An engaging report on the Lilly Endowment-supported program on Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission, led by the Council of Independent Colleges since 2005, showing the impact of the program upon the conception and practice of the American college and university presidency.

William V. Frame taught Political Philosophy and Chinese Studies at Kenyon College in Ohio for fifteen years, after earning a PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle. After a period of years in the business world, he returned to the academy as CFO of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, and was elected to the presidency of Augsburg College in Minneapolis in 1997, a position from which he retired in 2006. He remains associated with Pacific Lutheran University, with the Council of Independent Colleges, and, as chair of its board, with the Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma. He is the author of The Dialogue of Faith and Reason, his papers and speeches as the tenth president of Augsburg College.

"In this wise and discerning book, Bill Frame demonstrates what a difference it makes when college presidents understand their work as vocation—as a calling that embodies their deepest orienting vision, values, hopes, and intentions. Frame also shows how much it matters that a president's vocation aligns well with the mission and character of the particular school he or she serves. And perhaps most importantly, he describes in detail a process of serious, disciplined, sustained communal reflection that has enabled more than one hundred college presidents and those who aspire to the presidency and their spouses to find their way into a new sense of meaning, effectiveness, and even joy in their lives and work. This book is a great addition to the expanding literature on vocation and higher education as well as a superb handbook on the CIC's Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission Program."

- Craig Dykstra
Research Professor and Senior Fellow at Duke Divinity School;
former Senior Vice President for Religion at Lilly Endowment

"Frame's exploration of vocation in the context of college and university presidency will be helpful, not only to those in or aspiring for that role, but for others who are in positions of leadership, both within the academy and outside of it."

- Charles Pollard
president, John Brown University;
president, Board of Directors, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

"It is difficult to imagine a book that holds greater potential to enhance the eff ectiveness of college and university presidents—indeed, of CEOs in virtually every field—than this one. And few college presidents or corporate CEOs have thought more deeply about the issues this book explores than William Frame, president emeritus of Augsburg College in Minneapolis."

- Richard T. Hughes
author of Myths America Lives By

"This book is must reading for anyone who has been told, 'You could be a college president!' Presidential search committees will learn about the 'fit' between 'the saga of our school' and the person who could lead it most effectively. New presidents (and spouses) who are discovering the promise and the burden of the role will be refreshed and informed by listening in on this privileged conversation."

- David L. Tiede
president emeritus, Luther Seminary

ISBN: 9780891123859

Pages: 176

Dimensions (inches): 9 x 6

Weight (pounds): 0.6