Document Type
Article
First Faculty Advisor
Laura Beaudin
Second Faculty Advisor
Allison Kaminaga
Keywords
graduation rate; gender; university president
Publisher
Bryant University
Abstract
Graduation rates have increasingly become a key metric that institutions use to measure their success. This study looks at the potential relationship between the gender of a university’s president and graduation rates. A dataset was created compiling the gender and tenure of presidents and the characteristics and graduation rates of 4-year institutions in New England. Three separate regression models were created to analyze the data. The variables with the strongest positive relationship to graduation rates are: grade point average (GPA), expected future earnings of students, expenditures made by the institution, and the proportion of full-time faculty employed. The variables with the strongest negative relationship to graduation rates are: endowment and the sector of the institution. Additionally, graduation rates were higher under a female president than under a male president.
