Lynne Murray was sworn in as president of Baker University on Friday. She is the school’s 29th president in its 156-year history and its second female president. MALE or female, the demands on college presidents are monumental.
Murray replaces Patricia Long, who took the reins in 2006.
She joins Bernadette Gray-Little, chancellor of the University of Kansas, as female leaders of education in Kansas.
Nationwide, 30 percent of college presidents are women. It’s a tough field to break into.
College presidents look like the typical bank president: middle-aged white men.
Racial and ethnic diversities represent about 13 percent of university presidents, according to a 2012 report by the American Council on Education.
As with any field, the glass ceiling is not shattered by women or minorities, but disassembled pane by pane.
Most university presidents come up through the academia pipeline. More than three-fourths have doctorates.
Only 8 percent come from non-academic backgrounds, most from the corporate world. That is not as incongruous a match as some might think. A goal in academia, after all, is to increase graduation rates, just as a corporation looks to decrease recalls and increase output.
In today’s world of decreasing state support they must be adept at fundraising and forming creative partnerships with the private sector, all the while motivating faculty and students to embrace the school’s vision.
Running a university is more like running a family business than a corporate business.
A background in law would also be helpful, considering the myriad state and federal regulations, with which universities must comply, from gender equity under Title IX, campus crime under the Clery Act, the use of intellectual property, the many regulations for online curriculums, student privacy rights and financial aid regulations.
Colleges and universities serve as the bulwark against the decline of society. Since their beginning they have worked to power our economy, develop new technologies, strengthen our democracy and spur our imaginations
What a job description.
— Susan Lynn
College conundrum: Be a big business without acting like it
