By Rachel Williams, NACAC Communications

COLUMBUS, OHIO, Sept. 19, 2025 – Despite the intense scrutiny aimed at college and university presidents today, a panel of former college presidents unanimously agreed: They'd do the job again.  

Barbara K. Altmann, former president of Franklin and Marshall College (PA), Joanne Berger Sweeney, former president of Trinity College (CT), and Ruth V. Watkins, former president of the University of Utah, shared their insight at NACAC Conference 2025. During their main stage panel discussion moderated by Shirley M. Collado, president and CEO of College Track, they shared their journeys to the college presidency, what they learned by leading through turbulent times, and how college counseling and enrollment professionals help them maintain a sense of hope.  

"What gives me hope is always looking toward the future," said Berger Sweeney. "I'm a neuroscientist by training. I will tell you — there's incredible neuroscience research going on today. There's incredible art being created today. Some of those people making those amazing discoveries were admitted into colleges and universities by you. How could I not have hope?" 

Yet, the persistent political attacks on higher education and other external headwinds, like the COVID-19 pandemic and intense racial reckoning that impacted college campuses, put each of these presidents in situations where their leadership was tested. 

For Altmann, one of her toughest moments came in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and student protests and demonstrations. A Franklin and Marshall student had been arrested, put in federal prison, and charged with four felonies.  

"It was an unbelievable overreaction to her role [in the protests]," Altmann said.  

That prompted her to issue a public statement in support of peaceful protests and the principle of innocent until proven guilty. In response, she and her husband received death threats that were credible enough that they were advised to temporarily move out of their home.  

"We had a moment of disbelief. We moved into a hotel. The college scrubbed the website of any way to find me," Altmann said. She remembered taking a Zoom call with her vice president of enrollment from the hotel bathroom while her husband slept in the other room and the VP said, "Is that a towel bar?" 

"That was a moment of vulnerability where we just had to find ways to keep going," Altmann said.  

But in difficult times, each of the panelists agreed that it's critical to lean on your team and your system of support.  

"You can't do it all alone. People expect the president to be the decision maker about everything and that's not a wise way to be a president," said Berger Sweeney. "Your success depends on how many people you can empower and inspire and that is your true role." 

For Berger Sweeney, an opportunity to empower and inspire came when she had the chance to recruit Angel B. Pérez, now NACAC CEO, from California to serve as the chief enrollment officer of Trinity College.  

"The [hiring] firm said, 'I'm not sure you can convince him to come to the east coast.' I told them all I could do was try," she said. "I told him [Angel] I didn't just want an enrollment leader at the institution, but that I also needed great leadership partners." 

Together, they were able to create a division that, to the best of her knowledge, didn't exist at other liberal arts colleges. It was a division where the entire student arch journey could be examined by various departments.  

"So often, the chief enrollment officer brings students into the institution and then hands them off. He [Angel] asked, 'Can I also be involved in student success and retention, so I can see the entire arch of that student's journey through the college?" 

The ability to inform, empower, and inspire also is especially true at public institutions, where board members — a critical constituency of the president — often see themselves as representatives of the public.  

"When your board cares and is committed, there's an important opportunity to help them know more about the work of enrollment managers," said Watkins. "We want boards to understand all the work you're doing and the complexity of enrollment management." 

Collectively, the panelists had 20-plus years of experience as presidents of higher education institutions, and they each said that it's the students that continue to give them hope.  

"Every ambitious, smart, hardworking student you bring us gives us our hope," Altmann said.