<p>Here is an interesting article on college presidents sitting on corporate boards - much of the article is about Shirley Jackson:</p>
<p>BP-to-Goldman</a> Boards Become Hot Seats for College Presidents - Bloomberg</p>
<p>The key highlights regarding Ms. Jackson:</p>
<p>Marathon Oil Corp. investors cast 67.5 million votes against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson in April after a shareholder questioned whether she had time to serve.</p>
<p>Jackson of RPI, in Troy, New York, sits on five corporate boards, more than most college presidents, after stepping down from a sixth in April. She traveled to Milwaukee and Houston to attend shareholder meetings for International Business Machines Corp. and Marathon Oil on two successive April days. </p>
<p>Shareholders at IBM, Marathon Oil, FedEx Corp. and NYSE Euronext filed proxy statements this year or in 2009 questioning Jackson’s ability to juggle jobs. </p>
<p>“Nobody should be sitting on that many boards,” said Emil Rossi, the trustee for shares who filed a proxy statement with his son to protest Jackson’s board nomination at Armonk, New York-based IBM, the world’s largest computer-services provider. Of 14 candidates, Jackson placed 11th in the voting and retained her seat. While getting the fewest votes for election at Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., a Newark, New Jersey-based utility, she also held her board post there. </p>
<p>Founded in 1824, RPI is the nation’s oldest technological university, according to its website. Jackson earned $1.6 million from RPI in the year ended June 30, 2008, making her the highest-paid leader of a nonprofit private college in the U.S., according to the latest rankings by the Chronicle of Higher Education. </p>
<p>Jackson also reaped $982,628 in fees and other compensation such as stock awards from IBM, Public Service, New York-based NYSE Euronext and Marathon Oil in 2009, plus $403,823 from FedEx and Medtronic Inc., a Minneapolis-based medical-device maker, for their latest completed fiscal years, proxy statements show. </p>
<p>Faculty members said Jackson isn’t devoting enough attention to RPI’s endowment losses and credit issues. In May 2009, RPI had its debt downgraded to A3 from A2 by Moody’s Investors Service. While retaining the rating, Moody’s in March changed RPI’s outlook to “stable” from “negative.” RPI’s endowment fell 23 percent in a year, to $612.8 million on June 30, 2009, according to the National Association of College & University Business Officers, based in Washington. </p>
<p>“Her first priority needs to be this university,” said Jim Napolitano, a professor of physics at RPI since 1992. </p>
<p>While Jackson declined to be interviewed, her participation on corporate boards has “resulted in wide-ranging pathways of opportunities for Rensselaer students and faculty, and the university as a whole,” William Walker, a spokesman for the university administration, said in an e-mail. </p>
<p>The board of trustees voted unanimously this month to keep Jackson as president for 10 more years, RPI said in a statement on June 15. The board cited “historic and significant accomplishments,” including fundraising, faculty recruitment and buildings. </p>
<p>Jackson, 63, a physicist who formerly headed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has also earned praise from the companies she serves. </p>
<p>“It is clear that the overwhelming majority of IBM’s stockholders appreciate her contributions to the company,” Edward Barbini, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail.</p>
