When the going gets tough, more colleges are seeking people outside academia for leadership roles.

The Hechinger Report has the story.

As times get tough, colleges turn to nonacademics to lead

When tiny Paul Quinn College faced its darkest hour, it turned not to a physicist or an historian or a political scientist to lead it forward. It named a corporate securities lawyer and crisis manager as its president.

The historically black college in Dallas, Texas, brought in Michael Sorrell in 2007 to turn around a school in such dire financial straits that it was on its way to losing accreditation. Eight years later, the unorthodox thinking that made Sorrell the hope of Paul Quinn’s board of trustees – and Sorrell understood that board because he had served on it – has turned the school around.

Trustees figured traditional leaders had brought Paul Quinn to its knees. Why not hand the reins to someone who had not spent a career in academia?

“When you have to go through a transformation like our school did, there are pros to bringing in someone from outside your industry,” said trustee Don Clevenger, who was appointed shortly after Sorrell was hired. “He brings more of a business attitude than would someone looking at it primarily from an educational perspective.”