Chancellor (education)

===United States===
{{See also|List of longest serving higher education presidents}}

In the United States, heads of colleges and universities are typically called "[[University president|president]]." A multi-campus [[university system]] may be headed by a chancellor who serves as systemwide chief, with presidents governing individual institutions. This is more commonly seen in university systems which were belatedly formed by grouping together already-extant colleges or universities in the 20th century, such as the [[State University of New York]], the [[City University of New York]], and the [[California State University]]. In many [[state university system]]s which began with a single flagship campus in the 18th or 19th century and gradually delegated operational authority to [[satellite campus]]es during the 20th century, the titles are reversed. This is the case in [[University of Arkansas System|Arkansas]], [[University of California|California]], [[University of North Carolina|North Carolina]], [[University of Illinois system|Illinois]], [[University of Massachusetts|Massachusetts]], [[University of Missouri System|Missouri]], and [[University of Wisconsin|Wisconsin]].

Outside of university systems, presidents are the functional chief executive officers of most standalone U.S. universities. However, a few universities, such as [[Syracuse University]] and the [[University of Pittsburgh]], have a chancellor as their chief executive officer. There are occasional other uses of the title "chancellor." [[The College of William & Mary]] uses the term "chancellor" in the British sense, as a figurehead leader, but the actual executive of the school is the "president", not a "vice-chancellor." Some schools, such as [[Lubbock Christian University]], give the ceremonial title of "chancellor" to a retiring university president. [[The Catholic University of America]] is headed by a [[The Catholic University of America#University rectors and presidents|president]] (formerly "rector"), with the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington|Archbishop of Washington]] serving as chancellor, a ceremonial position but one which does require the archbishop to represent the university before the [[Holy See]]. This scenario, while not always exactly duplicated, is typical in other Catholic universities due to the Catholic hierarchy. In some schools run by Catholic religious orders, the rector of the community supersedes the president when the latter is a member of that religious order. In some universities, such as [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], the chancellor is a high-ranking officer below the president and equal to or below the provost, who might have vice-chancellors reporting to her or him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chancellor MIT Organization Chart |url=https://orgchart.mit.edu/chancellor |access-date=2022-07-28 | publisher=orgchart.mit.edu}}</ref>

The title "chancellor" is sometimes used in [[K–12 (education)|K-12]] education in a sense similar to [[superintendent (education)|superintendent of schools]], particularly in urban school districts. The [[New York City Schools Chancellor]] is the chief executive officer of the [[New York City Department of Education]], which manages the city's public school system (the largest in the United States). The leader of the [[District of Columbia Public Schools]] system is also referred to as the chancellor.