'The right person for the
right time'
BY JAMES ROBINSON
About a half hour before
he strode over to Tresidder Union on Monday for the press
conference announcing his selection as Stanford's next
president, Provost John Hennessy said he hadn't aspired
to a career in higher education administration until he
became dean of the School of Engineering four years ago.
"Until then, I was
happy and content being a faculty member -- which I still
consider the best job in the world," he said as he
folded and flattened a candy wrapper in perhaps the only
sign of nervous anticipation about the next item on his
calendar.
He said that while he had
thought about "where the provost's job might
eventually lead, I certainly didn't anticipate it would
lead [to president] in a year."
John Hennessy
basks in applause after the announcement that he had been
named the university's next president.
(Photo:
Stuart Brinin)
The timing, however, is
just right, members of the presidential search committee
said at the press conference a few minutes later
announcing Hennessy's appointment, effective Sept. 1,
succeeding Gerhard Casper.
A beaming Hennessy
generously posed for the cameras and exuded confidence
and enthusiasm about his duties. When a reporter
suggested that he could earn more money in the high-tech
sector, he joked that Casper has been underpaid.
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But on a serious note, he
said, "I would not undertake this job because of
salary. I undertake this job because Stanford is a great
institution that over 22 years I have come to love dearly
and which I believe I can serve well in this
position."
The announcement of his
appointment, made by Robert M. Bass, chairman of the
Board of Trustees, capped a five-month effort by a
17-member presidential search committee.
"With the Board of
Trustees' selection of John Hennessy, I believe we have
found a leader to be sure, but we also have found the
right person for the right time in Stanford's history.
John's intelligence, experience and strength of character
are a perfect match for the challenges Stanford will face
in the coming years," Bass said. "His deep
understanding of the university's traditions combined
with his passion for innovation make him a choice that
not only reflects in the best possible way on Stanford,
but brings honor to all of us who are fortunate enough to
be associated with the university."
Hennessy, 47, was the sole
nominee presented to the Board of Trustees by the search
committee. The full board concurred unanimously with the
committee's choice at a special meeting Monday.
A comprehensive search
While the best candidate
ultimately was found within Stanford, trustee James
Ukropina, who chaired the search committee, said the
process of selecting a new president "was one of
most comprehensive ever undertaken by a university here
in the United States."
He said there were about
500 written and verbal nominations and that about 10
percent made the final cut. "We spent more than, I
think, 7,500 hours of research time, interview time,
travel time with this very dedicated committee. The
wonderful part of this search was that once we got near
the end and started extending invitations for various
prospects to interview with us, I think you could say
that the Olympians of higher education showed up and they
were all very pleased to meet with us.
"Thus our new
president will be able to say that he went through
screens that you can't possibly imagine in terms of
quality and criteria and very thorough review. We feel
absolutely confident that there is no better person to
lead Stanford as it moves into the new century."
Law Professor Pamela
Karlan, a member of the search committee, described the
presidential search as "a little bit like the Wizard
of Oz. We traveled all around and realized there's no
place like home and nobody like John."
The first engineer to lead
Stanford, Hennessy said the challenges facing the
university are real, including efforts to build academic
programs and "continuing to attract the best
faculty, staff and students given the high costs of
living in the Bay Area." But he added that the new
millennium brings many opportunities to build on
Stanford's strengths, such as its ongoing improvements to
the undergraduate program; the "breadth and
depth" of science and engineering programs such as
the Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences;
and the successes of Casper's efforts in the humanities,
such as the presidential lectures in the arts and
humanities and the Cantor Center.
"Pursuing these
opportunities and making Stanford the best it can be is a
task that will require the engagement of the entire
Stanford community: faculty, students, staff, alumni and
friends. I look forward to working with this community in
pursuit of these opportunities," Hennessy said.
Hennessy, an entrepreneur
who founded a highly successful Silicon Valley company
based on his research in computer architecture, has
served as provost since June 1999.
An "outstanding
academic"
Casper, who plans to
return to teaching, said that "John is the logical
choice to be Stanford's next president: an outstanding
academic with an unwavering commitment to Stanford's
quality and the many excellences the university
encompasses. In the years that John and I have worked
together, I have come to admire his clarity, intellectual
rigor and honesty. He has become a colleague and friend
in whom I have complete trust."
Outgoing
President Gerhard Casper shares a laugh with Hennessy
during Monday's press conference.
(Photo:
Stuart Brinin)
Since becoming provost,
Hennessy has begun to tackle some of the tough issues
that face the university, including the high cost of
housing, the need to reexamine faculty and staff
compensation, and concerns expressed by women faculty
members. He also is leading the searches for new deans
for the schools of medicine and education and for
undergraduate admission. He continues to find time to
serve as an adviser to undergraduate students, but
currently he does not teach.
The first question he
faced at the news conference on the second floor of
Tresidder Union was a pointed one about the climate for
women faculty at Stanford.
"We should be clear
about where Stanford stands with respect to policy. Our
policy is quite clear: We have zero tolerance for
discrimination and we have zero tolerance for
retaliation," he said.
"We need to look at
constructive ways to engage all of our faculty and staff
to talk about how we make a better working environment
for every faculty member, every staff member and every
student on campus," he said, noting that he had
begun a dialogue with women faculty by discussing their
concerns at a series of lunches.
Karlan pointed to his
response as an example of how "amazingly
non-defensive" Hennessy is. "He's done a great
deal of reaching out to female faculty. The buzz is
terrific."
| Hennessy said his first major
decision will be to appoint a provost to succeed
him. He hopes to make that announcement by
commencement. While the selection of Hennessy
seems particularly appropriate to today's
technology-driven era, members of the search
committee emphasized the human and managerial
qualities they found in their choice. They also
said that, while Stanford has had a tradition of
appointing presidents from within -- other than
the first president, David Starr Jordan, only two
other presidents, including Casper, have come
from the outside -- the committee methodically
and seriously considered other prospects.
|
John Hennessy
(Photo:
L.A. Cicero)
|
"The thing that was
most striking is that everybody always warns you that you
hear bad things about inside candidates and the outsiders
look like they come in on white horses," Karlan
said. "But the more we talked to people about John,
the more we liked him."
Philosophy Professor John
Etchemendy, the committee's deputy chair, said that
"everyone who deals with him comes away impressed
with his formidable intellect, his extraordinary
integrity and his deep love of Stanford.
"He is a great
teacher and a brilliant researcher, with a touch of
entrepreneur thrown in to the mix. He is the embodiment
of everything that has made Stanford one of the world's
great universities. I am confident that as members of
Stanford's far-flung community get to know John, it will
be abundantly clear why he was the unanimous choice of
the search committee."
Claude Steele, the Lucie
Stern Professor in the Social Sciences in the Department
of Psychology and a member of the search committee, said
simply that in his short tenure as provost Hennessy
"has become a beloved person."
Civil and environmental
engineering Professor Jeffrey Koseff, a member of the
search committee and senior associate dean for faculty
affairs in the School of Engineering, recalled going to a
faculty leadership "boot camp" eight or nine
years ago in which Hennessy participated.
"Just from the
questions he had, the insightfulness he had, you just
knew that this person was not ordinary -- that this
person was already at another level and he was going to
be something special. He's just an amazing guy -- and
it's scary how smart he is," Koseff said.
Kristin Torres, a senior
in international relations who was one of the student
members of the search committee, said it is clear that
Hennessy not only pays attention to students and their
concerns "but he also understands them and cares
about them. You can see that he's passionate about
Stanford and that whatever needs to be done to keep
Stanford excellent, that's what he's going to do."
A straight-shooter
Several committee members
took particular note of Hennessy's willingness to be
open-minded and of his penchant for not making promises
he can't keep.
Kaleb Michaud, a member of
the search committee who is a doctoral student in
physics, has been impressed with his dealings with
Hennessy on such sensitive issues as the need for more
graduate student housing. While Hennessy may not promise
the world, Michaud said, "what he says is what will
happen."
Before Hennessy makes a
decision, Koseff said, he will typically listen to many
views and then synthesize them quickly. "Whether you
agree with the decision or not, he doesn't leave dead
bodies behind, I can tell you that," Koseff said.
For example, he said, even though the combining of two
departments in the School of Engineering had its
detractors, "they don't harbor bitterness or bad
feelings toward him. If you can do that and still have
people feel that way about you, it means you must be
something special."
Michael Hindery, senior
associate dean for finance and administration at the
Medical School, was the staff representative on the
search committee. He said he was impressed with how
well-versed Hennessy is on recruitment and retention
issues. “One of the reasons [Hennessy] was our
choice is that he’s given a lot of thought to these
issues,” Hindery said.
The end of the search
committee's duties means its members will have their
first weekend off since the year began.
For Michaud and Torres,
the student members of the search committee, the
selection process was a major no-credit learning
experience. "As students, being given this trust and
responsibility was unbelievable," Torres said. She
and Michaud said they felt as equals on the committee and
that their views were taken seriously.
It was also somewhat of a
learning experience for Karlan, who has been on the
faculty only since the fall of 1998.
"As a relative
newcomer to the university, I was just incredibly
impressed with the other faculty, and the trustees were
amazing. The amount of time and effort and intelligence
the trustees put into the process was really
heartening." SR
Eileen Walsh
contributed to this report.
More information:
John
Hennessy
Selecting
Stanford's 10th president
President
Gerhard Casper:
Stanford's
presidents:
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