It will be interesting to see how Bruce Harreld fares as president of the University of Iowa. Based on article in Inside Higher Ed, I’m not optimistic.

We are seeing more and more “unconventional” presidents of big universities—that is, businessmen like Bruce Benson at the University of Colorado at Boulder and former governor Mitch Daniels at Purdue, who have little or no academic experience. So it’s no surprise that Bruce Harreld, who has turned around a few companies in his day, got the job.

But faculty are unhappy, reports Inside Higher Ed. The “public” reason is that he has no academic experience; a more private reason may be that he’ll be too close to the regents who selected him (and who also oversee Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa). The regents have tried unsuccessfully to shift some funds from Iowa to those two, and Harreld said in a public meeting that he would not necessarily be opposed to that happening.

Watch out, Mr. Harreld, and good luck.