American Council on Education Report Documents Progress of Women Into College Presidencies

A new report from the American Council on Education finds that the college presidency remains older, White, and male.

The report found that in 2022, 66.9 percent of college and university presidents were men. This is down slightly from 2016 when 69.8 percent of all presidents were men. At this rate of progress over the past six years, gender equality in college or university presidents would not occur until 2057.

Here are some other notable statistics from the report relating to gender.

In 2022, presidents had been in their position for an average of 5.9 years, 2.6 years less than in 2006. On average, men had been in their current position for about one year more than women presidents.

Women generally indicated that their first aspiration, application, and appointment to the presidency occurred later in life than those same milestones for men. On average, women were generally appointed within one and a half years of their first application, while men were appointed about two years later.

Women were more likely than men to feel they did not receive a realistic assessment of the challenges facing the institution during their search process. About 69 percent of women presidents said they received a clear understanding of the board’s expectations before they took office. For male presidents, the figure was 76.4 percent.

More than half of presidents arrived to the presidency through the traditional faculty or academic pathway. Women were more likely than men to have arrived via this pathway to the presidency.