Troutt is chairman of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and is a member of the board of directors of the American Council on Education. An Exxon Foundation-funded study named him one of the Nation's Most Effective College Presidents. A graduate of Union University with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion, Troutt earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Vanderbilt University. He also pursued additional studies in management at the University of Michigan and Harvard. Troutt is also a former assistant director at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and a senior associate with McManis Associates, a Washington, D.C. management consulting firm with a national higher education practice.
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