If you are a low-level academic administrator or a senior professor, you can't just apply for a college president's job and expect to be seriously considered. Everyone in academe knows that. Convinced I had a good chance of making the cut, I ignored the conventional wisdom and applied anyway. Here's my story:
The Dream
As a seasoned department head at a small business college, I got the crazy idea that the next logical step for me would be to seek a college president's job. I admit it was a stretch, but I have significant business and consulting experience, an M.B.A. and a Ph.D., 20 years of experience in higher education, and a few notable successes and awards along the way (I'll spare you any more boasting). Leading a department, I thought, positioned me to interact with students, administrators, and the community in a way that seemed to be good preparation for a top-level leadership role in a two-year college or small four-year college. I wasn't shooting for the moon.
So, I began looking at job postings and found one that sounded like it was written for me -- a community college that I had actually attended in my hometown years ago, with an experienced faculty and staff, and a friendly elected board that appeared to work well with the college community.
Getting a Reaction
The first thing I did was to speak to my college president on the campus where I was a department chairman. I valued his advice and figured he would know whether I had a shot at the job. He encouraged me to go for it. In retrospect, he is probably the most polite person I know. What I didn't know at the time is that if you want to be a serious contender, the best way to become one is to be nominated for a position. That nomination cannot come from your mother -- it should be from a college president or board member. My president, unbeknownst to me, kindly nominated me to the search consultant, whom he knew. Without that "stamp of approval," there would have been little chance for my résumé to make it past the mailroom.
Finding an Agent
Vacancies for college presidencies are almost always turned over to a search consultant, who scours the country looking for suitable candidates. But first, many of them reach into their own "stable" of candidates and present those who have high potential and appear to match the college's criteria. Search consultants may have their favorites, and like a pageant or a police lineup (depending upon your perspective), parade their candidates' vitas past the college hiring committee to see if any of the candidates spark interest on paper.
You almost need to have an "agent" or search consultant as an advocate in order to make it to any college presidential hiring committee. The consultant makes the first cut: If you have not been nominated by a credible source, are not a sitting president looking to move, or do not have "senior" administrative experience, you will most likely not survive. The key is to become a member of the consultant's regular lineup.
The Litmus Test
This is where the process really becomes difficult -- for any candidate (except sitting presidents), but especially for someone like me who generally does not fit the standard criteria. Committee members are looking for an experienced president who won't be cutting his or her teeth on their college. They want a president who possesses the administrative qualifications they perceive will translate into good leadership. I can understand this. They want the world and often think that their college is so wonderful that it will attract the best of the best. That may or may not be the case, and the process can take months as the committee rejects candidate after candidate, often before any interviews take place. In a strange way, that gives candidates like me hope. The longer a search goes on, the more attractive dark horses become. The established criteria that seemed so important may be set aside for other characteristics and qualifications not originally sought after.
College search committees typically look for credentials that they can put on a checklist and use to narrow the list of candidates. A doctorate is an obvious requisite -- that I have. But the whole notion of senior-level administrative experience can be a problem for a professor or chairman who has made a career of teaching and leading "on the other side." A department chairmanship is not necessarily considered a senior management position by anyone but the chairman.
Many try, few succeed
These top jobs typically attract national attention because there are only so many college presidencies and many more people (like me) who believe they are qualified. As I have since learned, these jobs generally go to sitting presidents first, then vice presidents or provosts, then deans, then business folks -- but not usually department heads, no matter how successful or innovative. It's just the way it is.
It's not fair, you say, that academic leadership and scholarly pursuit over two decades does not entitle one to at least be considered. I was lucky to have a very supportive president who believed in my abilities and went out on a limb to endorse me to the search consultant, who also went out on a limb by placing me in the pool.
And the Winner Is ...
OK, so I made it to the semi-finalist round. There were eight provosts or vice presidents up for the job, and me, waiting for the search committee to decide our fate.
Am I worthy of the title? I would like to call each of the committee members and, with all due respect, suggest that a leader may not fall so neatly into their categories and checklists. Take a chance, I would urge them. I would argue that true leadership is written between the lines of a vita and not necessarily best told by those who are search consultants or sitting presidents nominating their colleagues. It is told through the voices of students whose lives have been touched by a teacher who cares about their success, their classroom experiences, their perceptions of the institution, and the position it holds within the community. It is told through the voices of full-time and part-time professors who have felt appreciated and encouraged to do their best for students and the institution -- to be a credit to learning. It is told through the college staff members who work with a chairman day in and day out to manage and resolve issues and create programs that support the mission and vision that keep the institution growing and on the right track.
Unfortunately, I cannot say these things to the committee, because I wasn't picked as one of the three finalists. So I'm going to try to climb the administrative ladder the old-fashioned way: I just landed a job as director of extended learning for a public comprehensive university in the Midwest. Wish me luck.
