Harvard University announced the appointment of its first female president in the school's 371 year history this weekend. The selection coincides with a recent American Council on Education study that found more women are being elected to college presidencies than in previous years.
History Prof. Drew Gilpin Faust, who specializes in the Civil War and the American South, will become Harvard University's 28th president after initially signing on as a full professor in 1980.
"I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the appointment of Drew Gilpin Faust as Harvard University's next president," Harvard's Dean of Faculty David Ellwood stated in a media release. "I am confident Drew will bring the same bold vision, energy, leadership and insight to the University that she brought to Radcliffe [Institute for Advanced Study]. I look forward to working with her in the years to come as Harvard and the Kennedy School seek to provide world-class education and generate path breaking scholarship."
According to the ACE study, an increasing number of women like Faust are being elected to serve as presidents of colleges and universities.
Study author Paul Hassen said of the 3,500 colleges across the nation that received the survey, 2,148 responded.
The results found not only that more women are becoming college presidents, but that the length of presidential terms is also extending.
The study also found college presidents are older on average and serve longer terms than at any other time in the past 20 years.
"This suggests a coming changing of the guard in campus leadership," Hassen said. "The average age of a college president has increased from 52.3 to 59.9 years from 1986 to 2006. But more importantly, the proportion of presidents who are 61 or older has grown from 14 percent in 1986 to 49 percent in 2006."
Hassen projected that in the next few years, a significant number of institutions are likely to see their presidents retire, adding that this could provide opportunities for greater diversity in higher education presidential leadership.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said President John T. Casteen, III, the University's seventh president, has served since 1990, adding that, to her knowledge, this makes him one of the longest-serving college presidents in the nation.
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