Kirkland Tower after a heavy snowfall.
Vanderbilt University
Reflecting on the end of his tenure as head of the University of Texas System in 2018, then-Chancellor William McRaven It was news declaring that running a university or health care institution was “the toughest job in the nation.”
These were not the words of a hardened academic who had spent his career sheltered behind ivy-covered walls. McRaven was a former Navy SEAL, a retired admiral and former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. He knew something about tough jobs.
Today, the general opinion seems to be that the job of university president is so difficult that no one in their right mind would want it, a sentiment that was recently on display in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
It is not difficult to understand this line of thinking. Universities and their leaders are under attack and a Gallup poll from July Studies have shown that public trust in higher education is in sharp decline. Many academics are wondering how to move forward and now consider the most important position in a university to be a political seat that is no longer worth stressing about.
These are truly challenging times for higher education. During my tenure at Vanderbilt, this included not only crises like Covid-19 and the recent scandal over higher education, but also major macroeconomic developments like the rise of artificial intelligence and decoupling from China, both of which have had profound impacts on universities. But as far as I am concerned, running a university remains the best job in the world.
First, there is the immense impact you can have by leading an institution whose noble purpose is transformative education and pioneering research. You work with bright, engaged, hard-working students who are full of ideas and deeply concerned about the future. You can also support your tireless teachers, who instil vital knowledge, encourage asking difficult questions, and help students develop the skills not only to express their own ideas and opinions, but also to interact productively with people with whom they disagree.
Then there is the incredible innovation of university researchers. When it comes to breakthroughs, Silicon Valley has nothing on American universities. Since at least World War II, university labs have produced discoveries and inventions that have changed the world, such as the Internet, GPS, life-saving treatments for cancer and diabetes, and foundational research for the COVID-19 vaccine, to name just a few. The societal benefits of university research are profound. A conservative estimate in a working paper by Benjamin Jones of Northwestern and Lawrence Summers of Harvard is that every dollar invested in innovation produces at least five dollars in social benefits, and possibly as many as 20.
A university president is also the keeper of the flame for alumni who care passionately about their alma mater. What other institution earns the kind of loyalty that compels us to wear designer clothes to the gym, yell at the television on football Saturdays or show up on campus 50 years after graduation, just to remember?
When it comes to the much-maligned fundraising, it is deeply satisfying to work with the donors who fund much of what universities do. These are very talented people who could invest their money anywhere, and who choose universities as the places where their money will do the most good—an extraordinary expression of trust. Often, these gifts are deeply personal and establish a family legacy. At Vanderbilt, one particularly visionary gift recently enabled us to begin building a A unique academy for dyslexic students and the country’s leading dyslexia research centreLet’s talk about the impact: it is estimated that dyslexia affects 20% of the population.
Think of how many students will be able to reach their full potential thanks to the research, interventions, and teaching methods these new facilities will produce. And this is just one example of how donors across higher education are making a difference in research, student affordability, athletics, and more.
As rewarding as the job of a university leader can be, those who say it’s not easy aren’t wrong. Former U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who in his remarkable career also served as governor of Tennessee, U.S. secretary of education and president of the University of Tennessee, put it this way: “When someone asks me which of those jobs was the hardest, my answer is, ‘Obviously, you’ve never been the president of a major university or you wouldn’t ask a dumb question like that. ’”
In fact, running a university is actually three jobs in one.
Obviously, you are an academic leader. Your role is to set the direction and strategy of an institution and, equally important, to be the champion and advocate for its values and culture.
But it’s also a lot like the CEO of a complex, mid-sized organization. This doesn’t mean running the university like a business, because a university and a business have distinctly different goals and cultures. But it does mean operating as efficiently as possible to maximize investments in students and faculty. If your facilities team can save $50,000 by finding a smarter way to repair an elevator, those funds can be used to change a student’s life forever.
Finally, being the president of a university is like being the mayor of a small town. You oversee infrastructure management, mobility, and safety. You address community complaints, some of them perennial (cafeteria food is to university leaders what potholes are to mayors). You broker cooperation, if not consensus, among your community’s interest groups. And you advocate for your constituents in local, regional, and national policy debates, working with legislators to win support for higher education and research.
With so many facets to the job, and so many smart, curious, innovative people around you, the job of a university leader involves many things. But it’s never boring. This might be why university presidents have historically remained in their positions for so many years. Gordon Gee, Vanderbilt’s chancellor in the early 2000s, has served as president of five universities, two of them twice. At nearly 80, He remains president of West Virginia University..
In those rare moments when the work seems too much, there is one remedy that, at least for me, never fails: I spend time talking to the students, whose lively minds and endless optimism always restore my enthusiasm.
The fact is, there is no other institution like the university. And though they are criticized, America needs its universities more than ever. They are where we gather to learn, debate, and solve our most pressing problems. They are where we think, create, and argue our way to something approaching understanding and truth.
I began my tenure as Vanderbilt president in the midst of a pandemic, the same year George Floyd was murdered. What I remember most about those months is not how hard they were, but rather how our university community, made up of diverse individuals with very diverse viewpoints, came together to face these historic moments.
Running a university isn’t for everyone, but even at this crucial time for higher education, there’s no job I’d rather do.
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