You've got to be a good listener and a coalition builder. She couldn't see that. But today, neither faculty ethics struggles nor health insurance debacles nor even beer riots ruffle John Buechner's popularity as the president who succeeded Albino. He is a master of the game. Number one, he's honest.
Political acumen is increasingly important to the regents and governors who hire college presidents.
Politics teaches those skills. Then in the '80s there was a strong move toward recruiting them from the business sector. Judith Black McLaughlin, a lecturer at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents, said it is too early to call it a trend, but politicians have been knocking at academe's door. Last year, no politicians enrolled. In Colorado, politics tops the resumes of two of the newest presidents to take the helm of public colleges.