Role Of President Research Articles

Russian political jokes as a basis for research into changes in how Vladimir Putin is perceived by society

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to analyse jokes about Vladimir Putin and show how people’s perception of his actions and behaviour changed between 2014 and 2018. The annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 marks the starting point of this analysis, and it ends in December 2018, at the end of the year in which Putin was elected President of Russia for the fourth time. More than 350 jokes from the portal anekdot.ru have been divided up thematically and analysed using two typologies: the kind of joke and assessment of the president's role. The strategy of combining these two classifications makes it easier to evaluate precisely the roles of the president that emerge from these jokes.

AACRAO president helps to steer course in turbulent times

Twice since the start of 2020, Jack Miner has found himself adjusting to a new role amid a public health crisis. Miner began work as Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at the University of Cincinnati just weeks before the COVID‐19 crisis emerged, then ascended to the president's role at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers as the association was forced to cancel its April annual meeting.

Urban States: The Presidency and Planning in Luanda, Angola

AbstractWhile state institutions are involved in planning and governance in African cities, their relevance in shaping urban life is sometimes questioned given what residents often experience as the extreme incapacity of state agencies. In response, some scholars have sought to rethink the nature of institutions, while others have shifted their attention to the role of the everyday in the making of cities. This article builds on literature that seeks to better understand the links between quotidian actions and institutional constraints, in order to critically assess how state power is exercised in African cities. It does this by tracking the Presidency's role in shaping Angola's capital, Luanda, in the 1990s and 2000s. The Presidency consolidated power through the urban landscape even in moments when it seemed state presence had totally collapsed. The article therefore shows that a more nuanced understanding of the logics of power in African cities can reveal the ongoing significance of state institutions to their making, even in contexts where the everyday experience of state capacity is one of absence or negligence.

The President and Choices Not to Enforce

PETER L. STRAUSS [*] The executive branch is often called upon to assess how a particular statute it is charged to administer fits within the larger framework of the law. Professor Dawn Johnsen's thoughtful analysis addresses an important subset of these challenges: situations in which the President believes a particular statute is inconsistent with one or another provision of the and, therefore, should not be enforced. [1] My purpose here is to explore the context of executive non-enforcement more broadly, in a way that may help in understanding the particular problem she addresses. Issues of constitutional structure and function are among the most daunting we face. We want to live in a rule-of-law society. We have a that we know and intend to be supreme. Yet its instructions are vague and dated. It does not in terms create a separation of powers, establish judicial review, define our day-to-day government, or much indicate the President's relationship to that government. Indeed, as Professor Walter Dellinger remarked at the opening of this conference, central questions respecting the presidency were not even addressed until the pressured final eleven days of the Constitutional Convention. After more than two centuries, some of the Constitution's most fundamental questions remain unanswered. Perhaps, as I understand Professor Alexander Bickel once remarked in another context, that is on the whole a good thing. Some questions are better left as questions, with fringes of uncertainty, doubt, and play that provide flexibility and stability through changing times. It is perhaps best to begin these impressionistic responses to Professor Johnsen's ambitious paper by stating some premises central to my thinking about these problems, premises about which we might disagree. First, the Take Care Clause--which ending Section 3 of Article II of the Constitution, might not be thought the most important in the eyes of its drafters--does not in terms direct the President himself to faithful execution of the laws. Between saying that the President shall receive Ambassadors and other public ministers, and that he shall Commission all the officers of the United it says that he is to take Care that the be faithfully executed. [2] Thus, in ordinary English- appropriate in this sense to its placement late in the text of Article II--the Clause imagines that others do the actual executing and that the President be overseeing those persons, ensuring that their execution is faithful. While early Attorneys General disagreed about just how directory that oversig ht could be, they nonetheless recognized that Congress could specify oversight, not personal execution, as the presidential role. [3] Congress's statutory assignments of role--at least unless they are unconstitutional, and the Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress broad discretion in making those assignments--are a part of the laws, the faithful execution of which the President is enjoined to assure. Second, appreciating the passive voice of the Take Care Clause permits us to see more clearly that the term it uses, laws is not a synonym for Laws necessarily includes the Constitution. The Clause is actually the second place at which Article II refers to faithful execution. In the presidential oath, specified earlier in the article, the President undertakes that he will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and to the best of [his] ability protect and defend the of the United States. [4] Here, the diction is active, not passive, and its only reference to law is to the Constitution, not to statutes. It would be strange indeed if, having taken that oath, the President were precluded from considering what would preserve, protect and defend the Constitution in the course of seeing to it that others were faithful in their performance of duty. …

Winning or losing in investor‐to‐state dispute resolution: The role of arbitrator bias and experience

AbstractWhen an investor sues a state for alleged breaches of its obligations under an investment treaty or a trade agreement with investment provisions, all that should matter for who wins the case are the merits of the claim itself. Alas, investor‐to‐state dispute settlement (ISDS) does not take place in a vacuum. Such cases are decided by a tribunal typically consisting of three arbitrators, one each nominated by the two parties while the president is mutually agreed upon. We demonstrate that the kind of involvement of these arbitrators in previous ISDS cases matters for the case under dispute. Specifically, we show that what we label the presidents' pro‐investor appointment bias—the number of times they have previously been nominated by an investor minus the number of times they have represented respondent states—raises the likelihood that an investor wins an ISDS case. The same holds for the pro‐investor appointment bias of state‐appointed arbitrators. Given the president's crucial role, the main implication of our findings is that presidents should be drawn from among those who have not systematically represented more one side than the other in previous cases.

The Constitutional Court of Romania against the direction of the constitutional moment of 1991

Abstract The year 1991, the year when the current Romanian fundamental law came in to force, designed a constitutional moment built on profound political and societal emotions. These emotions pushed the Constituent Assembly in search of an answer, in the form of a solution, to the question „What do we not want?” The answer was: “An authoritarian president / chief of state!” Consequently, the position of the head of state in the political scaffolding received an increased attention. Unlike the Communist president, who exercised great powers, the new president was thought and designed antagonistic to his predecessor. He was reduced to a role of a simple mediator. However, more than 20 years after the fall of the communist regime, the “traditional” authoritarian personality of the president transcended - of course, not as pronounced as in the communist era - the finality of the presidential role and of the presidential attributions stated in the Constitution. As we shall see, the “player president” emerged and got confirmed by the Romanian Constitutional Court against the desideratum of the constitutional moment of 1991.

The President's Role on National Security Policies - the Case of Kosovo

The institution of the President in the Republic of Kosovo represents a new political and constitutional institution, as is the Republic itself. As such, he is still untested against constitutional responsibilities with which he is charged by the country's constitutions. Moreover, the President has not yet been tested on the security crisis management, as in reality he still cannot exercise all of his powers as Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, as these competencies for now are being exercised by the political and military structures of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO). However, in a constitutional and legal sense, the President of Kosovo enjoys all the powers for the realization of his constitutional role as a "representative of the unity of the people and guarantor of the democratic functioning of the institutions of the country'' and also as Commander of the Armed Forces with executive powers. Once the competences of the President in the authority of foreign policy are added then he appears to be one of the most powerful presidents, as compared with the presidents of parliamentary republics. It is exactly the powers of the President on national security issues that will be the topic of treatment in this paper, through an analysis not only the issues that are completely of the defense and security character, but also authorities dealing with other issues that can be used on behalf or in the name of national security.

Taking Steel Seizure Seriously: Reflections on the Iran Nuclear Agreement

This article examines constitutional validity of President Obama's decision, as part of his 2015 with Iran, effectively to repeal 17 different sanctions laws for 15-year life of agreement. Although Congress had legislated extensively in this area, President effected this change by entering into a nonbinding political agreement with Iran and by aggregating individual waiver provisions in sanctions laws into an-across-the-board waiver of sanctions. We argue that commitments made by President in Iran violate a fundamental separation-of-powers limit on executive power—what we term the Steel Seizure principle, after Youngstown Steel Seizure Case. As Supreme Court reaffirmed in Steel Seizure Case, President does not have lawmaking power even where national-security and foreign-relations concerns are at stake. A vast literature has grown around Steel Seizure Case, especially influential concurring opinion by Justice Robert Jackson. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to majority view of Justices that President Truman’s seizure order was unlawful not because it contravened any express statutory prohibition but because it flouted congressional plan for addressing particular policy issue. This central aspect of Steel Seizure Case highlights what is particularly problematic about President Obama's decision to aggregate authorities in sanctions laws and to commit United States to an across-the-board waiver of nuclear-related sanctions pursuant to his with Iran. The President treated waiver provisions as an invitation to end congressionally prescribed sanctions regime for addressing Iran's nuclear weapons program and to replace it with his own non-sanctions regime for addressing same issue. Yet President lacks unilateral power to overturn Congress's prescribed policy and to replace it with his own.The President is both an agent and, particularly in foreign relations area, can be viewed as a co-principal with Congress. The Steel Seizure principle highlights limits of co-principal conception of President. Once Congress has developed a legislative framework for a subject matter, that framework occupies field; President's role becomes one of a responsible agent. In Iran sanctions laws, Congress provided bounded waiver authority, acting responsibly to allow limited executive discretion rather than requiring President to seek new legislation each time flexibility was needed. It did not, however, invite President to override sanctions framework altogether, as occurred in connection with Iran nuclear agreement. An emergent literature in administrative law has praised Congress's delegation of waiver authority to executive branch as providing needed flexibility and other policy benefits. Yet that literature recognizes that President's exercise of waiver authority must be carefully circumscribed to avoid problem of President revising a statutory regime out of disagreement with Congress's policy choices. Such limiting principles are no less necessary in foreign-affairs context, where President has used purported waiver authority in Iran sanctions statutes to pursue his own independent policy in defiance of Congress.

Putinism After Crimea

“The pursuit of national glory,” which M. Steven Fish counts among the features of Vladimir Putin’s “populism,” is emerging as central to the regime’s legitimation. Unlike previous instances of patriotic mobilization (around the Second Chechen War and the 2008 Georgia war), the current one appears to have evolved into a permanent structure sustaining Putin’s regime. As a result, of the two presidential roles that undergird what Kirill Rogov called Putin’s “supermajority”—which safeguards Putin’s popularity even in tough economic times— that of “savior and protector of the nation” has all but supplanted that of “wealth manager.” The most probable threat to Putinism’s survival in the short term lies in the possibility that efforts to bolster the credibility and salience of the “savior and protector” narrative may lead to a foreignpolicy setback.

Management Skills for the Contemporary College President: A Critical Review

This review of the literature related to the contemporary college president attempted to describe changes to the presidential role during the past 30 years. In addition to describing changes to the role, the review explores the personal, organizational, interpersonal, and leadership skills required for leading a contemporary university. The findings particularly note that with the changing demands for accountability in higher education, presidents are being forced to spend more of their time and be more focused on issues of finance, law, and public interactions. These issues tend to collide in discussions of public policy and within the framework of state legislative proposals. Continued professional development for college presidents is recommended, especially in terms of aligning work place priorities with the institution’s mission.

Hail to the Chief Administrator

No single piece of evidence is likely to persuade opponents of the Chief Administrator theory. However, the Constitution, when read in conjunction with The Federalist Papers and the convention records, provides a coherent and convincing account of the Framers' view of the President's administrative role: The Chief Administrator. Our nation has undergone tremendous change since the ratification of the Constitution. Many will wonder what can be gained by analyzing the Founders' thoughts regarding the executive's administrative powers. This Note will not attempt to win over those who find such an analysis quixotic or irrelevant. Yet even the most vehement critics of original intent analysis may find that the Framers' understanding of the principles of sound, responsible government can enrich other interpretive modes as well as our understanding of the political science of government.

Presidential role and literary capacities. The books of the potential presidents

This article demonstrates the central place occupied by the literature in the construction of the presidential role. In the course of the history of the Fifth Republic, several models followed one another: the president-writer with a double charisma (the general de Gaulle); the leader of political party conjugating the literary ambition and the duty to speak in the name of a collective (François Mitterrand); the current political personalities juxtaposing political programmes and autobiographies.

An Exploration of the Sport Club President's Experience

Extensive research has shown that sport club participation enhances student development, but little research has examined how specific officer roles in sport clubs may shape the experience. The purpose of this case study was to explore how sport club presidents at a midsized, public, four year institution in the Mid-Atlantic region described their involvement in an on-campus leadership opportunity. Eleven sport club presidents participated in the study, and shared their experiences through reflective journaling, and 30-min semistructured interviews. The researchers conducted document analysis for further review of the sport club program and president experience. Findings suggest that participation in the presidential role within the campus recreation sport club program at this institution provides an impactful developmental experience for students by enhancing specific skills that prepare students for careers beyond college more candidly than classroom education. Recommendations for sport club professionals and students regarding the outcomes associated with this ongoing campus leadership opportunity are provided.

Challenges for New ERC President

This month, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon began his tenure as president of the European Research Council (ERC). This is a daunting task for many reasons: The growing ERC budget requires that it be carefully positioned within a complex array of European funding opportunities; embedding the presidential role into the ERC executive agency in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation potentially reduces ERC's independence; and variable success rates for acquiring ERC funding are concerning, and research expectations will need to be managed.

Conditioning the President's Conditional Pardon Power

From the inception of this nation's history, presidents have offered pardons and commutations of sentences conditioned on a surprisingly wide array of conduct. Presidents have offered clemency on the condition that offenders refrain from alcohol, provide support for family members, leave the country, join the navy, drop claims against the United States, and restrict their travel or speech. By attaching conditions, presidents may protect the public or benefit it in other ways. Although such pardons may advantage society, imposing conditions may restrict the constitutional rights of offenders. In order to escape the harsh confines of prison, offenders may have little choice but to accept restraints on their exercise of constitutionally protected freedoms. Moreover, exercise of conditional pardons may permit presidents to accomplish objectives that they could not otherwise attain. As an example, presidents can commute sentences of a particular class of offenders conditioned on supervised release or parole even if Congress has rejected such penological alternatives. Nevertheless, this Article argues that exercise of the pardon power generally should remain vested in the president's discretion, checked only by the political process. Even though coercion is inherent in conditional offers, we should trust offenders to choose between complying with the conditions and staying in prison longer because they generally benefit from that choice. And, in light of the president's role under the pardon clause in making judgments about optimal punishment, presidents can alter the sentencing framework set by Congress. Oversight by Congress, the press, and subsequent presidents tempers presidential overreaching. This Article argues, however, that judges can play a critical role in helping check abuse of the conditional pardon power in two contexts. First, judges should negate a presidential condition in the rare case when the condition shocks society's conscience, such as requiring a prisoner to donate a kidney. Second, offenders should also be entitled to challenge any condition that violates constitutional restraints on the president's authority such as a First Amendment ban on providing support for particular religious expression. In short, although there should be no review of the process by which presidents reach the decision to pardon, the reasons for the decision, or the appropriateness of the condition selected, limited review of conditions that shock the conscience or violate constitutional restraints on presidential authority is warranted.

Guide to the presidency and the executive branch

This comprehensive two-volume guide is the definitive source for researchers seeking an understanding of those who have occupied the White House and on the institution of the U.S. presidency. Readers turn Guide to the Presidency for its wealth of facts and analytical chapters that explain the structure, powers, and operations of the office and the president's relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court. The fifth edition of this acclaimed reference completes coverage of the George W. Bush presidency, the 2008 election, and the first 3 years of the presidency of Barack Obama. This includes coverage of their handling of the economic crisis, wars abroad, and Obama's healthcare initiatives. The work is divided into eight distinct subject areas covering every aspect of the U.S. presidency, and all chapters in each subject area have been revised and updated: Origins and Development of the Presidency, including constitutional beginnings, history of the presidency and vice presidency, and presidential ratings Selection and Removal of the President, including the electoral process, a chronology of presidential elections, removal of the president and vice president, and succession Powers of the Presidency, including the unilateral powers of the presidency and those as chief of state, chief administrator, legislative leader, commander in chief, and chief economist The President, the Public, and the Parties, including presidential appearances, the president and political parties, the president and the news media, the presidency and pop culture, public support and opinion, and the president and interest groups The Presidency and the Executive Branch, including the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, supporting organizations, the cabinet and executive departments, presidential commissions, and executive branch housing, pay, and perquisites Chief Executive and Federal Government, including the president and Congress, the president and the Supreme Court, and the president and the bureaucracy Presidents, their Families, and Life in the White House and Beyond, including the daily life of the president, the first lady, the first family, friends of presidents, and life after the presidency Biographies of the Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies This new volume also features more than 200 textboxes, tables, and figures. Major revisions cover the supporting White House organizations and the president's role as chief economist. Additional reference materials include explanatory headnotes, as well as hundreds of photographs with detailed captions.

The Annual Meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies

The Annual Meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies Sandra Costen Kunz and Jonathan A. Seitz The Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS) is one of more than two dozen scholarly societies that have been formally recognized by the American Academy of Religion as Related Scholarly Organizations. The pattern for many years has been for the SBCS to hold its annual meeting in conjunction with the annual meeting of the AAR. On the Friday before the AAR’s Annual Meeting begins, the Society’s board meets in the morning and early afternoon, followed by an AAR-advertised session late that afternoon. On Saturday, another paper session or panel is followed by the Society’s annual members’ meeting. A highlight of the 2012 SBCS annual meeting was the unanimous approval, first by the governing board and later by the membership in attendance, of a major revision of the society’s bylaws. This revision focused largely on updates necessitated by changes in the ways scholars communicate day-to-day and in scholarly publications, and in international banking practices, because of the expanding use of electronic media. This revision was well over a year in the making, with particularly generous input of time and thought by former board member Grace Burford and Treasurer Guy McCloskey, and with efficient guidance by President Terry Muck. Another highlight of this 2012 gathering was the announcement at the board meeting that the SBCS’s reapplication for formal status as a Related Scholarly Organization of the AAR was accepted for another five years. Among other privileges, this status makes it possible for us to communicate our calls for papers, session plans, and annual meeting schedule through AAR’s website and print publications. At the governing board meeting, Treasurer McCloskey noted an increase of more than 7 percent in paying members, but it was agreed that the society could carry [End Page 193] out its purposes more effectively if we were to welcome more new members. One especially notable new member is C. Denise Yarbrough (University of Rochester), who was unanimously approved at the members meeting as the Christian co-editor of this journal, along with Buddhist co-editor Wakoh Shannon Hickey (Notre Dame of Maryland University), who signed on in 2011. Rita Gross, who formerly co-edited the journal and was president of the Society, was elected to the board, replacing Amos Yong, whose term ended in 2012. We are extremely grateful for his leadership in many areas, including the Streng Book Award Committee. Abraham Vélez de Cea was unanimously approved to chair the Streng Book Award Committee, with Mary Jeanne Larabee continuing on the committee and David Gardiner being approved as the third member. Alice Keefe, in her vice presidential role as program chair, took note of the lively discussion about possible topics for next year’s panel sessions. The Friday afternoon seminar was titled “Contemplative Pedagogy: Pitfalls and Potentials.” Panelists included John D. Copenhaver (Shenandoah University), Kristine T. Utterback (University of Wyoming), Andrew O. Fort (Texas Christian University), and Judith Simmer-Brown (Naropa University). The respondent was William H. Green (Tougaloo College), and Wakoh Shannon Hickey (Notre Dame of Maryland University) presided. Versions of the four panelists’ papers are included in this volume of the journal, as well as additional papers on the topic by other authors. In lieu of its customary field trip, this year the SBCS encouraged participants to attend the new film Jesus & Buddha: Practicing across Traditions (Old Dog Documentaries, 2012), screened on Friday night before the AAR Annual Meeting. In the film, three leading figures in Buddhist-Christian dialogue were interviewed: Paul F. Knitter (Union Theological Seminary), Robert Kennedy, SJ (St. Peter’s College), and Chung Hyun Kyung (Union Theological Seminary). A discussion, over which Knitter presided, followed the film. The Saturday panel was “The Ethics of Wealth in a World of Economic Inequality: Buddhist and Christian Perspectives.” Panelists included Joerg Rieger (Southern Methodist University), Alan Jay Richard (Realistic Living, Inc.), and Carol S. Anderson (Kalamazoo College). The respondent was Mark Wood (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Alice A. Keefe (University of Wisconsin) presided. At the end of this session, before the member’s meeting, we enjoyed P. J. Johnston’s...

Semi-presidentialism, moderating power and inclusive governance. The experience of Timor-Leste in consolidating democracy

The relationship between the choice of a government system, namely semi-presidentialism, and the performance of democracy is the subject of current debate. This article considers Elgie's proposal for a positive correlation between premier-presidential forms of semi-presidentialism and the success of democratic transitions, and discusses the way in which Timor-Leste fits the model as well as the need for a clear view of the incentive mechanisms at play. It further analyses the importance of “independent” presidents with “moderating powers” as a way of achieving inclusive governance and to facilitate democratic consolidation. Contrary to suppositions that attribute a tendency for president-parliamentary regimes to succumb to conflict between the main political actors, the case of Timor-Leste suggests that the definition of the president's role as a “moderator”, and the exercise of the function by “independent”, non-party personalities counteracts such inclinations with positive effects on democratic consolidation.

Lessons and Issues

In these closing remarks, I will refrain from recapitulating in detail and allow the important articles in this special issue to speak mainly for themselves. For the most part, I will offer some reflections about what we have learned and about issues for future research that go beyond the articles or are not fully explicit in them. Since I am hardly an expert in all of the areas treated by the articles, I will discuss the issues quite informally and venture some judgments, admittedly, speculatively. If nothing else, I hope to provoke thought about some new directions in presidency research. Policy Focus Most of the articles presented here differ from the preponderance of the literature on presidential economic policy making in one or both of two ways: first, they deal with how the most recent presidents have dealt with or contributed to causing the post-2008 financial and economic crisis; or second, they concern the president's role in the long-term development of the economy--in particular, with respect to financial regulation, taxation, and the distribution of income and wealth. Only one article (Comiskey and Marsh) maintains the more standard emphasis on the use of fiscal and monetary policy for short-term stabilization or, more specifically, on the economic results. The first lesson of this special issue is surely that this broader focus is warranted and urgent. If anything, the issues of long-term development are probably the more important ones for economic well-being. As Knott points out, the deregulation of financial services--a long series of long-term changes--played a central role in the devastation of the financial crisis. Hacker and Pierson show that presidents' choices between increasing employment and controlling inflation are far less important than decisions on tax structure, financial regulation, labor relations, and other long-term issues in accounting for the extraordinary levels of economic equality in the contemporary United States. There has been an understandable methodological bias toward studying decisions that are made repeatedly; on substantive grounds, however, decisions that have effect indefinitely will often be more important. Comparing Presidents Short-term macroeconomic management is still enormously important. I believe that the literature should now move beyond the focus of party effects. This approach has produced and will continue to produce extremely interesting findings. Nevertheless, the focus on party offers an overly simple conception of the differences between presidents in this context. In particular, Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush differed considerably from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in their attitudes toward taxation and deficit spending--differences that may be comparable in importance to those between Democratic presidents and either group of Republicans. There may be other important differences within parties as well. On analytic grounds, it is important for scholars to address a wider range of differences between presidents. What happens to the party comparisons if, for example, the hard-line tax cutters are separated from the other Republicans? On the other hand, in my view, research on macroeconomic policy also should not take measures of economic performance--for example, income growth, employment, or the distribution of income--as the principal dependent variables for analysis. Those measures are certainly the outcomes for the public that ultimately motivate analysis. But neither presidents nor even the entire government determine short-term performance with much precision. A large part of performance is determined by conditions and events outside of government control. To mention a few obvious examples, the long run of prosperity during Bill Clinton's administration is often attributed to a technology boom. The disastrous performance under Jimmy Carter was largely a result of drastic increases in energy prices. …

Presidential Transition: The Experience of Two Community College Interim Presidents

The purpose of this case study was to understand the experiences of two community college interim presidents, their characteristics, and how they led institutions following an abrupt presidential departure. There were two fundamental questions framing this study: 1. How do two interim community college presidents lead community colleges during a presidential transition? 2. How is an interim community college president's leadership perceived by faculty and staff during a period of presidential transition? There were two participating institutions in this study. The colleges, given the pseudonyms Urban Community College and Rural Community College District, were distinctly different. Urban Community College is a large community college in an urban setting, and Rural Community College District is a small multicollege district in a rural setting. While these colleges differed in size, they shared a common experience—an abrupt presidential departure. Data collection consisted of one-on-one interviews and a review of documents. Four shared themes that emerged from this research consisted of (a) repairing institutional morale, (b) establishing an effective relationship with the board, (c) making strategic decisions to move the college forward, and (d) dealing with budget challenges. There were also themes specific to the participating community colleges. At Urban Community College, a prevalent theme was the interim president's role in rebuilding external relationships. At Rural Community College District, an important theme was the president's emphasis on promoting openness, inclusiveness, and transparency. The study concludes with recommendations to future interim presidents and board members enduring an abrupt presidential departure.