The college and university presidency is one of the most coveted positions in academe. Due to the projected retirements of current Historically Black College and University (HBCU) presidents, the researchers interviewed 21 current presidents, institutional board members, and presidential search firm personnel to explore what current HBCU leadership identifies as important mentoring/mentee practices, mentoring/mentee opportunities, and professional advice for HBCU presidential aspirants to consider. The findings, based on the coding and analysis of semi-structured qualitative interviews, revealed that self-awareness, focusing on the essential aspects of the job and not merely the perks, openness to being mentored and willingness to shadow a successful leader, experience in serving in various administrative capacities, participating in professional leadership development activities, earning of a terminal degree, displaying humility, understanding academic politics, and learning how to present oneself as an executive is important in the preparation of a leader of an HBCU.

This study examines the 21st-century Historically Black College and University (HBCU) presidency. First, we gathered information on the skills needed for the 21^stcentury HBCU president. Then, we examined the background of future HBCU presidents. Through an analysis and discussion of the responses of current HBCU presidents, trustees,¹and presidential search consultants, we determined what skills are pertinent for HBCU presidential hopefuls to attain. Lastly, we made recommendations, based on our findings, regarding the skills needed for HBCU presidential aspirants to not only reach the presidency but to perform well upon doing so.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of mentoring and how it shapes university presidents in higher education. Using phenomenological case studies to understand the lived experiences of university presidents, we analyzed data from eleven interviews. Drawing on tenets of Zachary’s Four Phases of Mentoring, this study reflects the ways in which university presidents were mentored including the effect that mentoring has on executive leadership preparation and success. This study’s findings can inform our understanding of mentoring and the importance of graduate preparation programs, executive leadership programs and organizations, and professional associations for the university presidency.

Over the past decade, the number of advertised tenure-track faculty positions in higher education institutions in the United States and abroad has steadily declined while the competition for these positions has become fierce. This situation has caused some scholars to seek perspectives into the factors that influence the tenure-track faculty selection process. This study investigates the elements that impact higher education graduate programme faculty searches. A total of 39 programme coordinators, department heads and deans who had previously participated in higher education programme searches were surveyed to explore their experiences and perceptions regarding the selection process. The findings indicate that the search committee’s faculty votes within the higher education hiring programme are more influential in selection decisions than the votes of either a programme chair or dean. Additionally, participants identified a candidate’s academic accomplishments, interview performance and presentation skills as the determining characteristics influencing their selection. These findings provide useful information to tenure-track job seekers who seek faculty positions at higher education graduate programmes in the United States and around the world.