What’s the difference between the president of a university and the chancellor? Where did the term chancellor even come from?
Thanks.
From dictionary.com:
Do universities have both a chancellor and a president? I thought they had one or the other. If so, they’re just equivalent terms, like commonwealth and state.
A cruise ship has two captains. One dresses up nice, greets the passengers, eats at the captains table in the banquet room, etc. The other spends his time on the bridge giving orders.
Same thing with most American universities.
The labels vary quite a bit. You will also find President/Vice President, or President/Provost among others.
One goes to a lot of banquets, hits donors up for money, gives speeches. The other runs the place.
Sometimes the Dress Captain thinks he/she actually runs the place and trouble almost always ensues.
Note that in multi-university systems such as state university systems, there is a Chancellor for the system and individual Presidents/Provosts at the college level. This type of Chancellor had better keep his/her nose out of running the schools or major chaos ensues.
And it does vary. In Illinois and Nebraska, for example, the President is the CEO of the system and the chancellors are at the campus level. So for each and every campus, there is a chancellor, and then the President overseeing the whole shebang. I don’t know which states/systems follow the model ftg describes.
In Michigan, it’s a little different. There is a president who is the head of a the three-campus system is also the head of the flagship institution. The heads of the other two campuses are referred to as chancellors.
In India, universities have neither presidents nor chancellors, they have vice-chancellors.
The above posters seem to be talking about large state university systems.
I’m more familiar with small private colleges. I’ve heard of a President/Provost but never of a President and Chancellor at one school.
In Ohio, at the state level there is a Board of Regents, a chancellor, and several vice chancellors with responsibility for various aspects of the state higher education system.
At the university level, there are boards of trustees, presidents, and provosts.
Same goes for the University of California system. President of the University of California oversees all UC activities. Chancellors at Berkeley, LA, etc. are in charge at the campus level. So I would say in these types of organizations, the president of the university certainly has more authority. Oh, both the President’s and the Chancellor’s names are on the diploma, as well as the president of the board of regents and the Governator!