Annual evaluations of presidents must be conducted by local boards of trustees. In addition to annual evaluations, more comprehensive reviews of Presidential performance must be conducted by local boards of trustees no less than three years from appointment for new presidents, and no less than every five years thereafter. A schedule of more frequent comprehensive reviews may be developed by local boards of trustees.
Periodic comprehensive reviews are intended to be broader than the annual reviews, both in terms of scope and process. The scope of a comprehensive review is intended to focus more on the President’s ability to lead going forward, rather than focusing exclusively on achieving past objectives. As such, a comprehensive review should reflect back several years, reviewing Presidential performance over an extended period of time, and should also provide the President and the local board the opportunity to outline future, long term goals and objectives. In terms of process, a comprehensive review is intended to provide the opportunity for a more in-depth review of performance, and is intended to allow for broader input from people who come in contact with and are in a position to comment on the President’s performance.
In addition to annual evaluations of an institution’s president, under the BHE’s Compensation and Evaluation Guidelines boards of trustees must regularly conduct more in-depth, comprehensive presidential evaluations—no less than three years from appointment for new presidents and no less than every five years thereafter. These periodic, comprehensive evaluations are much broader than the annual reviews, and differ significantly both in terms of scope and process. Below is a link to a presentation by DHE General Counsel Constantia Papanikolaou and Merrill Schwartz from the Association of Governing Boards that provides guidance for trustees and is specific to the Board of Higher Education’s requirement for comprehensive evaluations.
Presidential Compensation Evaluation Guideline and Procedures
Comprehensive Presidential Evaluations - 2019 Annual Trustee Conference Breakout Session PresentationConnect @MassDHE
