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CONTACT:
Paul F. Hassen
(202) 939-9367
paul_hassen@ace.nche.edu
College Presidents Aging and Holding Jobs Longer
According to a New Report on the College Presidency from the American
Council on Education
Twentieth Anniversary Report Suggests Coming
Changing of the Guard in Campus Leadership
Washington, DC (February
12, 2007)—America’s college presidents are older
and holding the job longer than at any time during the past 20 years,
according to results of a new study released today by the American
Council on Education (ACE). The data suggests a coming changing of the
guard in campus leadership, but the authors say the implications for
racial and gender diversity at the presidential level remain
unclear.
The American College President: 2007 Edition is the sixth in a series of reports since 1986 describing the
backgrounds, career paths and experiences of college and university
presidents. It is the only source of data on college presidents in
all sectors of American higher education. The report is based on
the results of the 2006 American College President Study and includes
information from 2,148 presidents of public and private colleges and
universities across the country—the largest survey since the study
began in 1986.
Since 1986, the average age of
college presidents has increased from 52.3 years to 59.9 years and the
average time in office has moved from 6.3 years to 8.5 years. More
importantly, the proportion of presidents who were age 61 or older grew
from 14 percent in 1986 to 49 percent in 2006, suggesting that many
institutions will lose their presidents to retirement in coming
years.
“The report’s
findings on age and career path suggest that the presidency has become
more demanding with many new challenges,” said ACE President David
Ward. “Accordingly, search committees and college governing
boards are increasingly selecting leaders with prior experience in
senior executive roles in higher education. This approach to
appointments limits opportunities for young leaders, women and people of
color, and we need to ensure that a new generation of individuals are in
the pipeline and are prepared for the new challenges of leadership
positions in higher education.”
According to the data, the
typical president in 2006 was a white male, age 60, married, with a
doctorate degree who had been in office 8.5 years and served previously
as a chief academic officer or provost.
Released during
ACE’s 89th Annual Meeting underway
in Washington, DC,The American
College President: 2007 Edition was written by
Jacqueline King, director, and Gigi Gomez, research associate, in
ACE’s Center for Policy Analysis. The project was
underwritten by a grant from the TIAA-CREF Institute.
"This 20th anniversary American College President
study presents an invaluable opportunity to learn from today's college
and university presidents how best to prepare tomorrow's leaders for
this critical and increasingly complex role," notes Madeleine
d'Ambrosio, executive director of the TIAA-CREF Institute. "Our support
reflects the Institute's commitment to advancing understanding of
emerging trends and critical issues shaping the future of higher
education."
Diversity Progress
Slowed
The report finds that growth in
the percentage of presidents who are women or members of ethnic or
racial minority groups has been slow, especially over the past 10
years.
The percentage of presidents
who were women more than doubled from 9.5 percent in 1986 to 23 percent
in 2006, while the percentage of presidents who were members of ethnic
or racial minority groups rose from 8.1 percent to 13.6 percent over the
same period. However, growth has slowed in recent years as the
percentage of women presidents stood at 19.3 percent in 1998 and 21.1
percent in 2001, while the percentage of minority presidents stood at
10.7 percent in 1995, 11.3 percent in 1998, and 12.8 percent in
2001.
“While we are
disappointed with the apparent plateau in the percentage of women and
minority presidents, opportunities to diversify the college presidency
are likely to be widespread in the coming decade,” said James C.
Renick, ACE senior vice president for programs and research.
“Higher education must endeavor to identify and prepare a wide
range of individuals for the challenges of campus
leadership.”
Twenty Year
Retrospective
The report includes the results
of a special set of questions directed at presidents who have been in
office 10 years or more seeking insight on how their role has changed
during their tenure. Fund raising, accountability and learning
assessments, and budget/financial management were the three areas that
long-serving presidents most often cited as having increased most in
importance during their tenure. The most important driver of
change in the presidency at public institutions were declines in state
funding (71 percent), while increased competition with other colleges
was cited by 74 percent of private college presidents.
Fifty-seven percent of
long-tenured presidents reported that they spent the majority of their
time with internal constituents when they first became president, but
only 14 percent cited internal constituents as receiving the majority of
their time today.
Reflecting the increasing
demands of the presidency, there were 16 issues or activities that
one-third or more of long-serving presidents indicated take more of
their time today than when they began their presidency, including: fund
raising, accountability/assessment, capital improvement, and technology
planning. Academic issues were cited by one-third of presidents as
occupying less time.
“The perspectives of
long-serving presidents echo what we hear consistently from our
members,” said King. “Presidents spend the majority of
their time on external constituents and long-range
planning—delegating the day-to-day management of internal campus
matters to the provost and other vice presidents.”
Other key findings of the
report include:
Gender
- Women were most likely to head
two-year colleges, where 29 percent of presidents were women in 2006
compared with 8 percent in 1986.
- Women were least likely to be
the president of doctorate-granting institutions despite a number of
recent appointments at high profile institutions. The percentage
of women presidents at doctorate-granting institutions was 13.8 percent
in 2006, up slightly from 13.3 percent in 2001 and 13.2 percent in
1998.
- One-quarter of all recently
hired presidents were women, compared with 23 percent of all
presidents. The percentage of women among newly hired presidents
has not changed appreciably since these data were first collected in
1998.
- Only 63 percent of women
presidents were married compared with 89 percent of male
presidents. Twenty-four percent of women presidents are either
divorced or were never married compared to only 7 percent of
men.
Race
- In 2006, 6 percent of all
presidents were African American, 5 percent were Hispanic, 1 percent
were Asian American, 1 percent were American Indian, and 2 percent were
identified as “other.”
- Minority presidents were more
likely than white presidents to be women. More than one-third of
Hispanic presidents and nearly one-third of African-American presidents
were women, compared with only 22 percent of whites.
- Minority presidents were
highly represented at public master’s, baccalaureate and special
focus institutions, where they led more than 20 percent of institutions
in those categories. Minorities were least well represented at
private doctorate-granting and master’s institutions, where they
led only 5 percent of institutions.
- When historically Black
colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal
colleges are excluded, less than 10 percent of colleges and universities
are led by people of color.
- A smaller proportion of new
presidents were members of minority groups (13 percent), compared with
the total presidential population (14 percent). The share of new
appointments from racial/ethnic minority groups is unchanged since
1998.
Duties, Challenges and Rewards
- Fund raising (37.7 percent),
budget/financial management (34.8 percent), community relations (20.9
percent), and strategic planning (20.9 percent) were most often cited as
the primary uses of time by presidents. Private college presidents
most often cited fund raising (51.7 percent) as the primary use of time,
while public college presidents cited budget/financial management (35.4
percent).
- College presidents most often
cited the following constituents as the most challenging: faculty (39.6
percent), legislators/policy makers (31 percent) and governing boards
(22.6 percent.). Public institution presidents listed:
legislators/policy makers (44.3 percent), faculty (37.4 percent) and
system office/state coordinating boards (31.7) as their top challenges,
while presidents of private colleges listed: faculty (41.5 percent),
donors/benefactors (22.3 percent) and governing boards (22.1
percent.)
- Community relations (31.4
percent), fund raising (27.5 percent) and academic issues (26.9 percent
were most often cited as issues and activities that presidents
enjoyed.
- Constituents that presidents
found most rewarding included: students (53 percent),
administration/staff (43 percent) and faculty (30 percent). Forty
percent of public college presidents also cited community residents,
while 36 percent of private college president said governing boards were
also rewarding.
- Eighty-seven percent of all
presidents served on at least one external board, a large change from
1986 when only 36 percent reported serving on external boards.
Seventy-seven percent served on the boards of non-profit organizations,
27 percent served on corporate boards and 15 percent served on governing
boards of other colleges or universities.
- Presidents of
doctorate-granting and master’s colleges and universities were
more likely to serve on corporate boards than presidents of
baccalaureate or associate’s colleges. On average, they were
most likely to serve on one or two boards.
Career History
- Just over one in five (21
percent) presidents had served in a presidency in their immediate prior
position compared with 17 percent in 1986 and 25 percent in
1998.
- The percentage of presidents
entering the role from outside academe appears to have leveled
off. In 2006, just over 13 percent of presidents’ immediate
prior positions were outside academe, down from 15 percent in
2001.
- Thirty-one percent of
presidents served as provost or chief academic officer (CAO) prior to
becoming president, up from 23 percent in 1986.
- The use of search consultants
has risen dramatically since 1986, with more than half of recent search
processes utilizing search consultants, up from 12 percent for
presidents hired before 1984.
The American
College President: 2007 Edition can be ordered
online from the ACE
Bookstore.
Founded in 1918,
ACE isthe major
coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions,
representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more
than 200 related associations, nationwide. It seeks to provide
leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and
influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program
initiatives.
TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization with
more than $406 billion in combined assets under management (12/31/06)
and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic,
research, medical and cultural fields. Learn more at
About
TIAA-CREF.
The mission of the TIAA-CREF
Institute is to foster objective research, build knowledge, support
thought leadership, and enhance understanding of strategic issues
related to higher education and lifelong financial security. For more
information, please visit www.tiaa-crefinstitute.org.
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