According to CUNY's Manual of General Policy, Article V, the President of a college is the executive agent of the college and the Board of Trustees, and principal academic officer.
Some responsibilities of the President's office include the following:
- Educational Leadership: The President must understand and be committed to the educational needs of their college, and have the ability to articulate and to meet these needs at all levels. The essential criteria of affirmative educational leadership are how well the President is able to recruit, to develop, and to maintain a qualified and distinguished faculty, to advance programs and curricula of high quality, to effectively and creatively use instructional resources to support these programs, and to support the principles of academic freedom. Academic leadership also includes the encouragement of research, scholarship, and creative activity, and each President is expected to demonstrate that encouragement by providing appropriate resources for its conduct.
- Administrative and Fiscal Leadership: Measures of a President’s effectiveness include how well they are able to maintain an effective administrative team, to develop sound and responsive management practices, to develop and carry out an effective affirmative action program, to designate the appropriate use of fiscal resources and assure the fiscal health of the College or School, to coordinate the advancement of campus construction programs, where relevant, and to maintain ongoing programs of planning, evaluation and review.
- Leadership and Cultivation of the College Community: As the educational leader, the President is responsible for defining and communicating their sense of the college’s mission and its priorities to the college community. The President’s effectiveness on this dimension can be gauged, in large measure, by their relationship with various internal constituencies, the faculty-at-large, elected faculty representatives (such as chairpersons, University Faculty Senators, members of College Council), the student body, and the staff.
- The President’s Role Outside the College: The President bears a major responsibility for interpreting and communicating the mission of the college and its policies to a variety of constituencies external to his own institution. These groups include the Board of Trustees whose members serve as trustees for the University and its constituent colleges, the Chancellor’s office, governmental agencies, and the communities served by the college and professional associations concerned with higher learning.
