Walda to head association

Former president of the IU Board of Trustees and current executive director of IU's federal relations, John Walda, has been named to head the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB).\nEffective last week, Walda is chairman of the association's board of directors, comprised of 35,000 individual members and 1,800 public and private universities.\n"The association of governing boards is the national organized group of trustees for public and private institutions both," Walda said. "It serves as a spokes group for higher education from a trustees perspective in Washington."\nThe board tackles issues in higher education such as how to organize a board of trustees effectively, how to work with a president of a university, and how to better manage collegiate athletics and academic health centers.\n"It provides services to trustees by giving seminars, producing publications, producing a monthly magazine, producing white papers on issues that have to do with governance of universities and colleges," Walda said. "The board of directors is made up of 21 trustees from around the country, both from public and private institutions and large and small institutions."\nAs chairman, Walda has two main goals for the AGB.\n"My first goal is to make sure that the expectations for high quality information and education for trustees are met," Walda said.\nThis includes keeping programs such as AGB's publications department and regional seminars running smoothly.\n"Secondly, I hope the AGB is able to take a leadership role in finding solutions to problems in higher education," he said. \nThe AGB is currently tackling the issue of examining the role of intercollegiate athletics in universities and colleges, what's wrong with it, and how it can be fixed from a trustee's perspective.\nWalda has been a member of AGB's board of directors for the past 10 years, where he earned the right to become the national chairman.\n"Through your performance as a director, you sort of earn a right to become an officer," Walda said.\n"I am pleased to see Indiana University so well-represented," said IU president Myles Brand in a recent press release.\n"John is an outstanding example of the good work done by citizen-trustees in helping lead our colleges and universities."\nIU Vice president Bill Stephan believes Walda's experience at IU will be a wonderful resource to the AGB.\n"He's intimately familiar with the kinds of issues universities are dealing with," Stephan said. "I think he has a remarkable vision for where institutions, where initiatives, can move forward."\nA member of the board of trustees for 11 years, president of the board for eight, and serving on the board of the IU Foundation for almost a decade, Walda believes his experience will help him greatly as chairman of the AGB.\n"There aren't many issues that come up in higher education that I haven't seen as a trustee of the foundation," Walda said. "So I'm able to understand when our membership says, 'Hey, why doesn't the AGB take an active role in this or that,' because I've probably taken a look at this or that in my day as a trustee"