Factors predicting women presidents at top research universities: part III on women leaders at research universities.(IN HIS OWN WORDS)

The study of college and university female presidents generates considerable interst among higher education researchers and commentators in a variety of forums.

This report provides general findings from both my 2003 dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of education and a follow-up 2008 study of female presidents at elite research institutions. It empirically examines factors predictive of becoming a research university president and assesses gender differences in landing a presidency there.

Predictive factors in the literature

While most previous descriptive analyses report university presidents to be older, white men holding doctorates in the sciences or professional degrees, my research agenda focuses on the challenges, constraints and opportunities female presidents encounter in ascending to the research university presidency.

Literature on "pathways" to the presidency reveals several important factors along the academic and administrative career path for those pursuing the presidency of American research universities. But to assess the probability of an individual becoming a research university president, my investigation of all research university presidents uses a series of logistic regression models containing both structural and individual variables identified in the literature.

Structural variables include: 1) prestige of doctoral degree, 2) proportion of all previous Association of American Universities (AAU) faculty and administrative appointments along the career pathway, 3) being defined as a scholar, and 4) possessing" significant accomplishments" and/or "star qualities."

Individual variables include: 1) gender, 2) ethnicity, 3) discipline of doctoral degree, and 4) holding the PhD versus another professional degree.