Teresa Sullivan

I don't know Teresa Sullivan, but she has been one of my role models.  As a fellow demographer and sociologist our paths often crossed early in my career at meetings of the Population Association of America and the American Sociological Association.  I know about her research on labor markets and more recent work on bankruptcy (with Elizabeth Warren). About the time of my first academic job she was chair of the sociology department at Texas and then associate dean of the graduate school.  About the time I became a department chair, in 2003, she was an executive VP at Texas.  Throughout those times, she was still known as a scholar, someone conducting valuable research.  But, I also always felt she was someone who was respected for her leadership and integrity. It was no surprise when she left Texas to become provost at Michigan and left Michigan to become president at Virginia.  As I struggled with decisions about an administrative career, she was someone I looked up to.

Now, she has been asked to leave Virginia after only 2 years.  I really appreciate the way she has handled this so far. No outcry, no fanfare, but yesterday a calm and careful statement of what she has accomplished, her views on leadership, and her thoughts on academia.  She calls herself an incrementalist and says, "Being an incrementalist does not mean that I lack vision."  As she points out, "Corporate-style, top-down leadership does not work in a great university."  (Does it work even in a great corporation??)  She astutely notes that it is not money that drives and motivates most faculty, something I have observed many times with my colleagues.  She apparently demurred from across the board deep financial cuts, opting instead for trimming non-academic budgets and thinking strategically about areas of growth.

She ends with a statement about trust. "Trust does not mean an absence of disagreement. But it requires that disagreements be frankly discussed....One of the greater duties of the president is to listen carefully to the needs and aspirations of the community."

I have no doubt that Teresa will fare well wherever she lands. She is a great leader.