Non-traditional presidents pose no threat to higher ed.

According to The American President 2002, 14.7% of college and university presidents came from jobs outside higher education in 2000, up from 7.8% in 1998, including 3.8% from business and government. Many fear the "outsiders" could destroy a school's culture and tradition of shared governance.

At the annual American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) conference in San Diego in April, Dr. Holly Madsen discussed her research on whether non-traditional college presidents alter governance processes in liberal arts colleges. It led to her degree in higher education leadership and governance from Harvard University in 2004. She now directs board education services at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

About the study

Madsen defined a non-traditional president as one whose long-term profession or career had been outside of academe. Using data from the American Council on Education, she identified six non-traditional presidents of liberal arts colleges. One woman and three men agreed to participate.

All had been presidents for four or more years and had trained in law. Two had been top government officials; two were alumni and former trustees of the college they led.

Madsen interviewed the four presidents, plus their faculty, trustees and administrators, and collected data about each campus's history, culture, structure and recent events.

Her goal was to discover whether differences in their decision-making and backgrounds affected their academic practices, since differences in decision-making styles have been known to cause tensions between presidents and faculty. Madsen highlighted some broad differences that business, law and government have with academia: