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Presidents

New Presidents Seminar

This annual seminar introduces new presidents to a variety of issues about the role and work of presidents in theological schools, including transitions into the presidency, the role and vocation of the president, finance, governance, leadership, and the relationship of the president to other constituencies in theological education. Presidents are also introduced to ATS resources, including the Strategic Information Report. The seminar is led by experienced presidents and specialists in theological education. Held in December each year, the seminar involves registrants who typically are in their first or second year of the presidency. The New Presidents Seminar serves as a prerequisite for the Presidential Leadership Intensive.

Presidential Leadership Intensive

The Presidential Leadership Intensive is designed with a three-year curriculum that gives attention to leadership, institutional finance, development, personnel, governance, legal issues, endowment management, conflict, student recruitment and retention, and cases about theological school leadership. The Intensive exposes presidents to experts in these various subject areas, provides a structure and time for sustained peer interaction, and offers a genuine break from on-campus responsibilities to reflect on their work. Many of the chapters in the Handbook for Seminary Presidents were chosen to support the curricular themes of the Presidential Intensive.

Handbook for Seminary Presidents

The Handbook for Seminary Presidents provides the framework and some of the specific information a president needs to survey the major tasks of the job. The various chapters in the handbook cover the major areas of a seminary that demand presidential attention. Each chapter defines a particular area of responsibility and the unique role of the president in it. An analysis and discussion of the area identifies many of the critical issues likely to confront a president, suggests some best practices for dealing with these issues, and poses some of the questions a president should be asking. There is also a section that suggests additional resources for those who want or need to explore the area more deeply.

Approximately 65 ATS presidents contributed to the volume as writers, outside readers, or members of the advisory committee for the project. G. Douglass Lewis, president emeritus of Wesley Theological Seminary, is the editor; associate editor is Lovett H. Weems Jr. also of Wesley Theological Seminary.

To order a copy ($24 + postage), email Alissa Horton.

New Presidents' Seminar

December 11 - 13, 2013 New Orleans, LA

Contact: Mary McMillan

By registration; limited to those in their first three years in office. Experienced leaders will move new presidents through issues associated with the president’s role as CEO. Speakers will address the value in the equilibrium model, institutional advancement, faculty relations, and team building.

Presidential Leadership Intensive Week

January 28 - 31, 2014 San Antonio, TX

PRECONFERENCE CONSULTATION FOR PRESIDENTS OF SMALL SCHOOLS, JANUARY 27–28, 2014

By registration; open to all presidents of schools with 150 students or fewer. This consultation is designed to give presidents of small schools the opportunity to discuss the assets and liabilities of leading a seminary with 150 students or fewer.

By registration; open to all ATS presidents. This annual intensive will focus on timely issues related to the role of the president and on building skills for effective performance. Conference sessions cover topics featured in the Handbook for Seminary Presidents, with most topics covered at least once during the course of a three-year curriculum rotation.

ATS/COA Biennial Meeting

June 25 - 27, 2014 Pittsburgh, PA

Contact: Mary McMillan

As changes transform the world that theological schools and their graduates serve, schools are rethinking how theological education is designed and delivered. The 2014 Biennial Meeting invites the leaders of member schools and related organizations to grapple with these changes and to think critically about how in the future their institutions will resource theological education in the most effective ways possible—ways that respond to the changing world, embrace innovation, promote collaboration, and offer truly sustainable solutions. Participants will share the time and the tools to think in new ways about new directions for their own institutions and about the resources—financial and otherwise—they might bring to the enterprise.