Trustee and trusteeship of selected private universities and colleges in the United States of America and Canada

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the demographics, responsibilities and role perceptions of board members in all Universities and Colleges of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada and the United States of America. The study dealt with the entire population of trustees from twelve institutions.

Procedure: The questionnaire was comprised of two major parts. The first part dealt with general information and specific demographics. The second part was divided into two Likert style scales.

The data for this research were processed by Dr. George Hilton using a LS 286 microcomputer with the SYSTAT statistical software package (Wilkinson, 1986) and the ENABLE/OA integrated software (The Software Group, 1988).

Findings: By and large, a significant difference existed between the trustees' personal perceptions and their perceptions of the view of the entire board of trustees.

Conclusions: Some conclusions are: (1) A high degree of perceptive mutuality prevails among the trustee respondents regarding the trustee's responsibilities presented in the questionnaire; (2) The trustees, in general, tend not to reflect interest in or assume responsibility for the financial requirements of an institution; (3) The boards of trustees appear to lack a sense of institutional identity and purpose.

Recommendations: Some recommendations are: (1) Each board of trustees should be mindful of always placing God first; (2) Trustees should continue to take the constituency into consideration when making major decisions; (3) Trustees' biographical information should be given to the faculty, students, parents, and administration; (4) The universities and colleges should teach courses in higher education trusteeship; (5) An institution should copy another institution only when the "copied material" agrees or will agree with the unique identity of the institution.

Availability:
Free
Publication Date:
1992
Author:
Seth Gaona
Order Information:
Full text not available online. Database: ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Completed through Loma Linda University.
Language:
English
Resource Type:
Unpublished Plans & Papers
Resource Objective:
Research
Level:
Tertiary
Audience:
Researcher
Religious Origin:
Seventh-day Adventist