|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Trustees elect Harker as UD’s next president
10:02 a.m., Dec. 12, 2006--The University of Delaware Board of Trustees elected Patrick T. Harker, dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to serve as the University's 26th president, during its regular semiannual meeting, held Dec. 11 in the Trabant University Center. Howard Cosgrove, chairman of the board, announced Harker's selection by the board's Executive Committee at a news conference Dec. 1. After the resolution electing Harker was approved unanimously by the board, Cosgrove brought Harker and his wife, Emily, into the meeting, where they were greeted with a standing ovation. Harker thanked the board on behalf of himself, his wife and family for electing him as the next president of the University of Delaware. He also praised the efforts of his predecessor, David P. Roselle. “I am absolutely delighted and honored to accept this position,” Harker said. “I have to tell you that I also am a little nervous. These are big shoes to fill. President Roselle has done an absolutely spectacular job.” Harker also recognized the strength of the commitment to UD by its Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and student body. “This is what will keep the momentum going in this institution for a long time to come,” Harker said. Noting the steep learning curve that lies ahead, Harker said he has been reading about the First State and has learned, among other things, that the ladybug is the state insect. “I'm looking forward to talking to all of you and hearing your ideas about where UD should go,” Harker said. Cosgrove also announced that Harker has been unanimously approved by the faculty and dean of the Lerner College of Business and Economics as a tenured professor of business administration and economics, with a joint appointment as professor of civil and environmental engineering. Earlier in the meeting, Robert Fischer, vice chairman of the board and co-chair of the Presidential Search Committee, reported on the search. The search, which was national in scope, was conducted led by a 15-member committee that included trustees, alumni, faculty and professional and salaried staff. “The search committee turned out to be a very cohesive group that was able to work together extremely well,” he said. “It is a credit to all those who served.” Fischer also commended the efforts of William Funk, a leading higher education search consultant of R. William Funk & Associates. “We got to know Bill [Funk] well,” Fischer said. “He and his firm were a tremendous help and provided the kind of support we really needed to make the effort worthwhile. We thank him.”Fischer also praised the contributions of Roselle, whom he said “participated from the very beginning. He and Louise did a lot to entertain people here at UD. He also helped to build the pool of candidates and helped us very much at the end of the search process.” The number of candidates reached 147 individuals, with the final pool of 11 candidates selected during a Labor Day meeting by the search committee. “We paid special attention to diversity,” Fischer said. “We felt that this was important.” References were checked on the 11 semifinalists, Fischer said. “They were an incredibly intelligent group. We felt that all of these semifinalists would have been well served to be a president of a university.” The final concern, Fischer said, was choosing an individual that would “fit in well with UD. After those interviews, we had two finalists that we felt really stood out from the others. In early November, we recommended those finalists to come before the board.” The board passed a resolution thanking the search committee for the many hours of work and for the mutual respect and purpose they displayed during the search for a new UD president. Faculty recognition
Also at the meeting, Provost Dan Rich recognized the achievements of UD faculty, including the most recent named professor recipients and award-winning faculty at UD. The list of named professors included Thomas Church, E.I. du Pont Professor of Marine Studies; Sharron Lennon, Irma Ayers Professor of Human Services; Dennis Prather, College of Engineering Alumni Distinguished Professor; and Veronica Rempusheski, Jeanne Buxbaum Chair of Nursing. Rich also recognized several award-winning faculty members: Alan Fox, associate professor of philosophy, who was recently named the 2006 Delaware Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; James B. O'Neill, professor of economics, who received the John C. Schramm Leadership Award for Economic Education; Darrin J. Pochan, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who was the recipient of the John H. Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society; and Christine Ohannessian, assistant professor of individual and family studies, a recipient of the Early Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Rich also mentioned the Commitment to Delawareans and the Periodic Review Report. “The Commitment to Delawareans confirms that Delawareans continue to come first at UD. If they take the classes we recommend, they can be confident that they will succeed in college. The Periodic Review Report documents UD's emergence as a top quality university.” Board action In other action at the Dec. 11 meeting, the trustees approved the issuance of bonds of up to $73 million to fund construction of a new 600-bed residence hall on the Laird Campus and to undertake renovations of the Russell residence hall complex.Construction of the new residence hall would take about 18 months to complete, and the new hall would be used to house students during the Russell renovation. The Laird Campus has been transformed in recent years, with the opening of the 500-bed George Read Hall in 2005 and this fall Thomas McKean Hall and James Smith Hall (250 beds each). Also new is a pedestrian walkway providing easier access to central campus. The three residence halls are named for the three signers of the Declaration of Independence who were students of the Rev. Francis Alison in the first class of the New London Academy, to which UD traces its origins. The new residence halls feature Georgian-style architectural features similar to those on buildings along The Green. Also, the board authorized UD to move forward with plans to renovate the plaza at McKinly Laboratory on Delaware Avenue. In addition, the board approved a resolution to provide funding to support the Mary Ann Hitchens Athletics Scholarship for female scholar-athletes. Hitchens, a pioneer in women's athletics and a member of the UD Athletics Hall of Fame and the Delaware Sports Museum and Sports Hall of Fame, retired in June after 37 years of service to intercollegiate athletics at UD as a coach and administrator. The board also passed resolutions expressing gratitude to several benefactors:
Cosgrove recognized trustee Ilona E. Holland, who is stepping down after 12 years on the board. He presented her with a special citation with gratitude for the contributions she made to the board. The board re-elected trustee Thomas J. Burns for another term and elected Carey M. Koppenhaver, a UD alumnus and assistant head of school and director of admissions at St. Anne's Episcopal School in Middletown, to a six-year term. This appointment must go to the Delaware Senate for confirmation. Several students, representing the Direct Action Committee, a registered student organization, attended the meeting and held up signs calling for the University to grant domestic partner benefits. Article by Jerry Rhodes
|
|
|
