The Revolving Door: A Content Analysis of Presidential Transitions at North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1865-2026

Authors

• Tara ShollenbergerFollow
• Romaine BoydFollow

Abstract

National reporting has framed presidential turnover at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as a leadership crisis, yet few studies examine transition patterns systematically within a defined system of institutions over time. This study presents a quantitative content analysis of 206 presidencies across all 11 North Carolina HBCUs from 1865 to 2026, constructed from institutional histories, archival records, and contemporary news sources. Using descriptive analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival estimation, we examine tenure length, the rise of interim appointments, differences by institutional control (public versus private governance), and gender patterns in modern appointments. Findings indicate that median completed tenure has collapsed from 11.0 years before 1970 to 5.0 years for permanent appointments and 1.9 years for all appointments since 2010; that interim or acting leaders now account for 44% of new appointments since 2010, with only 20% of completed interim terms converting to permanent appointments; that private institutions experience substantially more churn than public system institutions, though system membership alone does not guarantee stability; and that women now receive a majority of new appointments (56% since 2010) but are concentrated in interim rather than permanent seats, holding 64% of modern interim appointments against 50% of permanent ones, with tenure length among completed permanent appointments showing no clear gender difference. We argue that interim cycling constitutes a distinct and understudied instability pattern; that its gendered distribution offers a more precise formulation of the glass cliff than tenure-length comparisons; and that governance capacity, rather than institutional control, is the operative variable.

Recommended Citation

Shollenberger, Tara and Boyd, Romaine (2026) "The Revolving Door: A Content Analysis of Presidential Transitions at North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1865-2026," Journal of Research on the College President: Vol. 9, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/jrcp/vol9/iss1/6