<p>UVA</a> President Sullivan to Step Down cvillenews.com</p>
<p>Pretty shocking. Never read there were issues with her. She had a great background. Wisconsin should look at her. Might fit better.</p>
<p>Barrons - don’t make something where there is nothing. There were not ‘issues’ with her. There were philosophical differences.</p>
<p>Sometimes a president and a university are just a bad fit. It’s nobody’s fault. </p>
<p>She will find something else, and the university will find someone who is a better fit for the position. </p>
<p>This sort of thing happened several years ago at Cornell, where university president Jeffrey Lehman resigned after only two years, citing irreconcilable differences with the trustees. Lehman is now involved in the development of a trans-national law school in China – a project that sounds fascinating and very well suited for someone with his international interests. And meanwhile, at Cornell, Lehman’s successor, David Skorton, is doing quite well and doesn’t seem to have offended any of the many constituencies that he serves.</p>
<p>It is disappointing to have such a quick turnover in such a key office. D will be starting her fourth year at UVA under the leadership of yet a third individual. President Sullivan is certainly an accomplished educator but the fit was never there, at least from D’s perspective.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18791[/url]”>http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18791</a></p>
<p>“Philosophical differences” are a MAJOR issue. It is institution speak for we do not like you for XXXX reasons.</p>
<p>What were the differences?</p>
<p>I am at UVA, and have no idea. Everybody I knew loved working with her. UVA is transitioning to a new, “every tub on its own bottom” financial model–the details of how it will be implemented are pretty murky to most of us–and possibly Sullivan and the Board had differences of opinion on this issue?</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing that, jingle. The new financial model helps to explain why in recent months we’ve been bombarded by SEAS with requests for donations that will be matched by anonymous donors- we’ve also been greeted with the news that tuition will be higher with fees assessed by credit hour in the e-school to improve the facilities. D will be a fourth year - I’m having a hard time justifying paying more when it’s not clear the improvements will be in place this year. I think she has two credits that won’t be subject to the additional charge. All for the good of future students, I guess. I understand that McIntyre students pay more - but their building and labs are only accessible by McIntyre students after hours. I know UVA is a wonderful educational bargain, but realistically it was the only option we could afford. If D was entering this year, it would be a real stretch for us. </p>
<p>What I am not a fan of is the way this was communicated. On a Sunday? In a week that transcripts were exposed online and a dead body was found near Grounds? After Finals and Reunion weekend? Can’t miss out on those donor dollars. If they were hoping that releasing this news on a Sunday would not bring a lot of attention to it, they certainly miscalculated.</p>
<p>The comments on the page of the linked article are enlightening.</p>
<p>More at this link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/1351249-president-sullivan-leaving.html#post14498045[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/1351249-president-sullivan-leaving.html#post14498045</a></p>
<p>Many alums and staffers are commenting on facebook pages that they were completely surprised by this forced resignation. They all thought she was doing a great job.</p>
<p>Its not easy being a university president. The faculty want to turn places into PhD factories. The students want a mix of bacchanalia and career springboard. The alumni want their children admitted, and high academic and athletic achievement. The staff wants higher salaries. And everyone wants to beat Duke. </p>
<p>Sometimes you get people in these jobs who don’t grasp that there are some things that cannot be delegated, but must be done directly by the president, and often one-on-one. Fundraising is typically one of these. At the very least, the president must be an extremely effective supporter of whatever fundraising structure exists, and must be highly effective with major donors and potential donors. </p>
<p>Who knows what Sullivan’s talents were in this area? I think Casteens’ were pretty good, and that might be part of the problem here.</p>
<p>^^Agree that fundraising was an issue. People don’t ordinarily come to a state school expecting to travel extensively raising money.</p>
<p>There has been tension in the past about whether the primary job of a UVa President is to raise money or to run the university. One past president spent all of his time raising money and socializing with donors, and had an Exec. VP run the university. Another past president was criticized because he actually wanted to teach a class, which some people throught took much time away from fundraising. </p>
<p>That is a plausible theory - that President Sullivan wanted to spend most of her time in Cville, and didn’t want to travel as much as is required to be the fundraiser-in-chief.</p>
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<p>No college leader is that naive, OTOH, if they are… :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The major role of a Prez is fund-raising, public or privagte. Nothing else comes close. It’s the job of the Provost to settle faculty squabbles and run the operations.</p>
<p>Sorry Barrons, but Wisc wont’ want her – nor will Dartmouth or any other of dozens Prez openings – unless she is wiling to travel and grovel for money.</p>
<p>Yes, fundraising is important. But I gather it was more about not chanding the place fast enough–cutting admin staff and expensive low enrollment programs. Also not moving fast enough to grab part of the online education market. People see Liberty right down the road with 75,000 online degree seeking students and rolling in the money. They are thinking–we have a much better brand–why not Uva. Also Access UVa was killing their budget and needs to be cut. She hired a consultant.</p>
<p>For those that aren’t following the other thread, NBC29 reported the following last night:
</p>
<p>[Teresa</a> Sullivan to Step Down as President of UVA - NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather](<a href=“http://www.nbc29.com/story/18748978/teresa-sullivan-to-step-down-as-president-of-uva]Teresa”>http://www.nbc29.com/story/18748978/teresa-sullivan-to-step-down-as-president-of-uva)</p>
<p>Her husband, Douglas Laycock, is currently a UVa law professor.</p>
<p>UVA has a brand to protect that Liberty University does not, in terms of handing out tons of degrees.</p>
<p>Well, maybe the BOV does not quite see it that way as they also are going downhill financially. Read their new budget–they are facing great pressure on many sides. Very open about that. Tuition maxing out, state aid flat at best, research money declining, fundraising tougher, expensive to maintain buildings . Large fin aid bills.</p>
<p>Perhaps not a large dollar amount in the big picture of things, but I could never understand why UVa would meet full need of OOS students.</p>