Groups want interim leader

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The chairwoman of the University of Louisville board of trustees says people in the community and at the university are recommending acting university president James Ramsey for the job permanently.\n"He has really impressed people," said Jessica Loving, who is also a member of the presidential search committee. "If he is willing to be considered, it would not be out of the question."\nRamsey, who also is the state budget director and on loan to U of L, said previously that he wasn't interested in being a candidate. But he declined to reiterate that Monday.\nIn an interview in September, shortly after he took over as acting president, Ramsey said, "While I don't plan on becoming a candidate for the permanent position of president, I want to make a positive difference helping maintain the university's momentum."\nOn Monday, Ramsey said through U of L spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith that he "does not feel it is appropriate to comment."\nRamsey referred questions to Junior Bridgeman, the Louisville businessman who is co-chairman of the committee searching for a new president.\nBridgeman said he couldn't comment on possible candidates. The committee was meeting Tuesday to review names of potential candidates, he said.\nChris Marlin, president of the Student Government Association and a member of the search committee, said he hadn't heard anything about Ramsey as a possible candidate. But he has done a good job as acting president, Marlin said.\n"I think he's done an excellent job for this university and he has been a pleasure to deal with," Marlin said.\nMarlin declined to comment further, citing a restriction that the search committee adopted last month. The committee voted to let only Bridgeman speak for the committee.\nAnyone else "speaking out substantially" on the search could be removed from the committee, the motion said.\nU of L mechanical engineering professor Glen Prater said Monday that he had not heard of Ramsey being a possible candidate but said Ramsey has experience in two key areas, budget and politics.\nIt's especially important that a state university president be effective in working with lawmakers, said Prater, who serves on a faculty committee advising the presidential search committee.\n"He would certainly have a leg up on dealing with issues unique to commonwealth of Kentucky politics," Prater said.\nRamsey, 53, who is also a professor of economics and public policy at U of L, took over this summer after acting president Carol Garrison accepted the job as president of the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Garrison had stepped in for John Shumaker, who became president of the University of Tennessee.\nRamsey also has served as vice chancellor for finance and administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and vice president at Western Kentucky University.\nHe was a finalist for the president's job at WKU in 1997 and has taught at Western, the University of Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State University and Loyola University in New Orleans.\nRamsey holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Western and master's and doctoral degrees in economics from UK.