Academic Pathways to University Leadership: Presidents’ Descriptions of Their Doctoral Education

Abstract

Introduction Although individuals come to the presidency from a variety of environments, over 40% of college and university presidents have earned a doctoral degree in either education or higher education (American Council of Education [ACE], 2007). Graduate school is seen as a powerful force that not only structures the mind, but also helps to shape the facts one legitimizes and how one interprets ideas (Brown, 2008). Dressel and Mayhew (1974) conducted the seminal research on the degree to which graduate programs prepared administrators for positions in higher education. They concluded there was no empirical evidence to support the notion that higher education programs prepared these administrators any better than programs in other disciplines. Purpose and Research Question The purpose of this study was to examine university presidents' perceptions of their academic doctoral preparation program as it related to their preparation for the university presidency. Although graduate student expectations and preparation for executive leadership in higher education have been studied as separate research topics, there is a lack of research that has addressed these topics collectively (Baliles, 2006; Stuver, 2006). This study extends and enhances the existing research by investigating the question: are the perceptions of college and university presidents of the adequacy of their doctoral training in preparing for their role at the university level? Higher Education and the University Presidency The role of the president is both substantive and symbolic. These individuals speak and represent multiple constituencies associated with the university. As the individual who speaks on behalf of the institution to the Board of Trustees, the university president is also in charge of assuring that trustees are involved in the planning processes, assume ownership of the plan, and receive regular feedback on its progress (Luxton, 2005). University presidents come from a variety of academic backgrounds. It is important to note that there is no degree that places a person on a linear track to the presidency. What is generally recognized is that graduate education plays a vital role in developing academic leaders. Graduate degrees signal to potential employers that the candidate understands the values of academia. Selingo (2003) writes, Frankly, academic credentials are important in this business (p. A40). Lester Goodchild (2002) defined higher education as a field of study that included sophisticated knowledge about and research on colleges, universities, and related postsecondary institutions, as well as the professional skills used by those persons who work in them (p. 303). He describes the purpose of higher education programs as to educate and train professionals for administrative, faculty, student life, and policy analyst positions in the country's approximately 4,000 postsecondary (p. 303). The field of higher education has developed over the last 100 years. Barnett (2007) describes the major reasons that the field developed as (1) the emergence of institutional history and the development of institutional research, (2) the counseling, testing, and guidance movements, (3) the emergence of national, regional, and local commissions, and (4) the presence of an emerging group of individuals who considered themselves student and scholars of higher education. The confluence of these factors along with the strong interest of G. Stanley Hall in the late 1800s prepared the way for higher education to emerge as a field of study. Hall, the president of Clark University at the time, developed the first course in higher education studies in 1893. Later, he created a 16-course specialization that became a part of the Ph.D. program in education at Clark University (Barnett, 2007). This continual focus on higher education as a means of preparing leaders for positions in administering institutions of higher learning inspired other larger institutions such as Ohio State University, Columbia University's Teachers College, the University of Chicago, the University of Pittsburg, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan to develop graduate programs in the field of higher education during the early 1900s (Wright, 2004). …