February 7, 2010

The Challenge of an Interim Presidency After a Scandal

Serving as a 'Temp': The Challenge and Power of an Interim Presidency 1

Tim Foley for The Chronicle

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Tim Foley for The Chronicle

By C. Peter Magrath

University presidents come and go, and in between a "temp"—an interim president—often serves. Seventeen years after my last presidency, I became an interim president at West Virginia University in July 2008, despite having often recited the phrases "Been there, done that," and "Never again." As it turned out, I succumbed to doing "that" once more and found it to be exhilarating.

Some people become interim presidents for just a few months—usually when the previous

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