They have seen growing numbers of women earn Ph.D.'s, win tenure, and work their way up the faculty and administrative ranks. I also think there is a generation of men in administration and at the trustee level who are open to the idea of women administrators. Nor are experts surprised by the relative swiftness of change at public institutions and two-year colleges, compared with the pace at research universities. The sense is that the highest class or highest prestige are research universities. With any glass ceiling, it's easier to break into lower-prestige entities first.
Institutions tend to look to their own for the presidential position.
The share of presidencies held by members of minority groups increased from 8.1 percent in 1986 to 11.3 percent in 1998. As with women, minority presidents were less likely to serve at doctoral universities, where they represented 7.1 percent of the total. Still, that was almost three times their 2.4-percent proportion in 1986. Observers say it is interesting to note whether minority presidents are being hired by predominantly white institutions. About 51 percent of black presidents and 44 percent of Hispanic presidents are at predominantly white institutions, says Marlene Ross, director of the American Council on Education's Fellows Program and director of the survey.