Ora Hirsch Pescovitz ranked among nation’s leading college presidents

In a new American Enterprise Institute report ranking 446 college presidents who served between 2000 and 2023, Oakland University’s president, Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, was ranked 37^th overall. 

Pescovitz’s ranking jumps to 11^th when taking into account that she is one of only 134 of the ranked presidents who are currently still in their presidential roles.

Using federal data, the report considered the tenures of college presidents who served at least four years leading doctoral-granting institutions between the years 2000 and 2023. The report assessed each college president’s performance of maintaining affordability, expanding access to an education and increasing student success.

“College presidents are receiving heightened public attention and scrutiny. But few data exist that demonstrate which college presidents are most effective at improving student outcomes,” author Cody L. Christensen said in the report’s executive summary. “I argue that higher education boards, students and policymakers should pay more attention to how presidents improve student outcomes. Rankings such as these could provide some much-needed pressure on college presidents to elevate their performance on improving access, affordability and student success.”

In the category of access, the rankings were based on the extent that the president improved the share of first-time, full-time students from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds on an annual basis. It is also based on the extent they improved the share of low-income students on an annual basis. 

In the category of affordability, the rankings were based on the extent that presidents contained the net tuition prices (out of pocket expenses paid by undergraduate students) at their institution on an annual basis. The affordability category also measured how presidents were able to improve the adjusted sticker price of tuition and fees at their institution on an annual basis.

In the category of success, the rankings looked at the extent presidents improved first-year retention rates on an annual basis.

“Of course, I am proud that I was ranked near the top of this extensive and impressive list of fellow college and university presidents, but this ranking is really a testament to the entire Oakland University team, encompassing our incredibly talented faculty and extremely dedicated staff. It makes me feel like we are on the right track as a university,” Pescovitz said. “However, I also know we have a lot of room for improvement, especially in continuing to increase our student success metrics and our graduation rates. That will continue to be a major goal for us going forward.”  

All data used for the report came from IPEDS and the College Scorecard and were published by the American Enterprise Institute in an October 2024 report entitled “A Crisis in Leadership? Examining the successes and failures of university presidents”