DOCUMENT RESUME HE 028 688 ED 388 145 Wessel, Roger D. AUTHOR Profiles of Private, Four-Year College and University TITLE Presidents in the United States. PUB DATE 91 NOTE 27p. Research/Technical (143) PUB TYPE Reports MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Administrator Characteristics; Biographical DESCRIPTORS Inventories; Church Related Colleges; *College Presidents; Higher Education; Institutional Characteristics; National Surveys; *Private Colleges; Profiles ABSTRACT This study focused on profiles of private, four-year college and university presidents in the United States. A stratfied random sample of 291 presidents was drawn for the study from a total pool of 873. In January and March, 1991 a pilot-tested survey instrument was mailed and 276 responses were received. The "typical" president was found to be a Caucasian male who began the presidency at age 47, had served for 8 years, and was presently age 55. He was married, a Protestant, and had earned a doctoral degree from a private college or university in the field of education. The data were stratified by type of institutional control and Carnegie classications which revealed statistically significant differences among clifferent types of institutions. For instance, presidents of Protes,tant colleges were more likely to be male, married, Protestant, and to have attended a public university for their highest earned degrees. They Were more likely to be African American than were presidents of other types of institutions. Presidents of Catholic institution had a greater probability of being older, female, single, and were older at appointment. Presidents from doctorate-granting institutions tended to be older, male, Caucasian, and older at appointment. (Contains 25 references and 5 tables.) (JB) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************** `ii7t nor, 00 00 C-r) (:) Profiles of Private, Pour-Year College and University Presidents in the United States by Roger D. Wessel, Ph.D. Ball State University Muncie, Indiana 1991 BEST COPY AVAILABLE U S IMPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Oen e of few:v.01w Research and Improvement -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER IERICI reproduced as Vnis document has been Roger D. Wessel 0, OfQinstItIOn received from the person iginahrig it to improve r Minor changes nave Peen made ieproduction quality this dor u Points ol view ol opinions stated ill rePreSent official 'en' do not neCESWIIV TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES OE RI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER fERICI Abstract This study focused on profiles of private, four-year college and university presidents in the United States. The "typical" president was found to be a Caucasian male who began the presidency at age 47, had served for eight years, and was presently age 55. He was married, a Protestant, and had earned a Ph.D. from a private college or university in the field of education. The data was stratified by type of institutional control (i.e., independent, Protestant, Roman Catholic) and Carnegie classifications (Doctorate-Granting Institutions, Comprehensive Colleges and Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges). Statistically significant differences were found among the different types of institutions. Profiles of Private, Four-Year College and University Presidents in the United States In 1640 Henry Dunster was elected as the chief officer at Harvard college (Prator 1963). Since that time much has been written about college and university presidents. This study focused on the profiles of the private, four-year college and university presidents in the United States. Literature Review Schmidt (1957), in his study of the liberal arts college, said that "the most important individual in the early college was the president" (p. 103-4). "In many ways, the early college Its identity became a reflection of his character, leadership, and president was the college. personal success" (Kauffman 1980, p. 5). Cowley (1980) stated that one could "name a great American college or university, and you will find in its history a commanding leader or leaders who held its presidency. Name an institution with a brilliant but now-withered past, however, and you will probably have little difficulty in identifying the weak headmen presidents who have blocked its progress" (p. 70). The destiny of the American people may have been shaped to a greater extent by the leadership of major American colleges and universities than by any other similar group of leaders in business, religion, or politics. Interest in profiles of college presidents has theoretical underpinnings in the work of Tau ssig and Joslyn (1932) and Warner and Abegglen (1955). Their principal purpose was to study vertical occupational mobility of the business elite, much of which is the product of more general social factors such as profiles of personal characteristics. Chief executive officers in American higher education have also been the object of much study. As early as the 1920s Kruse and Beck (1928) and Rainey (1929) reported profile characteristics on college presidents. Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 2 Since that time demographic characteristics of college presidents have been reported by various researchers (Arman 1986; Atwell 1980; Carbone 1981; Cohen & March 1986: Dyson 1978; Ferrari 1970; Green 1988; Hodgkinson 1971; Kunkel 1948; Moore 1983: Moore, Twombly, & Martorana 1985; Prator 1963; Runkel 1987; Sterneckert 1980; Vaughan 1986; Warren 1938). While the college and university presidency is so diverse that it is extremely difficult to generalize about the individuals who occupy the position, Carbone (1981) stated that the data in the literature would allow one to project that the "typical" college president was a caucasian, married, Protestant man in his mid-fifties. He was first appointed as a college president in his mid-forties, and had served for 8-10 years. He had an earned doctorate, most probably in the field of education. Methodology The purpose of this study was to determine a demographic profile of college presidents at private, doctorate-granting institutions, comprehensive universities and colleges, and liberal arts college in the United States. The Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching 1987) was used to identify the institutions by Carnegie classification (that is, Doctorate-Granting Institutions, Comprehensive Colleges and Universities, Liberal Arts), and the types of institutional control (that is, independent, Higher Education Directory Protestant, Roman Catholic) were determined from The HEP . . . (Higher Education Publications 1990). Presidents of the colleges and universities from territories and possessions of the United States were excluded, leaving a population of 873 presidents. A stratified random sample of 291 presidents, one-third of the population, was drawn for the study. Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 3 The researcher developed a survey instrument. A panel of experts, comprised of university professors skilled in the development and design of questionnaires, was consulted about the readability and understandability of the instrument. A pilot test was also conducted that included presidents who were not a part of the study. Based on the comments received, appropriate revisions were incorporated into the design of the survey. The data were collected between January and March, 1991. Two hundred seventy-six (276) usable responses were received, which yielded a usable response rate of nearly 95 percent. The respondents were from 47 states and the District of Columbia. Using the Carnegie classifications, 63 percent (n=173) of the respondents were from Liberal Arts colleges. representing 32 percent of the population. Twenty-eight percent (n=79) of the respondents were from Comprehensive Universities and Colleges, representing 30 percent of the population. Nine percent (n=24) of the respondents were from Doctorate-Granting Institutions, representing 30 percent of the population. Forty-two percent (n=116) of the respondents were from Protestant institutions representing 27 denominations. Presidents from independent institutions represented 37 percent (n=103) of the responses, and 21 percent (n=57) were from Roman Catholic institutions. Findings Data were collected on fourteen specific profile variables (that is, exact position title. gender, racial/ethnic origin, age, age at appointment, years in position, marital status, religious preference. highest earned degree, field of study for the highest earned degree, institutional control (public/private) for institution of highest earned degree, institution where doctoral degree was earned, year doctoral degree was earned, and type of earned doctoral degree). These data are reported in this section. Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 4 Exact Position Title Among the chief executive officers in private colleges and universities 98.6 percent were called "President." The remaining 1.4 percent were called "Chancellor." At Roman Catholic colleges, all chief executive officers .vere titled "President." At Doctorate-Granting institutions, 8.3 percent of chief executive officers were titled Chancellor. Slightly more than 81 percent of presidents were male and 18.9 percent were Gender female (table 1). There was a statistically significant difference in the gender of private, four- highest year college presidents when compared among types of institutional control. The concentration of male presidents were at Protestant institutions (93.1 percent), and the highest percentage of female presidents were at the Roman Catholic institutions (40.4 percent). The Doctorate-Granting institutions had a larger percentage of male presidents (95.8 percent) than did the Liberal Arts Colleges (77.3 percent). However, a statistically significant difference did not exist among the Carnegie classification categories. Insert table 1 here (Table 1 is at the end of the manuscript) Racial/Ethnic Group The presidents of private, four-year colleges and universities were predominantly caucasian (table 2). Only 5.8 percent of the respondents were Afro- American, 1.1 percent of the presidents were Native-American, less than one percent were Mexican-American, and less than one percent were Asian-American. All of the presidents at Doctorate-Granting institutions were caucasian. There existed no statistical differences between either of the comparison groups. Insert table 2 here (Table 2 is at the end of the manuscript) Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 5 Age The average (mean) age of private, four-year college presidents was 55.0. The age range was from 38 to 70 years of age. There was no statistically significant difference among the types of institutional control. However, there was a statistically significant difference among the Carnegie classifications. Presidents of private, four-year Liberal Arts colleges tended to be younger (54.0) than their counterparts at Doctorate-Granting and Comprehensive institutions (57.6). Age at Appointment The average (mean) age at appointment to the presidency was 47. The range for age at appointment was 28 to 65 years of age. Statistically significant differences were found among the Carnegie classifications. The age at appointment of presidents at Doctorate-Granting institutions (51.3) was significantly higher than that of the Liberal Arts Colleges (46.3). No statistically significant difference existed among the ypes of institutional control. The average years served (tenure) in office was eight. The Years in Office (Tenure) range was from 0 to 26 years. No statistically significant differences existed among either comparison group. Over 75 percent of all private, four-year college and university Marital Status presidents were married (table 3). Slightly more than 21 percent were single (13 percent were a member of a religious order and 8.3 percent were never married), and 3.3 percent were divorced, widowed, or separated. Statistically significant differences existed between the types of institutional control, since over 95 percent of Protestant college presidents were married and 79 percent of Roman Catholic college presidents were single. There were no statistically significant differences among the Carnegie classifications. Insert table 3 here (Table 3 is at the end of the manuscript) Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 6 Nearly two-thirds of all private, four-year college presidents Religious Preference considered themselves Protestant (table 4). Nearly 28 percent of the presidents were Roman Catholic, 3.6 percent were Jewish, and 2.9 percent did not claim a religious preferences. There were statistically significant differences in religious preference among the types of institutional control and Carnegie classifications types. At Doctorate-Granting institutions 37.5 percent of the presidents were Protestant, 37.5 percent were Roman Catholic, and 12.5 percent were Jewish. Slightly more than 42 percent of the presidents at Comprehensive institutions were Roman Catholic. Insert table 4 here (Table 4 is at the end of the manuscript) Highest Earned Degree The doctorate is the highest earned degree held by 90.9 percent of the presidents at private, four-year colleges and universities. Slightly more than 7 percent of the presidents held a master's degree as their highest earned degree, and only 1.8 percent held a bachelor's degree as their highest earned degree. Field of Study for Highest Earned Degree A total of 29 major areas of study were identified for the highest earned degree. In order to simplify the process, the majors were categorized into seven general fields of study (that is, education. philosophy/theology, social sciences, fine arts/languages, hard sciences, business/law, other fields). Using these general fields of study, the highest concentration of majors was in the field of education (table 5). Nearly 26 percent of all private, four-year college presidents held their highest earned degree in the field of education. Also, 23 percent of the presidents obtained their highest earned degree in philosophy/theology, and 21.2 percent in the social sciences. A statistically significant Profiles of Private, Four-Year College . . . Page 7 difference existed among the Carnegie classification types due to the high percentage of presidents at the Doctorate-Granting Institutions who had studied a hard science (29.2 percent) or business/law (20,2 percent) for their highest earned degree. Insert table 5 here (Table 5 is at the end of the manuscript) Institutional Control (Public/Private) for Institution of Highest Earned Degree Among the presidents of private, four-year colleges and universities 60.4 percent attended private institutions of higher education for their highest earned degree. The remaining 39.6 percent attended public institutions. A statistically significant difference existed among the Carnegie classifications since nearly 88 percent of the presidents of Doctorate-Granting institutions graduated from private institutions, compared to 53 percent of the presidents from Liberal Arts colleges. Ninety-seven institutions of higher Institutions where the Doctoral Degree was Earned learning were reported as the alma mater for the doctoral degree. Twelve of the presidents had received a doctoral degree from Harvard University. The University of Chicago, Yale University, and Columbia University each had graduated 11 of the presidents. Ten presidents had received doctorates from the University of Michigan and eight from Michigan State University. The remaining 76.6 percent of the presidents received their doctoral degree from one of 91 other institutions of higher learning. Year Doctoral Degree was Earned The highest number of doctoral degrees were awarded from 1970 to 1974, when 67 of the presidents (27.3 percent) received a doctoral degree. During the years 1960-1964, 19.5 percent of the presidents received a doctorate, and from 1965-1969, 21.1 percent of the presidents received a doctoral degree. Nine of the Ri