April 1, 2004
UW grad comes home to be president of his alma mater
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you probably know that the UW has found a new president. Mark Emmert, currently the chancellor at Louisiana State University, was chosen by the Board of Regents at their March 19 meeting and introduced on campus last week.
Unfortunately, that introduction came during spring break, when students and many faculty and staff were away, but Emmert promises to be in town frequently between now and when he is slated to take office, on July 1.
“I’m not quite sure I can adequately explain what an honor and pleasure it is to be here,” was his opening remark at last week’s briefing.
And that wasn’t just an empty platitude. Emmert grew up in the Tacoma area and got his undergraduate degree in political science at the University, so in taking the UW job he is coming home. Having arrived here after stints at four different universities, he declared that this is his “last stop.”
“My wife and I were in the Quad and realized these were the same trees we sat under when we were students and sometimes slept under when we were supposed to be studying,” he said. “I’m delighted to be part of the UW family again.”
But if Emmert is familiar with the UW on one level, he was not ready to provide detailed plans for what he will do once he is here. Like any wise new kid on the block, his first priority is “to get to know the people of the UW,” he said.
One obvious job, however, is working to secure an optimal funding level for the University, something he said he would do “every way I can.”
Emmert compared the work of soliciting support to retail. “You have to go one on one with key decision makers,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where they are; you have to let them know why the University is important to them. You also have to get others to tell the story for you — business leaders, faculty, staff and students.”
Emmert was very successful in doing that at LSU, where he secured a 26 percent increase in state funding over his five-year tenure. He also developed the National Flagship Agenda: 2003–2010, which aims to increase research and scholarly productivity while enhancing the quality and competitiveness of undergraduate and graduate students.
Likewise at the University of Connecticut, where he was chancellor and provost before going to LSU, Emmert played a critical role in implementing the university’s strategic plan, which included enhancing the institution’s academic standing, increasing endowment support and strengthening education.
After his undergraduate work, Emmert earned master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration at Syracuse University and has held mostly administrative posts since then, but that doesn’t mean he spends no time in classrooms. “I give guest lectures whenever I’m invited,” he said.
And he said he knows that important as the work of the chief executive is, “I don’t do the real work of the University. Faculty and staff do. Their concerns come first. My role is enabling. I try to stay out of their way.”
Emmert and the regents are still negotiating his contract. At LSU he was paid $490,000.
