High-Profile Professor Is Leaving St. Mary's

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 8, 2007

St. Mary's College of Maryland will lose one of its faculty heavyweights when Zach P. Messitte, a star professor and frequent political commentator who helped raise the college's profile in state politics, leaves next month to take a prestigious administrative post at the University of Oklahoma.

As director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Messitte helped put the small Southern Maryland honors college on the political map last year by drawing many statewide candidates to speak to students on the remote campus.

Messitte, 39, a political scientist, has been appointed to a tenured faculty position at the University of Oklahoma. He will serve as vice provost for international programs and will hold the William J. Crowe endowed chair in geopolitics.

"That is a big step forward for me," Messitte said Friday.

Messitte's administrative portfolio will include overseeing the university's undergraduate and graduate programs in international relations. He also will manage the study-abroad program and teach courses in U.S. foreign policy.

Messitte's salary will be $170,000, a university spokeswoman said. The university's board of regents approved his appointment last month.

Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia politics professor, said Messitte will be missed, both at St. Mary's College and in the world of political punditry.

"They're losing a gem," Sabato said of St. Mary's, where he was a visiting scholar in March. "They really are. He's a terrific scholar and a public practitioner."

Messitte, who grew up in Maryland, has been a frequent political analyst in radio, television and print media. He was the faculty adviser to the college's award-winning student newspaper, the Point News. Last year, he was awarded the Faculty-Student Life Award for his dedication to teaching and student life.

Messitte is credited with steering the Center for the Study of Democracy to new heights. During last year's election campaign, he made his politics seminar a popular stomping ground for statewide candidates, including Martin O'Malley (D) and then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who flocked to the campus in southern St. Mary's County to speak with students.

"He wanted to have an impact and to use his position in his college to benefit his state's politics and public policy, and he did," Sabato said. "He made a big difference there. He's a star, and I'm sorry for St. Mary's that they're losing him."

Messitte said he agonized over leaving St. Mary's College. "It was a really, really, really tough decision," he said. "This is where I'm from, my family's here, but it's one of those deals that lifts my career up about 10 slots. I just had to do it."

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.