Whats the Trend on Women Getting College Presidencies?
“Until you called me, I thought we were making progess.”–Bill Funk Is the glass half full or half empty? Looking at the numbers of women who’ve been hired for the top campus job recently, the answer is clearly, “It depends.” Women in Higher Education has been following the progress of academic women for 14 years. Lately it appears that fewer women are getting the top jobs. To test our hypothesis, we phoned several experts. Here are their perceptions on today’s climate for women seeking the top position. It depends where you look “I think it depends upon which group of colleges you’re looking at,” said Claire Van Ummersen , director of the Office of Women in Higher Education at the American Council on Education. “Among the members of the Association of American Universities, there are more women presidents in the last couple of years than ever before.” Currently 14.4% of AAU’s top leaders are women. Women in community colleges also appear to be faring well. More than 40% of the new com
