UChicago's Next President

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

This is just a thought experiment, and I know that none of us here are trustees of the university so all of this is 100% speculation – but I thought it might be fun speculation!

Bob Zimmer has been president of the university for a LONG time. He became president in 2006, back when the university was a completely different place. Back then the chair of the board of trustees was James Crown… and in choosing Zimmer the board probably wasn’t inventing anything new, but rather looking for someone to continue to implement the trajectory for the University of Chicago that they had been working on over the last few decades.

Now, the choice seems to have worked out well, given all the recent success of the university. But the success also makes the question of the next president an interesting one. UChicago is much more in the national spotlight today than it was back in 2006, due to the now-popular undergraduate program, the Obama association, the US News rankings, prominent UChicago alumni politicians (two 2020 presidential candidates, the next Chicago mayor), and so on and so forth. At the same time, there is, to some degree, a shift of focus, with a new engineering division, increased pre-professionalization programs in the College, etc. All in all, there’s a shift away from being the UChicago of old and toward become a Harvard or a Yale.

Given these two factors (the increased spotlight and the shift in the university’s personality), what kinds of things would the trustees be looking for in the next president? Will it be a provost of an Ivy League school, as it has tended to be in the past? But will a “dry” academic be the person for the job, as it typically has been? Or will they be looking for something different this time?

And alongside the two factors mentioned above, there’s also the financial one: UChicago’s aspirations require it to become a heavy lifter in fundraising and seriously increase its endowment. So fundraising prowess will probably be one factor. Also keep in mind that the current board is probably almost all different from the board back in 2006, the last time this process happened, so who knows that priorities are important now.

The one thing that seems clear is that the board will probably want to continue the trajectory, to “develop[] and implement[] a program to become the preferred destination for the world’s best scholars and students, and to enhance its eminence among the few top-ranked research universities in the United States and the world.” (https://news.uchicago.edu/story/statement-joseph-neubauer-chair-university-chicago-board-trustees)

Zimmer has agreed to stay on until at least 2022, but I can’t imagine he’ll stay for much longer – he’ll be in his mid-70’s by then. So I’m sure the question of the new president will be something the board will start to think about over the next couple of years. What will they be thinking about? What does UChicago need to sustain its performance and to improve further? Though none of us here are on the board, perhaps they might read through this thread and gain some ideas!

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@grreat That is a great :)) thought experiment. Here are my wild speculations:

  1. The next President is likely a "stay the course" type of guy. If Zimmer truly reties in 2022, he will have a 16 year term. Only Robert Hutchins had a longer term than him. Since by most measures Zimmer's term is considered successful (and I know quite a few current students will take issue with this claim ;) ) , the Board is unlikely to find another maverick to completely rock the boat.
  2. The Board is full of business people, especially finance guys. Their bottom line orientation is very clear. High ranking and more funding are clearly the main goals. More splashy buildings and a shift to more pre-professional probably will continue. I expect the new President to carry out this policy with even more vigor.
  3. Still this being U of C, I will strongly doubt that the next President is not an academic. (S)he is likely a former university professor who has turned to administration. Hanna Gray, Hugo Sonnenschein and Zimmer himself are all respected scholars in their fields before they turn into administrators ( I don't know much about Randal's work to comment and his term is the shortest in recent memories).
  4. I still maintain U of C will work to preserve her own intellectual nerdy identity. That is the school brand and reputation. So I do not think the new President will want to significantly dilute hard core research focus of the University. A little more trendy and practical? Yes..Giving up all our theoretical underpinnings? No.

In short, I expect a younger clone of Zimmer as the next President. If by 2026 the Zimmer model no longer works, the Zimmer clone will have a very short term and the Board will hire another guy to adjust to the new trend.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts @85bears46 ! I agree with most of what you said… I think a younger clone of Zimmer sounds about right, but I wonder:

  1. Does it have to proper academic with a very long and traditional academic trajectory as it's historically been? Or might there be a shift there? I'm thinking e.g. of the current presidents of Princeton, Rice, and Johns Hopkins -- all of them are lawyers who lack PhDs. They all came from legal academia, to be sure, but are in some sense different from a mathematician like Zimmer. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if for the next president the board decides to snatch up the Dean of Columbia Law or something like that.
  2. this younger clone of Zimmer that they'll be looking for, I'm sure they'll pay close attention to fundraising ability! They'll want someone who can find the Bloombergs of UChicago who'll donate billions and billions as Michael Bloomberg is to his alma mater.
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Another thing to possibly consider is if they want to bring in a president who would signify and implement a specific strategic shift that they want to see. For example, I can imagine an engineering or CS person as president being quite effective in moving the university toward tech, or a top medical administrator like George Daley being powerful in helping UChicago Medicine move forward.

But I’m not sure how much of a connection the background of the president has on the role he or she performs – that might be more the task of the Dean.

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Who are the two UChicago alums who are running for POTUS?

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@grreat #2

  1. I don't want to start a flaming war but U of C is not Princeton, Rice or JHU. I am NOT saying U of C is better (or worse) than those three highly respected institutions. U of C has her own brand and identity. The President has to win the support of the faculty or there may be eternal administration versus faculty war. I expect the Zimmer clone to be a professor with recognized achievement in his/her own field so (s)he can deal with the faculty with ease and confidence. I would be very surprised that the Board will pick a Dean from any Law School or Business School who is not an established scholar. That is not the U of C way.
  2. Bloomberg is among the top 10 richest persons in US. I don't see anyone above him on that list that will donate billions to U of C. None of them has deep connection to U of C. Maybe Bill Gates in another 4 to 5 years :))

There are a few billionaires on the Board already. If the likes of Asness, Rubinstein and Nadella each pledging $100 million to the university, we should be in a good shape.

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@JBStillFlying Bernie(BA 1964) and Amy Klobaucher (JD 1985)

Hmmm, I might have run into her and Comey in 1984 crossing the Midway :wink:

Bernie probably graduated just before @marlowe1 enrolled at the College.

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Look to a “successful” provost at a top National research university. There will be pressure to pick a woman or a minority. In any event, the UChicago presidency is, I believe, the most challenging in the Country.

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@85bears46 but surely there isn’t any significant difference between the faculty at Princeton and the faculty at UChicago, right? Why would the faculty at one of these protest at a non-PhD and the other not? I’m not suggesting that the new president won’t be a distinguished academic scholar – I think that is an absolute must. If they pick a non-distinguished scholar, let’s say a CEO of a major company, that will certainly be a problem.

But if they pick a distinguished scholar who comes from a professional school, I’m not sure why that would be an issue. Eisgruber served on the NYU faculty for 11 years, then moved to Princeton and eventually served as its Provost for 9 years before becoming its president. Leebron was Dean of Columbia Law for 8 years before becoming president of Rice. Both work well with the faculties of their respective universities in part because they were well-known and distinguished faculty members themselves, albeit non-traditional ones, before moving into their administrative roles. So it really seems like a non-issue to me. What do you think?

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@kaukauna Hmm that’s interesting, I hadn’t considered the diversity angle! That’s likely another significant factor.

And I’m curious to hear your thoughts as to why you think the UChicago presidency is the most challenging in the country?

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^ @85bears46 at #6: That’s who I counted as well. Unfortunately Klobuchar is not yet listed as such on the UChicago alum wiki page.

Seems that lawyers have become more popular of late in being selected to take the reins of research universities. The new UMN pres. will be an attorney as well, although she’s come up through the academic ranks (including B school dean and provost at various other places). UChicago is likely to choose another academic - history has suggested that they do very well when they select from their own ranks. Sonnenschein, respected as he was, was also kind of hounded out of the position. The guy who followed him was a nothing. Zimmer has been successful by most measures (not the least of which is fund raising) without changing the academic character of the university. There will be strong pressure to select someone who can lead in the new era but continue to support what the university does best, which is to produce influential scholars who can enter a wide range of academic, business, non-profit, and public sectors and make a difference. While I wouldn’t rule out someone from the law school, not sure the typical attorney - even an academically-oriented one, will meet the criteria.

The other issue - sorry if this is already mentioned, is that Boyer is also likely to step down around the same time as Zimmer. So there will be two very big pairs of shoes to fill.

@kaukana - UChicago was the first top-ranked research uni to have chosen a woman. Hannah Gray, who came on board in the 70’s.

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I am not on University Senate and so I can’t say the university faculty will definitively object to the next President being a former dean of the professional school. My post #5 states “I would be very surprised that the Board will pick a Dean from any Law School or Business School who is not an established scholar.” Christopher Eisgruber (JD 1988) is an established scholar.

Edward Levi, the seventh President of the University (1968-75), was former Dean of Law School. But he was the exception. I still think the next President will be more of a pure academic scholar like the previous six Presidents.

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@JBStillFlying Boyer stepping down at around the same time is a really important fact to consider. It seems that Nondorf will become the main source of continuity at that point – hopefully he doesn’t move or anything at that time!

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Zimmer/Boyer/Nondorf would be the triumverate that propelled the College to its current level of popularity. However, while Nondorf has been given a lot of leeway to innovate the admissions process under Zimmer’s leadership, there is no guarantee he’d be given the same once the other two positions change hands. And if not, then Nondorf will likely go where he’s better appreciated.

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Regarding the next president, I’d look for a former University of Chicago faculty member who is currently a provost at a top school. That might include the current UChicago provost and former Harris (ie professional school) Dean: Daniel Diermeier. he’s also relatively young.

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I think someone like Alan Garber might be ideal: a distinguished scholar with high-level administrative experience but who also branches out across several different fields.

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Garber is already 64 and hasn’t left Harvard since 1983. Not sure he’d WANT to lead UChicago. But he’s a talented guy for sure. BTW, Harris has a member of the faculty with a joint appts.(and advanced degrees) in both Medicine and Economics. David Meltzer. MD/PhD from the University of Chicago. He hasn’t become provost anywhere, however.

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Sunil Kumar, currently provost at JHU, was Dean of Booth as well as former faculty member there. Engineer. Hmm.

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Here’s coming from left field… former Booth Dean Ted Snyder (and Dean of UVA Darden and Yale SOM too). Fundraiser extraordinaire, scholar, alum (UChicago MA PhD) and a great leader that consolidated the strengths of and rallied the school’s constituents in one vision: to be the best business school in every measure.

(That is, if the all powerful Faculty allow him)

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For a woman here’s the best I can find:

Rebecca S. Chopp (UChicago Ph.D. 1983) – current Chancellor, University of Denver; former President of Swarthmore College; President of Colgate University (2002–2009); former dean of Yale Divinity School; former provost of Emory University;