New president named

When the 17 members of the IU presidential search committee embarked on what seemed in November to be a daunting task, they turned to the words of a former IU president for guidance. \nIn "Being Lucky," the oft-quoted memoir of former IU Chancellor and President Herman B Wells, the Indiana native and visionary of higher education wrote that administrators should step down from the reaches of academia, cultivating rather the ability to lead --not command.\nWells' definition of effective leadership became watchwords of the search process, steering the committee through the exhaustive eight-month process. Scores of candidates were gradually whittled down to a select, closely-examined few. But Thursday, that examination came to an end as the IU board of trustees unanimously approved Adam W. Herbert as IU's 17th president.\nMeeting in special session at 10 a.m. in the Musical Arts Center, the board officially announced Herbert's selection, exhorting the University of Southern California alumnus as "the right person for IU at this time" and lauding his achievements, both personal and public.\nTrustee Sue Talbot, a member of the search committee, said she knew Herbert would prevail as the leading candidate from the point of his first interview.\n"We were told we'd just know (the right candidate)," Talbot said. "When Herbert came, we just looked at each other ... We knew right away. He focuses on what IU is all about, and he doesn't divert. He will deliver."\nAnd now he's hitting the ground running, dedicating his initial weeks in Indiana to visiting each of the regional campuses in the IU system. His years at Florida proved Herbert a stalwart in maintaining strong intercampus relationships, a cause he said he'll champion when he steps into the presidency Aug. 1. \nHerbert gained notoriety among Florida administrators in 1998 for proposing a plan to tailor the budgets of each of Florida's 10 public universities to specific goals, grouped into three categories. \n• Focus on improving national reputations and graduate programs\n• Concentrate on improving doctoral study and raising undergraduate standards\n• Specifically target undergraduate educational objectives \nDeemed "tiered" and "a kind of branding" by its critics -- improperly, Herbert suggests -- the long-term strategic plan was based on Herbert's philosophy that different campuses within a statewide system offer different objectives to the communities they serve, and should be fiscally managed accordingly.\nHerbert calls it "mission differentiation" -- establishing unique missions for each satellite or regional campus that are specific to the needs of individual communities while aptly recognizing budget constraints imposed by the state. \n"Basically the concept is that every university in Florida was not the same, and in my view we did not need nor could we afford to establish 10 major research universities," Herbert said. "The challenge was to recognize that the needs of each state university were different, and what we had to do was to assure each individual institution had a mission that was specifically evaluated."\nHe'll find an extension of that challenge here at Indiana, where tightening state budget constraints calls for a new kind of fiscal conservatism at a time when improvement and development of existing programs is necessary to maintain IU's competitiveness -- and that's on the Bloomington campus alone. Herbert will manage Indiana's eight satellite campuses, each with its own unique set of priorities and constraints. \nThe medical school on the IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis campus, for example, provides its own set of financial challenges as the nation's second-largest medical teaching facility. Herbert specifically identified the School of Medicine as crucial to improving existing life sciences and biomedical programs on all IU campuses, but he said this can't be done without appropriate funding. \nSimilarities nonetheless emerge linking his Florida experience to current Indiana budget woes, as the former suffered a similarly crippling budget deficit under Herbert's watch as chancellor of the state system. Herbert partially overcame those losses by petitioning to state and federal legislators for an increase in government support and saw a $1 billion increase in new capital construction funds. \nHerbert plans on implementing an accountability plan to measure the success of such initiatives, but he also stresses the significance of helping policymakers understand financial realities for large-scale institutions such as Florida and Indiana. \nIt's essential, he said, to impart the long-term consequences of a reduction in state educational funds. \n"What complicates all of this is the very difficult fiscal period through which we're going at the national level," Herbert said. "Critical services are being devolved down to the states, so the challenge to state governments are very clear ... Public education is among those categories competing for state funds."\nHe also said he recognizes the importance of maintaining a diverse faculty and student body -- though despite the fact that he is IU's first black president, he notably shies away from questions concerning his own racial background -- and said that because "the world is shrinking," institutions of higher learning cannot afford to rest on their laurels -- they must recruit the finest and brightest, regardless of racial or economic background.\nNotably, Herbert, who turned down the historically all-black Morehouse College in favor of a University of Southern California degree, speaks in terms of economics, not color. \nIn 1999, when the Florida Board of Regents agreed to move ahead with Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to end affirmative action at the state's 10 public universities, Herbert proposed a controversial "20 percent plan" in which the upper 20 percent of high school students, regardless of ethnicity, would be accepted and granted aid to Florida schools. \nSpearheading aggressive recruitment initiatives in Florida inner-city schools led Herbert to conclude that committing funds to underprivileged youth is indeed "infectious" -- a theory visibly confirmed by countless colleagues, he claims. His Pathways to Success program, which garnered $10 million in donations for low-income students, directly engaged Herbert in inner-city communities; he visited each school and interacted directly with students and teachers to assure them that "income was not a factor" concerning university study. In one school in particular, UNF recruited the valedictorian, salutatorian, president of the honor society and the student body president -- all lured by the promise of educational grants. \nPersonal relationships are equally important to the Oklahoma native, who said students at UNF deemed him "Uncle Adam" or "Uncle Herbert." Students at his alma mater certainly haven't forgotten him either -- he was recognized in the USC 2000 yearbook, El Rodeo, as one of the university's most memorable graduates. His wife, whom Herbert deems the "foundation of his essential support system," said students can count on seeing the pair around frequently. \nStatewide focus groups, coupled with open forums on all IU campuses and town meetings in Indiana locales, allowed the committee to begin narrowing the initial pool of candidates submitted by Baker, Parker and Associates, an Atlanta-based firm in the position of lead consultant in the nationwide search, before Herbert was finally selected. \nThe results overwhelmingly demanded a candidate steeped in an understanding of higher education and of the vicissitudes of a statewide, public university system, said Stephen Ferguson, vice president of the board of trustees and chairman of the search committee. Herbert, he said, typified that sort of "navigant champion" of higher education, responsible for maintaining Indiana's dominance as a major research university.\n"The people of Indiana wanted someone with unquestionable integrity and exemplary leadership," Ferguson said. "They wanted a person who is a good communicator, a good listener and who had good people skills. They wanted a president who was a demonstrated leader in the educational field ... We have found such a person in Adam Herbert."\nHerbert comes to Indiana armed with more than 35 years of university experience, most significantly with the University of North Florida, where he served as president for nearly 10 years from 1989 to 1998, when he was named chancellor of the State University System of Florida, the second-largest system of its kind in the United States. That system, dismantled by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2001, enrolls more than 250,000 students, with budgetary allocations exceeding $5 billion. \nHerbert currently serves as Regents professor and the executive director of the Florida Center for Public Policy and Leadership at UNF. His extensive policy background has led him to stints with the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, as well as the urban affairs and public administration programs at Virginia Tech.\nThis isn't Herbert's first Indiana encounter, however. He was asked in the mid-1970s to join the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs faculty on the Bloomington campus -- an opportunity he declined in favor of a White House fellowship. There he served as assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and later worked under the U.S. Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development. \nThirty years later, he said he's "able to correct that mistake."\nInterim President Gerald Bepko said Herbert's ability to clearly state and implement purposes and policies is going to be a step in the right direction for IU. \n"He's a natural communicator, and he's good at stating his vision," Bepko said. "He'll teach us a thing or two"