Dive Brief:
- Washington Monthly profiles Paul Quinn College and its president, Michael Sorrell, as an exemplar of higher education reform.
- Paul Quinn, which has revamped its campus by creating an organic farm out of its former football field and has launched an urban work college model to increase student affordability, has attracted record enrollment and philanthropy over the last five years.
- Some observers ask if such a model of reformation can survive beyond the presence of Sorrell.
Dive Insight:
How do colleges move beyond a historic presidency? If Sorrell decides to leave, is there another president who can maintain his fundraising and leadership model? At Stanford, is there a president who can replace John Hennessy, who has raised billions for the institution?
The answer, seemingly, would be presidential grooming, but that answer must consider the ramification of diversity, the reaction of faculty, students and the surrounding community, and potentially, legislative stakeholders. And as some college leaders prepare for retirement in the next five years, the imperative for developing leaders and charging them with maintaining historic leadership becomes much more difficult, and more urgent, of a task.