Contemporary Challenges of Governance for Women Presidents in Higher Education.

Leadership and good governance have become increasingly challenging in universities. For women presidents, especially women from historically marginalized and underrepresented minorities, leadership has become even more difficult. Higher education in the United States and other countries is under attack and the university president receives the majority of those attacks. For women of color serving as college presidents, the challenges have multiplied.

This paper draws upon the results from the American Council of Education’s American College President Study which has long served the higher education community as the most comprehensive, in-depth, and frequently cited source of information about the college presidency and pathways to higher education leadership in the United States. The survey has been conducted approximately every five years since 1986; the most recent edition is The American College President: 2023 Edition.

In the study, presidents of color, and women of color in particular, were more likely than men to feel they did not receive a realistic assessment of the challenges facing the institution during their search process. While the majority of presidents felt that they had a support system, some presidents indicated that they struggle to find people who understand the experience of being a college president in today’s shifting environment.

Presidents feel the pressure to become more relevant, more modernized and more efficient. As the majority of the colleges and universities in the United States face declining student enrollments and increasing hostility from elected officials, presidents face pressures to increase revenues and minimize expenses and to prove their worth.

This paper aims to explore the dilemmas, challenges and potentials in university governance with respect to institutional leadership, management and governance amidst the contradictions that arise as a result of the unintended and intended consequences of wider policy issues and the impact of the neo-liberal agenda on university reform.