Be prepared for big issues when you lead the big dance.(race, class, and community in higher education)

What are some of the complex issues facing women college and university presidents? What's the role of the president in shaping society? Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY and Peggy Williams, president of Ithaca College NY, led a panel discussion on these issues and more at ACE's Fourth Women Presidents' Summit in Washington DC in June.

A "communiversity"

When Shirley Ann Jackson came to lead RPI in 1999, there were two women and no people of color as VPs, deans or associate deans. She credits a prescient board with hiring "a short, black Baptist woman from New York."

RPI is in an economically depressed area; Jackson believes it has a civic responsibility to the community, calling it a "communiversity." She said, "We always look to extend technology into the community, to strengthen government functions and encourage entrepreneurship."

This larger community extends to other countries. She described the "global virtual interactivity" at RPI, where students use the Internet to engage with students from other cultures in the same discipline -- architecture, for example. By merging technology with a global focus, students gain a broader perspective and understanding other countries helps them understand cultural differences.

Issues of religion and class can be hot-button topics at RPI, said Jackson. The school has students from wide-ranging economic backgrounds and a large number of Jewish, Muslim and Catholic students. Every action taken or program started is from the point of view of promoting diversity: intellectual, social, ethnic, gender, racial and religious.

In response to the tragedy on September 11th she called the school community together, asking everyone to join hands and tell the next person "I love you" as a member of the human race. Said Jackson: "My male colleagues would not have the nerve to do this."