The University Record, November 14, 1996
Members of U community pleased with choice
“Lee’s intelligence, compassion and wit will be invaluable assets as he assumes the leadership of the University. His appreciation for the values and traditions of Michigan will serve him equally well in representing the University externally.”
—Robert Beckley, dean,
College of Architecture and Urban Planning
“I congratulate the Advisory Committee and the Regents for their success in recruiting a president with commitment to academic values and a record of accomplishment as an administrator. Under difficult circumstances, they have recruited an outstanding leader. The University of Michigan is fortunate indeed.”
—Miriam Meisler, professor of human genetics
“Lee Bollinger was a terrific colleague when he served as dean of our Law School, someone whose views I always found to be well considered. I hated to see him leave, and I am just delighted that he’s coming home as our President. Lee is an academic leader of enormous capability.”
— Edie Goldenberg, dean,
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
“I am very pleased with the selection of Lee Bollinger as our next president. He has the most important qualities: impeccable personal integrity, strong academic values, a personal record of scholarship and academic achievement, and a deep love of the University of Michigan. I hope and believe that the entire University community will rally around this appointment and provide our help and support to Lee as he begins the work of assembling a senior leadership team for the University and forging an agenda to ensure Michigan’s continued excellence.”
— B. Joseph White, dean, Business School
“Lee is no stranger to the Michigan Mandate. We’re at a crossroads on issues surrounding affirmative action, and it will take strong University leadership to meet the challenges that are sure to come. Lee has labeled many of these challenges as `fundamentally misguided and to some extent with ill will.’ I believe he is committed to not only continuing the Mandate, but also to making it more effective. Bollinger is also a strong proponent of excellence in undergraduate education. Having our undergraduates fully integrated into the life of the University is a goal we all strive to achieve, and I am in full support of Lee’s efforts in this regard.”
—Lester Monts, vice provost
for academic and multicultural affairs
“I think Lee Bollinger will be an excellent choice. He’s everything everyone says he is – an excellent human being with an excellent reputation.”
— Allen Samuels, dean, School of Art and Design
“I believe the Presidential Search Advisory Group did an outstanding job of generating a list of excellent candidates. I consider Lee Bollinger to be a very capable intellectual leader. His academic vision and understanding of university culture will advance the University’s tripartite mission at this crucial moment in our history. I believe Lee Bollinger will make an excellent president.”
—Paula Allen-Meares, dean, School of Social Work
“As a result of his experience at Dartmouth, Provost Bollinger has gained a good understanding of the special challenges that face academic medical centers. He has also expressed support for the creation of the position of executive vice president for medical affairs. I am optimistic that he will be able to recruit an outstanding individual to this key new position and that we can take the necessary steps to assure that our academic and clinical programs remain strong.”
—A. Lorris Betz, interim dean, Medical School
“I think the appointment of Lee Bollinger is an achievement for the entire University community. He genuinely appreciates Michigan for the things that are so central to its institutional identity, including, among others, broadly-shared commitments to educational innovation and interdisciplinarity, to diverse participation and inclusiveness, to social responsibility and community partnerships. As a person also recently drawn back to the U-M by its intellectual and social magneticism, I nearly melted when he suggested to the Regents that they construct a fund for Michiganders to return home. Welcome home, from a recent returnee!”
—Nancy Cantor, dean,
Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies
“In selecting Lee Bollinger to become our next President, the Regents made an excellent choice from a very strong group of candidates. I am confident that Lee will provide the needed vision and leadership to help us meet the many challenges and opportunities facing the University.”
—Cecil Miskel, dean, School of Education
“I’m pleased with the Regents’ decision to offer the position to Lee. It’s clear to me that he understands the mission of this University. He clearly is academically oriented and believes in quality education and scholarship. He brings a nice blend of administrative experience to the presidency and his position as provost at Dartmouth gives him the perspective of the undergraduate side. His personal qualities and style impress me. I think he’s going to be a very effective communicator and representative of the University.”
—James W. Richards, dean, College of Pharmacy
“I am delighted that Lee was selected as president. His intellect, insight, academic core values, and love for the University are all welcomed back to Ann Arbor. He was a valued colleague before leaving and will provide great leadership for a great institution.”
—William Kotowicz, acting dean, School of Dentistry
“It has been particularly gratifying and reassuring to see the rapid and solid consensus among the Regents in favor of the selection of our next president. I am delighted that this appointment reaffirms the University’s commitment both to serious academic values and a responsible role for the University in society. It is the capacity for double-visiona simultaneous focus inward on generating knowledge and educated students, and a focus outward on the larger social and human issues that extend beyond the Universitythat distinguishes great universities. I believe our new president has that capacity in abundance.”
—Abigail Stewart, director,
Institute for Research on Women and Gender
“Lee Bollinger is an intellectually curious person which, among his other fine attributes, will serve the academic mission of this university very well. I think the faculty can look forward to engaging him in a wide variety of academic and intellectual issues and will find him open to new initiatives and ideas and highly supportive and appreciative of their efforts.”
—Paul Boylan, dean, School of Music
“I’m delighted by the nomination of Lee Bollinger . In the years we were colleagues here (though our disciplines are at best contiguous), I found him to be the very definition of colleague as leader; he listened and thought hard, spoke and wrote eloquently, ably, and with a passionate integrity that augurs well indeed.”
—Nicholas Delbanco, professor of English
“I am delighted with the selection of Lee Bollinger as the next president of the University. I am especially pleased with his support for research opportunities for undergraduates which will help prepare our students to make creative contributions throughout their careers. Lee Bollinger has a deep understanding of the U-M and will bring great enthusiasm to his new role. I believe he will be an outstanding president and continue the rapid intellectual and physical growth of the University begun by Jim Duderstadt and sustained by Homer Neal.”
—H. Scott Fogler, the Vennema
Professor of Chemical Engineering
“I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Bollinger when he was dean of the Law School. I think this is a strong choice. He loves Michigan, and he has the intellect and integrity to be an outstanding president.”
—Philip H. Bucksbaum, professor of physics
“I take some personal pride in the University’s hiring of Lee Bollinger. I was dean of the Law School when Lee was hired as a faculty member.
“I think Lee has some wonderful qualities. The very first thing I think of in connection with Lee is the recognition of and real championing of academic and intellectual values. He is a touchstone. He resonates to what I think are the core values in educational institutions.
“This is reflected in little ways. For example, when he gives a speech, a literary reference he makes comes not from some subordinate, but from a book Lee has read and remembered. Especially as universities get so large and complex and impersonal, it is terribly reassuring for faculty to realize that their president is a person with these kind of values.
“The second thing is Lee’s style of leadership. It’s a consensus-building style. He doesn’t go marching off in some direction and expect everyone to follow along. He’s a wonderfully persuasive individual. In an institution where there is widely spread authority in so many individual units, that’s a useful style to bring to bear.
“The third thing about Lee is that he’s a very kind, compassionate, understanding individual. He exudes a warm friendlinessnot ostentatious, but very genuine. Don’t expect a brilliant smile. He’s understated; he grows on you. But beneath all his extremely pleasant, modest demeanor, this is a very strong man, and very competitive. He can be tough as nails when the occasion demands it.”
—Theodore J. St. Antoine,
professor of law, and former dean, Law School
“It is to Lee Bollinger’s credit that his presence, his track record and his reputation could unite the Regents behind him. The support he had in this community is nothing short of phenomenal. This is all the more remarkable because he was here for many years, and has taken principled stands on many complex issues. Yet, he manages to do so with such integrity and clarity that even people who disagree with him still respect him immensely.”
—Huda Akil, the Gardner C. Quarton
Professor of Neurosciences
“I am delighted that the Regents chose Provost Bollinger to be the next president. He has had two years at Dartmouth College, where there is substantial emphasis on good teaching. He is teaching an undergraduate course now and thinks he will continue to teach when he becomes president. That will signify to the U-M community the importance he places on teaching. He also, in the course of his interview here, said that he thinks it is important for the president to have regular conversations with the deans about teaching issues.”
—Constance E. Cook, director,
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching
“I think Lee is a tremendous choice. He was one of my first selections as a dean, and I have followed his career with great interest. I was worried that he might be so happy at Dartmouth that it would be difficult to attract him to Michigan, particularly into a public search.
“He possesses a deep sense of academic values, the courage to go with his deep convictions, a strong sense of integrityand he is a genuinely nice guy to boot.”
—James J. Duderstadt, president emeritus
“I believe that Lee Bollinger will be an outstanding president for the University. He has powerful professional commitments to academic values, to teaching, to scholarship, and to the distinctive qualities of openness that characterize university life. Those commitments are matched with a personal style that values patience, listening, careful deliberation, and action grounds in principle.”
—Jeffrey S. Lehman, dean, Law School, and chair, Presidential Search Advisory Committee
“The University of Michigan is a huge and diverse institution with a complex mission, and it has consistently managed to grow its own excellent administrators. I am impressed with Lee Bolinger’s rise through the ranks in the Law School and his simultaneous commitments to scholarship, the public interest, and promoting the excellence of the institutions he has served. He appears to have something to offer every member of our University community.”
—Timothy Chupp, professor of physics,
and associate chair, graduate program
“While I do not know Lee personally, from what I have learned about him I fully expect that he will make an outstanding president. I look forward to getting to know him and work with him to help the University achieve even greater excellence.”
—Stephen Director, dean, College of Engineering
“With the sense of homecoming accenting the selection of Lee Bollinger as the twelfth president of the University, there is a tendency to lose sight of the qualities which he personally displayed during the selection process. From a faculty perspective an important one was his willingness to take risks and, in conformity with his clearly articulated attitudes toward First Amendment freedoms, to express his attitude in terms of specific statements rather than generalities. No one who followed the course of the Regental and town meeting components of the selection process could have failed to be aware of his direct comments on issues (which he might easily have ducked), ranging from the desirability of university presidents contributing to `serious public debate,’ through his criticism of the U.S. News and World Report rankings and his rejection of the notion of students as `customers,’ to his disavowal of himself as a`high-powered business person.’ The capacity of the University of Michigan to take risks was spoken of enviously by President Bok of Harvard some time ago and it is reassuring to the faculty to have an adventurous spirit and scholar for our president in the undoubtedly difficult times ahead for public tertiary education.”
—Thomas Dunn, Chair, SACUA
