Presidents

In the business of running a liberal arts school like Furman University, the most cherished metric to study success is student satisfaction. For President Elizabeth Davis, the key is a strategic plan agile enough to adjust to student interest and leveraging a dedicated team ready to adapt to new needs. 

A higher ed leader heavyweight steps into her mother's alma mater. While a 20-year presidential tenure is one to celebrate, one decade-old stint is souring following academic cuts.

"We're fools if we think that the educational pipeline is going to look the same as it did when we went through school and 10, 15, 20 years from now," says Katherine Frank, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

One month into the spring semester, these seven colleges and universities are seeing big changes to their leadership.

In light of a successful $2.1 billion fundraising campaign, the University of Kentucky president believes the generosity is a token of confidence the community has placed in the Wildcats to uplift the commonwealth.

It was a quiet week among presidents' comings and goings. A first-time female leader is beginning her career and one long-time leader is in his twilight. Plus, one president has been placed on administrative leave in the wake of an administrator's suicide.