In the five years from 2011 to 2016, the proportion of presidents who were members of minority groups climbed by about four percentage points, although minority representation is still far below that of the college-student population, especially for Hispanics. The average age of a president crept up during those five years, from 60.7 to 61.7, and the percentage of those whose previous job was outside academe fell, from more than 20 percent in 2011 to 15 percent in 2016.
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Gender and family
| Women | 30.1% | 26.4% | 23.0% |
| Currently married | 85.2% | 85.0% | 83.2% |
| Has children | 84.0% | 85.3% | 85.7% |
Race or ethnicity
| American Indian | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.7% |
| African-American | 7.9% | 5.9% | 5.9% |
| Asian-American | 2.3% | 1.5% | 0.9% |
| Hispanic | 3.9% | 3.8% | 4.5% |
| Middle Eastern | 0.6% | — | — |
| White | 83.2% | 87.2% | 86.4% |
| 2 or more races | 1.4% | — | — |
| Other | — | 0.8% | 1.5% |
| All minority | 16.8% | 12.6% | 13.6% |
Education and top 3 fields of study
| Has Ph.D. or Ed.D. | 79.5% | 76.8% | 75.0% |
| Studied education or higher education | 41.1% | 37.7% | 43.0% |
| Studied social sciences | 14.2% | 11.9% | 13.8% |
| Studied humanities/fine arts | 11.3% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
Career history
| Previously a president or interim president/chief executive of college or system | 23.9% | 19.5% | 21.4% |
| Previously a chief academic officer or provost/other senior executive in academic affairs/dean | 42.7% | 44.7% | 43.8% |
| Previously another senior campus executive | 16.3% | 11.9% | 17.3% |
| Previously worked outside higher education | 15.0% | 20.3% | 13.1% |
| Never been a faculty member | 18.8% | 30.4% | 31.1% |
| Ever worked outside higher education | 58.0% | 47.8% | 63.0% |
Average…
| Age | 61.7 | 60.7 | 59.9 |
| Years in present job | 6.5 | 7.0 | 8.5 |
| Years spent primarily in the classroom/lab (for those who reported having done so) | 10.2 | 9.6 | — |
Note: Data for 2016 are based on survey responses from 1,546 leaders of two-year and four-year public, private nonprofit, and for-profit institutions across the United States. A total of 3,615 surveys were distributed. Response rates varied from 43 percent to 51 percent per sector, with the exception of the for-profit sector, for which the response rate was 6 percent. A dash indicates that data were not available. Percentages may not add up to totals because of rounding. More data are available at www.acenet.edu.
Source: American Council on Education, “American College President Study 2017"