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ACE Releases First National Census of Chief Academic Officers

Feb. 9, 2009

The census, a sister survey to ACE’s American College President Study, was created to answer basic questions about CAOs: Who are they? What do they do? What are their careers paths before and after serving as CAO? How do they compare to college and university presidents?

“The core functions of any campus—teaching, research, service—fall under the purview of the institution’s chief academic officer,” said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. “Yet surprisingly little is known about who these people are, how complex their jobs are, and how they got to this position. The data in The CAO Census will be useful in informing discussions about how to prepare the next generation of academic leaders.”

Released during ACE’s 91st Annual Meeting, underway in Washington, DC, The CAO Census was written by Peter D. Eckel, director of programs and initiatives, ACE’s Center for Effective Leadership; Bryan J. Cook, director of ACE’s Center for Policy Analysis; and Jacqueline E. King, assistant vice president for policy analysis at ACE. The project was underwritten by a generous grant from the TIAA-CREF Institute.

“This project aligns with the mission of the TIAA-CREF Institute to deepen understanding of strategic issues related to the business of higher education. The vitality of America’s colleges and universities depends in large part on the effectiveness of campus leaders and we believe it is crucial to research and share information about evolving leadership roles, challenges, and opportunities,” said Madeleine d’Ambrosio, vice president and executive director of the TIAA-CREF Institute.

Major findings of the census include:

• Race/Ethnicity and Gender: Eighty-five percent of all CAOs are white; 6 percent are African American; 4 percent are Hispanic; 2 percent are Asian American; and approximately 1 percent are American Indian. Forty percent of CAOs are women. By sector, women comprise 50 percent of CAOs at associate’s colleges; 38 percent at master’s institutions; 37 percent at baccalaureate institutions; 33 percent at special focus institutions; and 32 percent at doctorate-granting institutions.
• Nature of Position: Sixty-three percent of CAOs are very satisfied in their position and an additional 33 percent are somewhat satisfied. Yet, the average length of time in the position is relatively short, on average 4.7 years, compared to 8.4 years in office by presidents. Sixty-five percent of CAOs reported that curriculum and academic programs are among their most time-consuming activities, followed by supervising and managing personnel (57 percent) and accountability, accreditation and assessment (47 percent). Top frustrations of CAOs include never having enough money (48 percent), the difficulty of cultivating leadership in others (34 percent), and the belief by others that they are infinitely accessible by vehicles such as e-mail and meetings (32 percent).
• Career Paths: Most CAOs previously served as dean of an academic college (27 percent), followed by campus executive in academic affairs (23 percent) or a different CAO position (13 percent). The most common career moves after a CAO position (as reported by successors) are to retire (21 percent), move into a presidency (20 percent) or return to the faculty (18 percent).
• Presidential Aspirations: Only 30 percent of CAOs intend to seek a presidency, despite ACE data that show the most common path to the president’s office is through the CAO position. Forty-eight percent of African-American CAOs intend to seek a presidency, the highest percentage across all racial/ethnic groups. Twenty-five percent of female CAOs have presidential ambitions.

“Beyond seeking broad demographic data, we attempted in this census to draw a more complete picture of CAOs and their position,” said Eckel. “We learned that the tenure of a CAO is short but happy, that there is work to do in diversifying the position, and that we are losing a great deal of leadership experience when more CAOs choose to retire than to seek a presidency. We can now begin to further understand and address these issues.”

Other key findings include:

• Eighty-three percent of CAOs at doctorate-granting universities report they are the clear number two administrator behind the president, which is true for only 58 percent of CAOs at special focus institutions and 60 percent at associate’s colleges.
• CAOs are modestly engaged in off-campus activities, beyond engaging with other colleges and universities and participating in community relations and outreach. More than 70 percent said they do little or no fundraising; 75 percent spend little or no time on alumni relations; and 64 percent spend little or no time on government relations.
• The majority of CAOs are hired from positions within their own institutions (52 percent). More than 40 percent rose through the administrative ranks at a single institution.
• The most common reasons CAOs give for not considering a presidency is that they find the nature of the work unappealing (66 percent), are ready to retire (32 percent), are concerned about the time demands of the position (27 percent), and don’t want to live “in a fishbowl” (24 percent).

Comparing data from The CAO Census to data from The American College President Study leads to the following findings:

• Presidents are older as a group than CAOs. Forty-nine percent of presidents are aged 61 or older, as compared to 34 percent of CAOs. Only 8 percent of presidents are under the age of 50, less than half the percentage of CAOs (19 percent) in the same age group.
• Similar percentages of CAOs and presidents are racial/ethnic minorities (15 and 14 percent, respectively). Women are more greatly represented in the CAO position (40 percent) than the presidency (23 percent).
• CAOs and presidents reach their positions differently. CAOs are more likely to be internal hires than presidents and most often have been hired by the president to whom they report (70 percent).

“The American College President Study is the definitive source of information on the presidency, and we expect that this research will serve that same purpose with regard to chief academic officers,” said Cook. “Taking the two publications together, we can add to ACE’s broader efforts to diversify leadership in the academy and to create a strong pool of future leaders for our campuses and universities.”

The CAO Census: A National Profile of Chief Academic Officers can be ordered online from the ACE Bookstore.