What do you think about a college president who is not an academic? One of the schools our D19 is considering is Hope College in Holland, MI. While studying the Hope College website I came across an announcement of their new president. He’s a Hope alum but not an academic. He was formerly the chief administrative officer at a global financial services company. I can see the case for a non-academic but it’s not the norm. What are your thoughts or experiences about this? https://hope.edu/news/2018/campus-life/matthew-a-scogin-named-14th-president-of-hope-college.html
Two previous examples of non-academic presidents whose management ended up being very unpopular were Simon Newman at Mount Saint Mary’s University and Tim Wolfe at University of Missouri.
Newman was known for the “bunnies” incident discussed at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1854265-are-at-risk-students-bunnies-to-be-drowned-p1.html .
Wolfe had to deal with financial problems, made unpopular funding cuts, and apparently underestimated simmering discontent about various issues until it all blew up at once when triggered by incidents of bigotry.
Purdue’s president is the former governor of Indiana. Most people love him, students included.
To the undergraduate student enrolled, it won’t make a bit of difference.
After WW2 and before he became POTUS, Eisenhower was president of Columbia.
R. E. Lee was President of W & L. 
Billy Bulger, who was President of the Massachusetts Senate and, more infamously, Whitey Bulger’s brother, was President of UMass.
Janet Napolitano, the current president of the UC system, is a lawyer by education and a politician by experience and not an academic. Her tenure has had some controversies, but she is apparently an able administrator. I doubt that her lack of academic credentials and experience makes any difference to the vast majority of UC students.
I think Youngstown State lowered the bar so far on presidents’ backgrounds that pretty much anybody can claim to be qualified for the position.
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While it is typical for the president to be an academic, the skill set to be a good college president has almost nothing to do with being a talented academic. So I wouldn’t be particularly concerned about it.
@skieurope That didn’t work out to well for UMass.
@TomSrOfBoston Yeah. That was my unstated point. 
The new president of the U of Montana is not an academic (though, as a Rhodes scholar, he knows how to talk to them).
I believe that the president of Columbia was Milton Eisenhower, the brother of Dwight David Eisenhower. I have heard a story that at one point Milton was worrying about the weather for commencement, and DDE told his brother that he had not worried about the weather since June 5, 1944.
Some non-academics make fine college presidents. It depends much more on the values and priorities of the person, as opposed to previous professional experiences. It is very helpful to have someone who is willing to learn, and does not come in with a lot of baggage in terms of incorrect assumptions about the nature of a faculty position. The president has a fairly strong influence on the allocation of resources within a college. So the way that the president sets priorities matters.
I personally would not worry about a non-academic president of Hope College. But of course, I could be wrong.
Great choice for Hope College. Sure to raise lots of money.
Although I cannot remember his name, the special prosecutor in the Bill Clinton impeachment was rewarded with the position as President of Pepperdine University.
Working in higher education, I can easily say it’s happening more often. Let’s face it, colleges and universities are really businesses and a good president’s goal is to provide increased visibility and fundraising. The chief academic officer takes the lead on academic matters. UMass also has a politician again at the helm.
@QuantMech - Dwight Eisenhower was president of Columbia University from 1948-1953. His brother Milton was indeed a college president, but of Kansas State, Penn State, and Johns Hopkins, not Columbia.
Ken Starr was rewarded with the position of President of Pepperdine University for going after Pres. Clinton.
I suspect that his appointment was a great decision with respect to fundraising for Pepperdine University. Plus, Pepperdine has a law school was could justify appointing a lawyer such as Ken Starr President of Pepperdine.
While not quite as well known as some of the aforementioned college presidents, Mark Gearan did a superb job during his 17 year tenure as president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Gearan replaced George Stephanopoulis as Bill Clinton’s Director of Communications and then went on to be the Director of the Peace Corps before being named President at HWS. He moved on to be “President in Residence” at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. While at HWS Gearan strengthen the Colleges’ finances, expanded/renovated buildings on campus, increased financial aid, and made significant commitments to diversity and inclusion. In addition, Gearan used his government connections to bring many high profile speakers to campus.