In tough times, colleges turn to unconventional leaders - MATT KRUPNICK, THE HECHINGER REPORT

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. Some of these unconventional presidents, in turn, are bringing with them new ideas and sudden changes that have jolted the slow-moving world of higher education — often to the ire of the people who inhabit that world. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/in-tough-times-colleges-turn-to-unconventional-leaders/