MSU could lose an ally in bringing attention to higher education issues in the state.
University of Michigan President Lee Bollinger is on a list of 30 to 40 candidates being considered to head Harvard University, the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported.
Harvard is searching for a chief executive to replace President Neil Rudenstine, 63, who is retiring in June. Nearly 300,000 letters were sent out seeking suggestions on the presidential search, Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn said. About 500 candidates were suggested from 1,000 returned letters.
The paper reported President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were among the initial nominees, but have been weeded out of the running.
Wrinn declined to comment on who made that list of names and who is being considered for the institution’s presidency. Officials also spent the first part of this academic year interviewing senior faculty members and others for suggestions, Wrinn said.
In a prepared statement, Bollinger said: “Obviously, it’s flattering to hear one’s name on such a list. I continue, however, to be very happy in my work here at the University of Michigan.”
Bollinger, 54, joined the faculty of U-M’s Law School in 1973 and was named dean in 1987. He left U-M in 1994 to become provost and a professor of government at Dartmouth College before being named U-M’s 12th president in 1996.
In November, the U-M Board of Regents approved a contract extension until January 2006 and increased Bollinger’s salary from $311,000 to $326,550 annually.
The U-M chief executive has recently united with MSU President M. Peter McPherson to promote several higher education issues, including the creation of the Life Sciences Corridor.
The corridor, which stretches from the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids to Wayne State University in Detroit, is an effort to promote life sciences research in Michigan.
McPherson said working on the corridor has brought the two men - and universities - closer together.
“I think we have a relationship, quite frankly, that we may never have had before,” McPherson said. “I think Dr. Bollinger is a very good man and he certainly has done a fine job at Michigan.”
But the U-M president has also “kept the interests of the state’s public universities at heart,” said Glenn Stevens, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan.
Bollinger chaired the council for two years.
Stevens said replacing a president is a difficult task for any university.
“It’s always important to have people in presidential roles for a sustained period of time,” he said. “One of the most difficult things in public universities across the country is turnover.”
And Stevens said keeping presidents on board for the long term has become increasingly difficult. The number of years university presidents spend in that post is decreasing nationally.
“It is important for the state of Michigan to retain as strong as possible of leadership for universities,” he said.
But U-M Regent David Brandon, chairman and C.E.O. of Domino’s Pizza, isn’t spending his time worrying about finding a new president for his university. “I think Lee is very happy at U-M,” he said, adding Bollinger had not been seeking the position.
Instead, Brandon said the publicity is positive for U-M because of the credentials Harvard probably requires of its presidential candidates.
“I just think it’s a wonderful thing they’d include Lee in their list,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
