Policies for Improving Trustee Selection in the Public Sector. AGB Occasional Paper No. 13.

This paper reviews the history of how trustees are selected to boards of public institutions of higher education and offers specific recommendations to improve the selection process. The paper notes a trend toward an overall decline in the effectiveness of boards and reports that the major factor identified in several recent analyses is the quality of board appointments with appointing authorities failing to select the most qualified and committed citizens. Constraints faced by governors, legislators, or other authorities are considered, as are recent efforts in a number of states to make improvements in appointment processes, Recommendations are grouped into those for states (such as ensuring a method of needs assessment, a screening mechanism, an explicit set of criteria for candidates); those for governors (such as establishing a nonpartisan screening process, seeking a diverse group of appointees, and establishing orientation programs for new trustees); and those for state legislatures (including development of statements of criteria, provision of adequate staff and funds to investigate candidate credentials, and review of performance and qualifications of trustees nominated for reappointment). The importance of establishing procedures prior to consideration of individuals is stressed. (BF)