Monday, December 9, 2002

More Colleges Are Hiring Presidents From Outside Academe By JULIANNE BASINGER The University of Kentucky hired a software executive, Lee T. Todd Jr., to be its president. New School University went with a former U.S. senator, Bob Kerrey. Colorado College decided to try a former U.S. ambassador, Richard F. Celeste. And Harvard University picked a former U.S. Treasury secretary, Lawrence H. Summers, as its leader. Plucking a college president from outside academe -- like those recent hires -- would have been considered unusual just a few years ago. Now, that's no longer so. A study released today by the American Council on Education found that while presidents hired from outside higher education remain a minority, their ranks have doubled in recent years. "The number of seasoned people from traditional fields who are ready and motivated to pursue a presidency is diminished," says Theodore J. Marchese, managing director of Academic Search Consultation Service, a search firm in Washington. "From a board member's standpoint, if you define the president's job in terms of the things you see your president talking about at board meetings -- fund raising, politics, marketing, financial management, and still more fund raising -- more than a few candidates from outside the academy seem to present competitive portfolios." Nonacademic Backgrounds The council's study, based on a 2001 survey of college presidents, found that the percentage of leaders whose immediate prior positions were outside higher education rose from 6 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2001. If specialized institutions such as business and chiropractic schools are included, the percentage of presidents with nonacademic backgrounds rose from 7.8 percent in 1998 to nearly 15 percent in 2001. Even so, nearly half of all presidents in 2001 had either been presidents at other institutions or chief academic officers in their previous jobs. As the competition for qualified candidates and the number of presidential retirements increased in recent years, the percentage of sitting presidents hired for other presidencies diminished by about 5 percentage points, to 20 percent. Most boards turned instead to chief academic officers. Nearly 28 percent of presidents in the 2001 survey were hired from provost positions, compared with 20 percent in 1998. While the 2001 survey showed slight gains in the numbers of female and minority presidents, the typical college president remained a white, Protestant man in his mid-50s. The average age of presidents remained about the same -- 57.5 years in 2001, compared with 57.6 in 1998. Their time in office decreased slightly, from an average tenure of 6.9 years in 1998 to 6.6 years in 2001. The 2001 survey, based on responses from 2,594 presidents, was the council's fifth study of college leaders' backgrounds, career paths, and personal data. The council did similar surveys in 1986, 1990, 1995, and 1998. Economy Rules Melanie E. Corrigan, assistant director of the council's Center for Policy Analysis and the author of the study, says that the most recent survey reflects how mounting financial pressures have affected presidents' roles in recent years, particularly with the downturn in the economy. Presidents at private colleges said maintaining good relations with faculty members, governing boards, and alumni were their greatest challenges. Leaders of public institutions in the 2001 survey most often identified relationships with legislators and policy makers as their greatest challenge, followed by relations with faculty members. "This is not surprising given the dual challenges of diminished state appropriations and increased accountability at public colleges nationwide," Ms. Corrigan wrote in the study. But boards didn't always give presidential candidates a clear picture of financial problems. A significant number of all presidents in the 2001 survey said they had encountered unpleasant surprises in taking office that should have been discussed during the search process. One in five presidents hadn't received an accurate disclosure of the institution's financial condition. The problem was more marked at private institutions. More than a quarter of those presidents reported that they hadn't received a "full and accurate disclosure" on institutional finances. While some boards could have been more forthright about such problems, financial concerns at both public and private institutions prompted governing boards to look outside academe when hiring a president, higher-education researchers and search-firm consultants say. Trustees, particularly at public colleges, want presidents with well-honed political skills who can negotiate with state and federal lawmakers during tight financial times. The 2001 survey revealed that the biggest increases in presidents from outside higher education were at public institutions. At public doctoral universities, those leaders' ranks more than quadrupled, from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 10.6 percent in 2001. Boards at both public and private institutions also seek presidents with the business knowledge to be savvy financial managers. And some boards like former politicians' fund-raising experience. Several recent presidential selections reflect this trend. In addition to the presidents hired at Kentucky, New School, Colorado, and Harvard, the University of North Texas system this summer picked a Dallas County judge and former Texas legislator, Lee Jackson, to be the system's chancellor. The chairman of the system's Board of Regents, Bobby Ray, said the board believed Mr. Jackson's political experience would help the university compete for resources in the state capital. Last month, the University of Louisville for similar reasons hired the state's budget director, James Ramsey, to be the institution's new president. Mr. Ramsey had been the university's acting president since September. The university's Board of Trustees was impressed by his steps toward accomplishing financial goals that it had set for the university, including trimming the budget in anticipation of state funding cuts. While Mr. Ramsey had more than 20 years of experience in state government, he also had strong academic credentials. In addition to having a doctorate, he had been a professor of economics and public policy at Louisville. In the council's 2001 survey, 76 percent of the presidents had doctorates. That was about a 5-percentage-point decrease from 1998, when nearly 81 percent of the presidents reported having doctoral degrees. Like Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Todd at the University of Kentucky holds a doctoral degree, in electrical engineering. He was a faculty member at Kentucky for nine years, helped found two technology companies, and went on to become senior vice president of Lotus Development. Barry Mills, a New York lawyer whom Bowdoin College appointed president last year, also holds a doctorate but left academe two decades ago. Mr. Mills was a trustee at the college and head of the search committee when the rest of the committee asked him to take the top job. And Graceland University recently hired John K. Menzies, who had been U.S. ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1994 to 1996 and then later was a diplomat in Kosovo. Although his career before becoming Graceland's president was in the foreign service, he, too, has a doctoral degree, in German language and literature. Indeed, presidential-search consultants say that the most successful nontraditional candidates usually have doctorates and at least some experience in academe. Seeking Diverse Experience Boards increasingly are attracted to presidential candidates with diverse experience, even when hiring people from the ranks of provosts and other academic administrators. The 2001 survey for the first time asked presidents whether they had any background outside academe. Sixty percent reported that they did, even if their career paths had mainly included traditional academic degrees and administrative positions. To help find the right leaders, colleges continued to turn to search firms. About 42 percent of presidents at both public and private institutions reported in the 2001 survey that they had been hired with the help of consultants, compared with 41 percent in 1998. Among presidents hired since 1999, 51 percent said that a search consultant was used. Doctoral institutions were most likely to hire the consultants, with nearly 70 percent of public doctoral universities saying that they had used the firms, and about 58 percent of the private doctoral institutions. Cases where boards have hired presidents without experience working in higher education reflect a growing belief among some trustees that the presidential role is changing. "There's an emerging view that the president is more like a corporate CEO, and directed to external duties, and the provost is the chief operating officer and the internally focused academic leader," says R. William Funk, managing director of college presidential searches for Korn/Ferry International, in Dallas. That can create a clash of perspectives with faculty members, he says. "Boards tend to think in those terms, whereas traditional academicians would not. They still like to think of their presidents as their chief academic officers." Those nontraditional presidents sometimes face a steep learning curve about academic values, says Mr. Marchese. "Even if an outsider does brilliantly with his or her board-level responsibilities -- the external money and politics part -- he or she can easily be undone by the on-campus part of the job, by gaffes and goofs from a misreading of culture." At Colorado College, Mr. Celeste, who became president in July, says that he has relied on the chief academic officer, Richard D. Storey, for advice in navigating those waters. But Mr. Celeste -- a former Ohio governor, Peace Corps director, and U.S. ambassador to India -- also won points with the faculty soon after his appointment by defending academic freedom. His invitation to a Palestinian activist, Hanan Ashrawi, to speak at a campus symposium this fall drew protests not only from Christians and Jews, but also from the state's governor, Bill Owens. Mr. Celeste stood firm, and Ms. Ashrawi spoke at the symposium, which also featured Gideon Doron, a former adviser to Yitzhak Rabin, the late prime minister of Israel. Mr. Celeste says he was attracted to a college presidency because he had always been interested in education during his political and diplomatic careers, and he enjoys working with students. Colorado's Board of Trustees, in turn, was impressed by his international experience as well as his diplomatic and fund-raising track record as a successful politician. "What I said to the faculty, who had some serious questions, was that I believe that leadership is a transferable skill," says Mr. Celeste. "Many of the lessons of leadership that you gain in a governor's office or as director of the Peace Corps are relevant in a college or university." The Same Look Despite the changes in presidents' backgrounds, boards have continued to mainly hire white men as presidents, although the number of female and minority presidents has continued to climb. Just over 21 percent of the presidents in the 2001 survey were women, compared with 19 percent in 1998. The percentage of presidents who were members of minority groups saw a smaller increase, from 11.3 percent in 1998 to 12.8 percent in 2001. Among presidents hired since 1999, the diversity is slightly greater. Twenty-four percent of those presidents were women, and 15 percent were members of minority groups. The largest increase in the percentage of female presidents occurred at two-year institutions, where about 27 percent of the presidents in 2001 were women, compared with 22 percent in 1998. Other than at those colleges, the percentage of female presidents has declined slightly at almost all types of private institutions since 1998, and at public baccalaureate colleges. Women were least likely to be presidents of doctoral institutions, although the number of female presidents of such universities in the public sector remained steady in 2001, at 15.7 percent. Only 8.7 percent of the leaders of private doctoral universities were women. Glass Ceiling Private doctoral institutions also were less likely to hire minority presidents. Only 3.3 percent of those presidents in 2001 were members of minority groups. At public doctoral institutions, 11.3 percent were members of minority groups. "Search committees at doctoral institutions are looking for folks with significant experience in leading complex institutions, and historically, that's been men, and white men," says the council's Ms. Corrigan. "So that's a tougher glass ceiling to break." Female presidents responding to the 2001 survey were less likely to have been a president in their prior positions. Most of them -- 35 percent -- had been provosts. "It's an evolution," Ms. Corrigan says of the numbers of female and minority presidents. "It's hard to have a revolution in this area." "The American College President: 2002 Edition" was paid for in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Copies can be obtained for $25 each, plus $6.95 for shipping and handling, by calling (301) 632-6757, or by writing to the ACE Fulfillment Service, Department 191, Washington 20055-0191. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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