Pathways to the Presidency

There is no singular way to prepare for the unique challenges of a college or university presidency. College and university presidents, as well as those who aspire to the position, utilize a myriad of professional experiences as they navigate the complexities of the role. The purpose of this chapter is to review the traditional and nontraditional career pathways of college and university presidents, discuss the preparation practices utilized by higher education leaders to be successful in the presidency, and offer advice for aspiring college and university presidents.

University Leadership—More Complicated and More Critical Than Ever

In 2012, the rectors of the University of Virginia carried out a failed attempt to oust President Teresa Sullivan, demonstrating how a lack of understanding of shared governance and the importance of the internal dynamics of a university can frustrate university trustees. Bart Giamatti said that a university presidency is “a mid-nineteenth-century ecclesiastical position on top of a late-twentieth-century corporation.” While trustees have some important formal powers, most of their influence is informal and has to be navigated within the internal customs and traditions of the university. Two leaders who have navigated these dynamics successfully but in very different ways are Mark Wrighton and Gordon Gee.

The Eisenhower Solution, 1948–1952

Stassen’s failure to win the Republican nomination for president in June 1948 did not quench his thirst for high office. Robert T. McCracken, chairman of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees, offered Stassen the university presidency in July, and the board elected him on September 17, 1948. The enthusiasm he aroused among college students as a Republican candidate convinced him that higher education had always been in the forefront of his ambitions. Stassen saw himself in the same light as Eisenhower, who had accepted the presidency of Columbia University. As the president of a prestigious Ivy League university, he could ensure his prominence in national affairs. For four years, Stassen walked a delicate line between his university obligations and his political ambitions. Inevitably, he had to confront criticism over his extracurricular activities. However, the possibility of a cabinet appointment in a Dewey administration became irrelevant when President Truman won the election in November.

E-Management System of Kirkuk University Based on Distributed Database

This research includes an analytical study of the administrative and scientific work in departments, branchs and units of the Kirkuk University Presidency. It aims to convert the traditional routine work to the electronic work at the university by applying E-Management technique as one of the required modern logical solutions most commonly used to facilitate the difficulty of managing the vast amount of documents and delaying workflow that facing most institutions and organizations. In view of the increasing and urgent need for the use of E-Management systems throughout all the departments of the university presidency, the Electronic Distributed Kirkuk University Management System (E-DKUMS) is designed by using of Distributed Databases (DDB) technique, as well as using of electronic network infrastructure (LAN) that connects all the university configurations. The results of system implementation demonstrated that it is distinguished with high performance and speed, very high reliability and security, as well as very few employment cost. Test and evaluation results proved the ability of the system to facilitate the progress of managerial functions, reduce the time and effort, and capability of restructuring the administrative structure because of its excellence with flexibility in the creation and deletion departments, branches, and units for the system; in addition to easily troubleshot and fast execution.