Let’s say you want to be a college president some day. You’ve
already survived the trials associated with earning a doctorate and
winning tenure. You’ve even risen to a middle-management position on
campus. Now what?
Those who have succeeded in landing the coveted senior executive
suite jobs in higher education often tell those with similar
aspirations that there is no single route to the presidency.
However, one byway — designed to furnish middle management
academicians with up-close exposure to senior executive jobs while
helping them to hone the leadership and management skills required to
head a postsecondary institution — is the American Council on
Education (ACE) Fellows program.
“Of the 1,200 fellows who have been through our program since 1965,
225 are college presidents and 700 are vice presidents or deans,” says
Dr. Marlene Ross, director of the program.
Since its inception, 205 of the 1,215 ACE Fellows (17 percent) have
been African American. Since 1990, the percentages in each class have
ranged from 18 percent to 32 percent. And according to Ross,
approximately twenty-five African American ACE Fellows have gone on to
become presidents. She does not know how many have gone on to become
vice presidents or deans.
Past African American ACE fellows who have gone on to become
college presidents include Dr. Bernard Franklyn of St. Augustine’s
College; Dr. Henry Tisdale of Claflin College; Dr. Julius Nimmons of
the University of the District of Columbia; Dr. Walter Massey of
Morehouse College; and Dr. Irving McPhail, Community College of
Baltimore.
“I was an ACE Fellow, and the experience taught me a lot about the
larger picture facing American higher education,” says Dr. James
Renick, chancellor of the University of Michigan at Dearborn. “It was
also a great chance to build a network of a lot of other educators,
both Black and White. Overall, the ACE fellowship has been very helpful
to my career.”
