. "

establishes the
National Commission
on College and
University Board
Governance, which
calls for improvements
to the oversight
function of trustees,
which culminates
in the publication,
Consequential Boards:
Adding Value Where It
Matters Most.

the report, Top
Strategic Issues Facing
HBCUs, Now and into
the Future.

in an effort to combat the public's skepticism
towards the value of higher education.

2011 AGB celebrates
90 years of service
to higher education
governing boards and
academic leaders.

2011 AGB released
the report, Front and
Center, calling for the
federal government
to rethink its role in
higher education and
put more emphasis on
support for student aid.

2013 AGB expands

2014 AGB is

its services to
presidents in order
to strengthen the
partnership between
boards and presidents.

awarded an 18-month
grant from Lumina
Foundation to advance
its work on student
success at public
institutions.

10 AGB: A CENTENNIAL HISTORY | March 2021

2014 AGB creates
AGB University, an
online guide to good
governance to provide
on-the-go resources
for the digital age.

2015 AGB publishes
its Board of Directors'
Statement on the
Fiduciary Duties of
Governing Board
Members.

2017 AGB issues a statement in response to
President Trump's decision to rescind Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). AGB
emphasized the negative impacts rescinding
this program would have for many students and
urged President Trump's administration to find a
more permanent solution.

2017 Trusteeship Radio, a podcast series, is
launched (now podcasts have been renamed as
simply " podcasts " without the former moniker).

Trusteeship - March/April 2021

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