The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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SCHLISSEL "I e
From Page 1 cated
ple, re
and fi
the pu
The theory of his evolution happen
In
Schlissel spoke with a frank a coffe
confidence that wasn't intimidat- Airpor
ing. for a
"I never set out when I was a and B
young faculty member to grow up rowed
to be a president," Schlissel said. down
"It just sort of happened." table
His professional life traces a Brown
neat climb up the academic lad- and ad
der. sent to
He graduated summa cum was qt
laude from Princeton University "Th
in 1979 with a degree in biochemi- per sal
cal sciences and earned a Ph.D. Daily.
and M.D. from Johns Hopkins tell he
University in 1986. (He loves tunity
research more but was "too chick-
en to completely abandon the idea To
of becoming a medical doctor.")
His residency was at Johns Bro
Hopkins Hospital and postdoc- with
total research was at the Massa- tered
chusetts Institute of Technology, dence
though he hasn't practiced medi- Like
tine since he was 30 years old, - wh
back in 1988. - Br
"My heart was really always in underi
the lab," he said. "That was always recent
more exciting to me." follow
At MIT, Schlissel worked as an overs i
on-call doctor once a week at the Sint
school's health service. 12 of
"I would walk from my labora- have l
tory at 6 p.m. over to this clinic, the sc
see whoever was sick and they the Br
had a small inpatient infirmary so these
I would sleep in an empty hospital lar pre
bed upstairs and the nurses would retiret
wake me up if someone came in at servic
three in the morning and I would years
go down and take care of them," Presid
he said. "Then in the morning I Sch
would brush my teeth, they would mons
feed me breakfast and I would sized h
walk back to the lab." skills.
Clearly, he has a science mind "WI
at his core. a grou
"I just became intoxicated with group
this idea that you can do stuff she c
with your hands that generated level
data that you could argue about down
and then try to understand some- "She
thing as complicated as a cell or are."
a gene," he said. "It was mind- As
blowing." below
By 2002, Schlissel had earned a Christ
full professorship in the molecu- Prince
lar and..cellhbiology department Intern
at the University of California, who j
Berkeley. Rising to the chair of - and
departments and other commit- consta
tees, he eventually found himself admin
as dean of biological sciences in His
2008. He called it the "citizen- demic
soldier" model of leadership. - the
"The idea is you step up, do a two af
job and then you go back to being speak
a professor again. That's the way in the
the academy works." ments
The major fork in the road These
came before his third year as lens in
dean in: Return to his comfort- may e
able research and professorship, the Un
or pursue higher administrative In
positions? Brown
"I really faced a decision the Un
because I was in a situation where appro
I felt stuck almost as a dean in signatu
middle management," he said. print f
"The work of the academy was of acti
being done at the department tion: A
level - the teaching and research. The
And the real big decisions about new p
what to invest in - the strategic new
decisions - were being done by empha
the provost and the chancellor. ingly
And every time I had a good idea empha
and wanted to do something, I sustai
needed to go to the provost to try tion o
and convince him or her to give many
me money and then to the depart- neerin
ment to convince them to do it. I Hui
really felt stuck in the middle." for fit
Around this time, Schlissel also has an
realized he enjoyed leadership the pr
work in addition to research and She
can't r
SACUA waste
From Page 1 delega
mittee
body
mental positions across campus said J
to a separate location on State officio
Street near Wolverine Tower. and ev
Staller said Mark Burns, chair Leh
of the department of chemical on the
engineering and member of the nation
AST advisory committee, had Public
expressed interest in faculty tee, w
input during a recent meeting the I
and is eager to work with the staff chang
in any way he can. Faculty and respon
SACUA members expressed con- nees to
cern over their lack of involve- Abo
ment in the issue last semester. have b
Staller said he would suggest matiot
some time be allotted at a future go out
meeting for SACUA to meet An
with Burns, however, the rest of spent
SACUA was not receptive to this Univen
idea. lack tt
"If you meet with somebody staff.
who constantly defers and says I Aft
ng.
njoyed looking at a compli-
situation that involved peo-
sources, and opportunities
sding the right way to make
zzle fit so that good things
n," he said.
late 2010, Schlissel sat in
ee shop at Boston's Logan
rt. The location was ideal
clandestine job interview,
town University had nar-
the hunt for a new provost
to two finalists. Across the
sat Elizabeth Huidekoper,
's vice president for finance
ministration, who hadbeen
vethim as a candidate. She
uickly sold.
e body language," Huideko-
id in an interview with The
"He wanted it. You could
was hungry for this oppor-
."
o private a Providence
wn sits atop College Hill
its 8,619 students seques-
before downtown Provi-
below.
e the town of Providence
ich was founded in 1636
own's administration has
gone drastic change in
years. Schlissel's departure
s a trend of recent turn-
n top administration posts.
ce Schlissel arrived in 2011,
19 senior administrators
eft their posts, according to
hool's student newspaper,
'own Daily Herald. Among
administrators was popu-
sident Ruth Simmons, who
I in 2012 after 12 years of
e - the same number of
performed by University
ent Mary Sue Coleman.
lissel spoke highly of Sim-
as a mentor, and empha-
her talented communication
hether she was talking to
p of CEOs or talking to a
of middle school students,
ould pitch the talk at the
they were without talking
to them," Schlissel said.
reached them where they
provost, Schlissel is a step
current Brown President
Ina Paxson - the former
ton University 'dean of
ational and Public Affairs
umped ship to lead Brown
has been one of the few
nts throughout all this
istrative change.
titles include chief aca-
officer and budget officer
vital bridge between the
orementioned offices - and
to the major role he's played
administration's achieve-
over the past three years.
achievements serve as a
to the sort of work Schlissel
mphasize when he assumes
iversity presidency in July.
October, the Corporation of
University, equivalent to
iversity's Board of Regents,
ved the administration's
ure policy, a strategic blue-
or the Brown's next decade
on - Building on Distinc-
New Plan for Brown.
11-page document details a
ost-tenure sabbatical policy,
sophomore seminars that
size diversity and seem-
contradictory decisions to
size environmentalism and
nability and the construc-
f new buildings to house
disciplines, including engi-
g.
dekoper, the vice president
nance and administration,
office down the hall from
ovost's.
said Schlissel's opinions in
eally speak about this, it's a
of SACUA's time, you could
te that to a different com-
. You've got to get some-
who answers questions,"
ohn Lehman, SACUA ex-
and professor of ecology
'olutionaryhbiology.
man presented an update
status of acquiring nomi-
s for the Department of
Safety Oversight Commit-
hich monitors and advises
University on necessary
es to DPS policy. SACUA is
sible for assembling nomi-
o the committee.
ut 10 self-nominations
een received, and the infor-
n about the candidates will
in April.
hour of the meeting was
in executive session with
rsity Provost Martha Pol-
o discuss issues relating to
er the conclusion of the
molding the plan were strong, but
malleable when presented a per-
suasive argument. For example,
Huidekoper said, he wanted to
move the engineering building
down to a part of town called the
Jewelry District.
Walkingover to a large campus
map above her desk, Huidekoper
pointed to an area far away from
the main campus.
"I think there was resistance to
that and what we did was brought
in a campus master plan group
and they went through some very
deep data analysis about how our
faculty and students interact,"
she said. "And what came out of
that was if you move engineer-
ing down there it's going to break
the fabric of the university. That's
when he said 'I've been con-
vinced' and changed his mind.
That was really his decision."
She cited Schlissel's decision to
detach the public health program
from the medical as an example of
his sometimes-bold decisiveness.
"He made the call. It was abso-
lutely his call and he decided to
separate the two and had to work
through the intense resistance
from the medical school," she
said. "He's been bold and made
some calls that weren't necessari-
ly controversial but they were just
brave and they've gone down fine
because he can explain them well.
However, the plan's perceived
priority for science, technology,
engineering and mathematics -
focuses that speak to Schlissel's
science and research background
- has taken heat, according to
articles in the Brown Daily Her-
ald, the student newspaper on
campus.
Brown senior Todd Harris,
president of the Undergraduate
Council of Students, spoke to the
tensions stirred among the stu-
dent body.
"There has been concern
among the undergraduate stu-
dents about the trajectory of the
university's investment in under-
graduates," he said. "And I think
this symbol of the 'university-
college' was something a lot of
students really grasp on to so
we pushed back on that and one
of things the president and pro-
vost did was include the mission
statement back into the Strategic
Plan."
Harris also noted Schlissel's
involvement with UCS initia-
tives such as increasing student
representation on the University
Resources Committee, the entity
that determines tuition and the
university's budget.
"It had two undergraduate stu-
dents and we wanted four. And
yeah he helped - he's the chair of
that committee and helped us get
those four students."
Yet, for all the work he's put
in, Schlissel will leave without
seeing the strategic plan' mate-
rialization. Huidekoper dropped
a few hints as to his motives for
departing Brown.
"I think Brown is a little...
parochial for his long term ambi-
tions," she said. "It's been a good
place for him to be but I think
he's really excited to have a bigger
platform."
She hesitated on the word
'parochial,' adding: "I think work-
ing on the future of a university in
the context of the health of the
state is something really intrigu-
ing to him. We don't talk that way
at Brown. We are not the Univer-
sity of Rhode Island."
To the top andback
When Schlissel assumes office
in July, he will be at the climax of
his career and at the reigns of one
of the largest and most influential
executive session, Oey asked Pol-
lack about the state of the search
for the next LSA dean. The posi-
tion is currently filled by interim
LSA dean Susan Gelman.
Pollack said the LSA dean
search is proceeding well, with a
group of finalists who are meet-
ing with University President
Mary Sue Coleman, Schlissel and
Pollack. There are some external
candidates among the finalists.
SACUA member Finn Larsen,
associate chair of the physics
department, raised a question
about the University's current
weather closure standards, and
how a consistency in decisions
can be established. Pollack said
there is a group, which includes
Christina Whitman, vice provost
for academic and faculty affairs,
and Dentistry Prof. Rex Holland,
SACUA vice chair, that works
with faculty and human resourc-
es staff to figure out when the
University needs to close.
public universities in the world.
The slipper fit, both ways.
For the University, the choice
was not a risky one.
His history matches many
presidential characteristics out-
lined in a 2012 study on "The
American College President," by
the American Council on Educa-
tion.
Today, a majority of presidents
are white, Protestant and have a
wife and kids. Schlissel is Jew-
ish, from Brooklyn and has four
kids with wife, Monica Schwebs.
Today, the average age of college
and university presidents is 61 -
Schlissel's almost 57.
Like Schlissel, about 70 percent
of presidents were full-time fac-
ulty earlier in their careers and a
majority of presidents spent their
entire professional life in higher
education.
The University's selection of
Schlissel mirrors Coleman, a
biochemist who ascended to the
presidency at about the same age.
However, Schlissel most
recently hails from a private insti-
tution, whereas Coleman was
formerly the president of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.
"One of the reasons I'm par-
ticularly excited about coming to
lead a public institution is I think
society doesn't adequately appre-
ciate the importance of public
higher education, and the evi-
dence is the continuous disinvest-
ment in public higher education,"
Schlissel said. "So I think part of
my role in leadership is also out-
wardly facing and I want to be a
strong and persuasive spokes-
man for the importance of what
Michigan and other research uni-
versities do for our current soci-
ety here in the United States and
globally."
Money could have also been
a factor. His contract runs five
years and for each, his stacks will
stand at a base of $750,000, plus
a $500,000 retention incentive
payable after five years, com-
plimentary health care and the
President's House. Coleman cur-
rently earns $603,000 a year, but
has historically donated her sal-
ary increases back to the Univer-
sity.
But the package comes with
high stakes and higher expecta-
tions.
He will be the face of the Uni-
versity and the most influen-
tial mind charting its path. And
through Ann Arbor's bitter and
snowiest winter, the campus cli-
mate has grown heated.
Take two developing stories
that have landed national head-
lines: the Being Black at Universi-
ty of Michigan Twitter campaign
- #BBUM - and the impending
federal investigation of former
football kicker Brendan Gibbons'
permanent separation from the
University.
Schlissel knows he's stepping
into big shoes and with almost 40
years in academia, he's a seasoned
veteran coming in with both ears
perked and ideology defined.
"I'm not the kind of person that
can sit in an office with the door
closed and figure out what other
people should do," he said. "I'm
much better at cultivating a bot-
toms-up approach to leadership
where I try to develop a sense of
what it is the faculty and students
are already interested in and help
build and support that."
He offered pragmatism on the
contentious topic of diversity and
minority enrollment.
"I'm confident we can make
progress," he said. "I think it's a
mistake though to think universi-
ties can solve society's problems
in this regard. It's a broader prob-
lem. The equality of opportunity
isn't just a university issue; it's
across our whole society. But in
our own house I think we can be
held responsible to work as hard
and as diligently towards this as
we can for reasons of both fair-
ness and to achieve excellence."
His eyes narrowed almost
to slits as he spoke, like he was
focusing in on some distant goal.
I asked him if he knew Uni-
versity administrators had been
meeting with BSU organizers.
"Frankly I think student pro-
test is fantastic," he said. "Some-
times it's annoying and it disrupts
the other things leadership is
trying to accomplish, but it also
serves a tremendously positive
purpose of helping us not for-
get things that are important.
Everyone needs to have their feet
held to the fire once in a while.
Although it's uncomfortable, it
Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 3
actually results in progress."
Schlissel will also have to navi-
gate the prominent and delicate
relationship between athletics
and academics, and his roots in
academia place him more clearly
on one side.
"Certainly we're fortunate
that the athletic program covers
all its own costs. But there are
900 athletes and 42,000 non-
athletes and I want to be sure
they all have similar high quality
experiences. I want to keep a bit
of proportionality between how
we invest in athletics and how we
invest in academics so all our stu-
dents have that same high level
outstanding experience."
Schlissel's excitement was
muted, but his eyes look far into
the future.
"The average college presi-
dent around the United States
lasts about five years before they
wear out their welcome. I would
think if I'm successful and I can
accomplish good things onbehalf
of the university and the regents
remain interested, I could see
myself doing this for a decade but
I think that's presumptuous right
now."
After that, all that's left is
down. No matter what, expect to
see Schlissel around Ann Arbor
for long time.
"When I'm done being presi-
dent I want to go back and be a
faculty member," Schlissel said.
A presidential tradition
Outside University Hall, the
buildingthat houses the provost's
office, Mark Nickel, Brown's act-
ing director of news and commu-
nications, pointed out a piece of
the building's history.
In 1790, after Rhode Island
ratified the Constitution, George
Washington visited Brown and
was honored with a special illu-
mination - students had lit a
candle in every window of Uni-
versity Hall. From then on, a
tradition was born, and every
commencement, the building's
red brick has glowed in tribute to
a remarkable president.
When the candles are lighted
this May though, the tribute will
be for two presidents, one of the
past and another of the future.
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