Lessons Learned: Reflections of a University President - Paperback

by William G. Bowen (Author)

An insider's account of higher education from a legendary university leader

Lessons Learned gives unprecedented access to the university president's office, providing a unique set of reflections on the challenges involved in leading both research universities and liberal arts colleges. In this landmark book, William Bowen, former president of Princeton University and of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and coauthor of the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, takes readers behind closed faculty-room doors to discuss how today's colleges and universities serve their age-old missions.

With extraordinary candor, clarity, and good humor, Bowen shares the sometimes-hard lessons he learned about working with trustees, faculty, and campus groups; building an effective administrative team; deciding when to speak out on big issues and when to insist on institutional restraint; managing dissent; cultivating alumni and raising funds; setting academic priorities; fostering inclusiveness; eventually deciding when and how to leave the president's office; and much more. Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Bowen demonstrates how his greatest lessons often arose from the missteps he made along the way, and how, when it comes to university governance, there are important general principles but often no single right answer.

Full of compelling stories, insights, and practical wisdom, Lessons Learned frames the questions that leaders of higher education will continue to confront at a complex moment in history.

Back Jacket

"The lessons Bowen cites are wise and sound and balanced and, in my opinion, absolutely right on."--Hanna Holborn Gray, former president of the University of Chicago

"Lessons Learned is so compelling that I read it in one sitting the day I received it. Bowen's specific and vivid examples masterfully illustrate the general points he makes about governance, administration, setting priorities, recruiting faculty and students, and fundraising. I found it most stimulating as well as illuminating to read."--Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania

"There is an unusual amount of wisdom and good common sense in these pages from which any academic leader or aspiring leader could learn a lot."--Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University

"I loved reading Lessons Learned. It is thoughtful, pithy, and wise. This is a terrific book. I am only sorry I did not have the benefit of reading it nine years ago. I would have saved myself from making a few big mistakes."--Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts University

"This book, it seems to me, is Bill Bowen the teacher in full cry, delivering the goods with his usual insight, clarity, and force. This is not a memoir or history of his years in Princeton's Nassau Hall but rather a sophisticated, winsome guide to what worked--and didn't work--as he navigated the presidential wilds. Lessons Learned is in a league by itself."--Taylor Reveley, president of the College of William and Mary

Author Biography

William G. Bowen is president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University. His many books include the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions and Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities (both Princeton).