Rowan University and Gloucester County College seek new leaders

The search is on for the top administrators at two Gloucester County institutions of higher learning following the recent resignation of their presidents.

Donald J. Farish left Rowan University in June - an expedited but not unplanned departure after 13 years in the job - and has taken a similar post at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.

At Gloucester County College, Russell Davis, who had been president since 2008, left in April and has been charged by the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office with multiple counts of forgery related to the school's pension funds.

At each school, an administrator was promoted to interim president: Ali Houshmand, who had been Rowan's provost, the chief academic officer, for five years, and Frederick Keating, GCC's vice president of student services. Keating was formerly superintendent of the county Special Services School District and the Gloucester County Institute of Technology.

"We feel quite comfortable with Fred Keating right now," said Gene Concordia, chair of the GCC board of trustees. "It is time to do things deliberately. Rushing will not serve us well."

The schools find themselves in a seller's market for college presidents, say experts. With budgets tightening at public and private colleges, many top administrators are happy to stay put.

The shortage of qualified candidates is "getting close to a crisis," said Paul Fain of the public-relations firm Widmeyer Communications, who formerly covered college presidents for the Chronicle of Higher Education. "You have to have academic credentials, be a good politician and a good fund-raiser, especially in an era of funding cutbacks."

The situation could grow worse because "many college presidents are now in their 60s, so many will retire soon," Fain said.

"If you have a good gig as a provost, where you deal with students and academic issues, it might not be worth the extra money" to become president and take on the school's financial challenges, Fain said. The new job could bring "the pain of maybe having to cut back the people you like dealing with."

These are jobs with good paychecks, too. Davis made $180,000 a year at GCC and Farish $300,000 at Rowan.