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Feature Articles

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Feature articles

Our president is gone

Guiding the governing board in time of unexpected tragedy

By Kenneth Briggs

Four theological school boards were suddenly confronted by absence of their president, owing variously to death, disability, and abrupt departure. Only one of the four had a contingency plan in place for such an event. Has your board discussed and decided what to do, should your school unexpectedly be without the services of its head?

Feature articles

The board recaptures governance

How to let trustees back into the fun stuff of leadership

By Barbara E. Taylor

Good policy rests on good information, and every board needs a thorough understanding of how the institution is connected to the world it serves. In this conversation, an expanded version not available in the print magazine, a leading expert on nonprofit boards calls on trustees to rediscover their purposes and reclaim their authority — and confesses that she and her colleagues may have erred by encouraging boards to devote too much of their attention to planning.

Feature articles

What's the governing body for?

A proposal to repurpose the role of nonprofit trustees

By Richard P. Chait , William Ryan , Barbara E. Taylor

In this excerpt from their first report on their work on the Governance Futures Project, the authors offer a new vision of how boards of trustees might best spend their time, a vision that could rescue some boards from the terminal boredom that now afflicts them.

Wing on wing

An era's end, a new beginning

By Christa R. Klein

As William MacKaye's fifteen-year tenure as In Trust's founding editor comes to an end, Christa Klein notes his legacy of teaching by story and putting a human face on theological schools. MacKaye invited isolated members of governing boards to see themselves in context, to teach each other, and to aspire to be "imitators of God," members of a communion.

Focal point

Once again it's all new to me

By William R. MacKaye

Just ahead, a future of surprises, writes William R. MacKaye in his last words as In Trust editor.

Soundings

Letters to the editor

Waylan B. Owens charges journalistic near-sightedness, Mark L. Morris Jr. reports on growing assets in a shrinking market. Robert C. Cannada Jr. weighs full-time students and seminary financial health.

Spirit matters

Institutions have lifespans, too

By Melinda R. Heppe

Institutions rarely ponder their demise until it's staring them in the face. If your school paid a little attention to the inevitable, how might it change the way you are now?

Field notes

Having a charge but not being in charge

By Daniel O. Aleshire

Is your president adept at shared governance? This article, adapted from a talk at a seminar for new presidents conducted by the Association of Theological Schools, sheds light on the governance structures distinctive to theological schools. For most schools, success comes through collaboration.

Perspective

Tapping into the miracle of leadership

By R. Scott Rodin

Theological schools are not simply a subset of the world of nonprofit institutions. Faith commends and commands their leaders to yield personal influence and allow God to transform them. How does faith shape your board's work?

Changing scenes

Changing scenes: Why parish pastors bail out

By William R. MacKaye

Conflict fuels departures from congregational ministry, a new study suggests. Also, a streamlined theology school opens at Catholic University, and two seminarians are Miss America contenders.

After Words

Preserving particularity in partnership

By James F. Lawrence , William McKinney

William McKinney and James Lawrence recount how a distinctive Swedeborgian voice was installed at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California.

Reading list

Imagined parables

A review of A Serious Way of Wondering: The Ethics of Jesus Imagined

By William R. MacKaye

Title: A Serious Way of Wondering: The Ethics of Jesus Imagined Author: Reynolds Price Publisher: Scribner

Reading list

A review of Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning

Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Publisher: Viking Press

Reading list

Teaching leadership by telling stories

A review of Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership

Title: Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership Author: Howard Gardner Publisher: HarperCollins, 1996

Reading list

Making sense

A review of Making Sense of the Organization

Title: Making Sense of the Organization Author: Karl E. Weick Publisher: Blackwell Publishers, 2001

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