High-Profile Professor Is Leaving St. Mary's

In taking the job in Oklahoma, Messitte will move from a college of 2,000 students to a state university with a total enrollment of 30,000 on several campuses. Messitte said being an administrator at a major university will prepare him to someday become a college president.

"This is part of the reason why, in the end, it was one of these questions, what kind of track do you want to take in your career?" Messitte said. "I thought the opportunity to do this now puts me in a position conceivably in a few years to lead an institution, should I do well."

Messitte said he would return to St. Mary's "in a heartbeat. I love St. Mary's College, I love the community and I feel like this is home."

Marc Apter, a spokesman for the college, said Messitte's departure is a loss for the campus community. Apter said the college will search nationally for a successor and hopes to fill the position by January.

Before working at St. Mary's College, Messitte was a spokesman for the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee and the United Nations in New York and Vienna. He also was a researcher-producer for CNN's Washington bureau.

In Oklahoma, Messitte will be reunited with familiar company. The university president, David L. Boren, is a former U.S. senator who chaired the intelligence committee when Messitte was spokesman.

"The university is very fortunate to attract such an outstanding and visionary scholar, who also has practical experience in diplomacy," Boren said in a statement.

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Messitte grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He has a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, a master's from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate from New York University.

Messitte speaks Italian, Spanish and French. Last year, he taught Italian courses and led a student trip to Alba, Italy.

His wife, Julia, a lawyer, has taken a job at the university's Office of Legal Counsel. They are relocating to Norman, Okla., with their two children, Sam, 5, and Jules, 3.