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It's hard to leave a conversation with Nido Qubein without feeling as if someone just clamped jumper cables onto your chair and jolted you with a dose of optimism.

A self-proclaimed disciple of "the art of the possible," Qubein is that upbeat. All the time.

Small wonder he's so relentlessly cheery.

He's a self-made millionaire, CEO, author and motivational speaker.

He's also a college president who has transformed once-sleepy High Point University into a rising star in higher education.

And he's done it his way.

Who else would ply his students with free ice cream and pamper them with concierge service? And who else would include in his administration a "director of WOW"?

And lest you think Qubein's approach is a case of style over substance, think again. Even in a listing economy, HPU is thriving.

The school's trustees heard two weeks ago that HPU has hired 35 new faculty and staff members in an era in which most institutions are cutting positions. Enrollment for next fall is projected to grow from 1,900 to 2,300. Campus construction is booming. Freshman SAT scores are up. The school's financial standing is solid, thanks, in no small part to Qubein's ability to raise $108 million in four years at the helm.

And Qubein has accomplished all that (egads!) without a doctorate.

Actually, he's not that much of an anomaly. According to a report released in 2007 by the American Council on Education, 13 percent of U.S. college presidents came from outside of academia, up from 10.1 percent in 1986. "It truly has nothing to do with whether a person is an academic by training," Qubein said in a recent interview.

Among attributes Qubein sees as more essential are "being entrepreneurial, having solid vision and having big ideas but being pragmatic."

To others, however, a college president without "a terminal degree" is pure blasphemy. "That's like a general in the Air Force not being able to fly a plane," said Joseph Graves, dean of University Studies and professor of biological sciences at N.C. A&T, which is beginning a new chancellor search.

Graves believes having a doctorate is especially critical for A&T's next leader. "My view is that anybody who is a chancellor at a university like A&T has to have experience in academics at a research university," he said.

Holden Thorp, chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill, agrees. "You've got to have the academic resume," Thorp said. "But the area doesn't matter very much."

Yet, in the next breath, Thorp described the major job of a chancellor as involving little hands-on academics. "The work is about human relationships," he said. "And letting other people make choices. And explaining what the university is for."

Among the "primary uses of time" of college presidents in the American Council on Education survey: fund-raising (37.7 percent), budget/financial management (34.8 percent), community relations (20.9 percent) and strategic planning (20.9 percent).

Being well-versed as a CEO would seem to be more essential to those duties than academic chops. "For me, the single most important thing I brought to the table was a thorough understanding of finance," Qubein said. "But you also need to understand the business, legacy and folkways of higher education."

Thus, presidents in the ACE survey listed as their most challenging constituency their faculty (39.6 percent).

Even if he does not come from the classroom, a college president had better understand and appreciate issues related to academics and research.

Interestingly, UNC-CH's Thorp embodies the best of both worlds (dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; chemistry professor and Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology; success as a biotech entrepreneur).

Of course, his boss, UNC system President Erskine Bowles, boasts an impressive resume of his own, including a stint as White House chief of staff. But he has no doctorate. Neither did one of Bowles' predecessors, C.D. Spangler.

Thorp says that's different. But is it really more important for the leader of one campus to hold a doctorate than the leader of 17?

And while it's true that higher education is supposed to inspire young minds, each institution is a complex entity with employees, customers and demanding financial challenges. Running such organizations requires extraordinary people with singular gifts.

It would be shortsighted and unimaginative to close the door to that handful of exceptional leaders simply because they don't hold doctorates.

Just ask the folks in High Point.