Abstract
Deep Springs College, a two-year, all-male college that is also a working ranch situated in an isolated mountain valley in California is a unique educational experiment. It was founded in 1917 as a place to develop future leaders dedicated to service through its "three pillars" of academics, labor, and self-governance. This paper describes Deep Springs College, providing a brief overview of its unique nature and status in the world of academe, and offering possible explanations for the college's ability to endure when so many similar experimental colleges have failed. It examines whether the college lives up to the aims of the founder, L.L. Nunn. A model of curriculum, designed by Stark and Lattuca (1997), is used to describe the curriculum and environment at Deep Springs. Theoretical support for the Deep Springs approach is given. Recommendations
for improving the curriculum at Deep Springs are
provided and suggestions are provided to enable other institutions of higher education to learn from this unique college.

Christian Anderson is aPh.D. candidate and graduate research assistant in the Higher Education Program at Penn State. Kirk Diehl is a staff member in the Athletics Department at Penn State and is seeking a master's degree in the Higher Education Program. This paper was originally written for Dr. Lisa Lattuca's course on curricula in higher education (Spring 2003).

Abstract
The American Council on Education (ACE) study on the academic presidency reported that half of four-year college and university presidential searches finalized in 2001 utilized the services of an executive search consultant (Corrigan, 2002). This figure is up from 16 percent for searches conducted prior to 1985 (Ross & Green, 2000; Corrigan, 2002), and represents a continued expansion of the executive search consultant's role in higher education—specifically with regards to presidential searches. Although an estimated annual expense of more than $30 million is no insignificant sum, the cost of a consultant is far less than that of a failed search or a bad selection. An appointment resulting in a poor fit between the president and the institution could result in a short presidential tenure and require a repeat of the process within a few years. The literature reviewed herein is focused on how presidents are selected, and specifically on the involvement of presidential search consultants in the process. This socially significant process conducted more than 300 times a year is an important area of research requiring a greater understanding for the benefit of higher education practitioners and researchers alike.

Marcus Lingenfelter is the executive assistant to the president and director of government relations and economic development at Widener University. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in higher education at The Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include issues of leadership, governance, and public policy.