The Wiley Handbook of Gender Equity in Higher Education

5Governing Boards and Their Relationship to Gender Issues in Higher Education

Paul G. Rubin, Erin B. Ciarimboli, and Lindsay B. Coco

Managing the postsecondary education sector necessitates overseeing a complex organization of administrators, faculty, staff, and students with far‐reaching responsibilities, including academics and research, public relations, fundraising, athletics, and many others. Though there is considerable variation in how these roles and duties are allocated in higher education systems around the world, governing boards (frequently referred to as “trustee boards” or “boards of regents”) serve as influential and unique stakeholders central to the operation of postsecondary education in the United States, Australia, and many European nations. These administrative bodies serve in a role akin to corporate boards and have traditionally provided oversight of leadership decisions (hiring, firing, and general support), long‐term strategic planning, and financial solvency, but they remain removed from daily decision‐making (Hughes 1944; Baldridge 1971; Kerr and Gade 1989; Ingram 1995). In recent years, research has noted that governing board members (or “trustees” or “regents”) in the United States, in particular, have been called upon to serve in new ways, including as key spokespersons for the institution or system (Michael and Schwartz 1999; Kezar 2008) and as channels to the business and political worlds (Pusser et al. 2006; Mathies and Slaughter 2013; Slaughter ...