School May Seek President Who Could Raise Its Profile

Search Committee, Headed by Onetime Md. Official, Could Start Work by End of Summer

A former chancellor of the University System of Maryland will lead a national search for the next president of the University of the District of Columbia -- its fifth in 15 years.

Donald N. Langenberg, a nationally renowned physicist, has been tapped to chair a committee tasked with finding a successor to William L. Pollard, who stepped down in June as president of the District's only public institution of higher education at the urging of the school's Board of Trustees.

During his five-year tenure, Pollard oversaw the reaccreditation of the university and the long-sought accreditation of its law school. He also cleaned up what had been a trash-strewn campus and worked to create a better fundraising operation and to improve student life.

But a majority of board members felt that he was not moving fast enough to fix operational problems, such as a slow procurement process, and make UDC's academic programs more relevant to the population it serves, according to knowledgeable sources who spoke on condition of not being identified because of the confidentiality of the board's discussions.

The daily operations of the 5,700-student university, which has seen repeated leadership turnovers in its three-decade history, are now in the hands of Stanley Jackson, a former D.C. deputy mayor whom Pollard brought to UDC this year as chief of staff and senior vice president of operations.

Jackson did not return phone calls seeking comment.

James W. Dyke Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees, said he was assembling a search committee -- which will include faculty, administrators, alumni and others -- and hoped it would start work by the end of the summer.

Though the search has not begun, school sources with knowledge of the thinking of key trustees said they may seek a nontraditional candidate with the potential to quickly elevate the profile of UDC.

Langenberg, who has been involved in two dozen presidential searches, said he hopes to have a new president selected by early next year. It took nearly a year for a UDC search committee to find and hire Pollard.

Asked what characteristics would be sought in a new president, he said the trustees would soon settle on a list. "There are general characteristics that are desired of every university president, which boil down to: Can walk on water, can solve all problems," he said with a laugh.

That was essentially the hope for Pollard when the trustees, under a different board chairman, forced the resignation of the previous president, Julius F. Nimmons Jr., in 2001. At the time, board members praised Nimmons for pulling UDC out of its most severe financial crisis but said they sought a more dynamic and ambitious administrator.

Dyke would not discuss why the board asked Pollard to leave. Sources with knowledge of the board's relationship with Pollard said there had been discussions in the spring between trustees and Pollard and trustees and several D.C. Council members, including Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), to discuss Pollard's future.

The sources said Pollard had the support of the board for several years and in October had received a multiyear contract extension. But a probe of UDC's athletic program by the NCAA and concerns that Pollard had not moved quickly enough to fix problems in the department, among other issues, led to a fracturing of the relationship, according to the sources.

Trustees also wanted him to spend more time fundraising and ordered him this year to assemble a management team that would free up more time to do so, the sources said.

Many also felt he had not done enough to raise UDC's profile in the city and make strong connections with D.C. government leaders, they said.

Pollard could not be reached for comment.

A large majority of the 14-member board backed the ouster of Pollard.

But one Pollard supporter, lawyer Lester S. Hyman, resigned in protest. An e-mail he sent to other trustees said that he realized that some areas of Pollard's responsibilities needed strengthening but that he had hoped the board would set benchmarks and "give him time to achieve them."