Editing Rector (academia) (section)

===United States===
Most U.S. colleges do not use the term "rector." The terms "president" and "chancellor" are often used for the chief executive of universities and university systems, depending on the institution's statutes or governing documents. Some state university systems have both "presidents" of the constituent institutions and a "chancellor" of the overall system, or vice versa; for example, in the [[University of California|University of California system]], each of the ten campuses is headed by a chancellor, while the leader of the system is given the title "president." Colleges and universities, or state systems, also typically have [[Governing boards of colleges and universities in the United States|governing boards]] (akin to a [[board of directors]]), which may be referred to by a variety of names, including "board of trustees" and "board of regents", and which are usually led by a chairperson.

"Rector" is commonly used in [[Virginia]], however. The [[University of Virginia]] ([[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]]), [[University of Mary Washington]] ([[Fredericksburg, Virginia|Fredericksburg]]), [[George Mason University]] ([[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax]]), [[Virginia State University]] ([[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]]), [[Virginia Commonwealth University]] ([[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]), [[Longwood University]] ([[Farmville, Virginia|Farmville]]), [[Washington and Lee University]] ([[Lexington, Virginia|Lexington]]), the [[College of William and Mary]] ([[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]]), [[Old Dominion University]] ([[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]]), [[Christopher Newport University]] ([[Newport News, Virginia|Newport News]]), and [[Virginia Tech]] ([[Blacksburg, Virginia|Blacksburg]]) all use the term "Rector" to designate the presiding officer of the [[Board of Visitors]] (or "Board of Trustees", in the case of Washington and Lee). [[Thomas Jefferson]] served as the first rector of the University of Virginia, beginning in 1819, and intended that the school would not have a president; it lacked that position until 1904.

From 1701 to 1745, the head of the school that was to become [[Yale University]] was termed the "rector".  As head of [[Yale College]], [[Thomas Clap]] was both the last to be called "rector" (1740–1745) and the first to be referred to as president (1745–1766).  Modern custom omits the use of the term "rector" and identifies [[Abraham Pierson]] as the first Yale president (1701–1707), making Clap the fifth of Yale's leaders, regardless of title.<ref>Welch, Lewis ''et al.'' (1899). [https://books.google.com/books?id=V8wWAAAAIAAJ&dq=Yale+and+Noah+Porter&pg=PA445 ''Yale, Her Campus, Class-rooms, and Athletics,'' p. 445.]</ref>

Several [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] colleges and universities, particularly those run by [[Catholic religious order|religious orders of priests]] (such as the [[Jesuits]]) used to employ the term "rector" to refer to the school's chief officer. In many cases, the rector was also the head of the community of priests assigned to the school, so the two posts &ndash; head of the university and local superior of the priests &ndash; were merged in the role of rector (''See "[[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Ecclesiastical rectors]]"''). This practice is mostly no longer followed, as the details of the governance of most of these schools have changed. [[Creighton University]] still appoints a rector. At the [[University of Notre Dame]], the title "rector" is used for those in charge of individual [[University of Notre Dame residence halls|residence halls]].

Some American high schools also have a rector; for example, at [[St. Paul's School (New Hampshire)|St. Paul's School]] in [[New Hampshire]], the rector is equivalent to a [[Head teacher|headmaster]] (head of the school).