University of Vermont President Daniel Mark Fogel today announced that he will step down as president effective July 1, 2012, exactly 10 years after he took office as the university's 25th president. Fogel said he plans to assume his full-time faculty appointment as Professor of English at UVM after the administrative leave that will follow his last year in the presidency.
Fogel made his announcement in a letter to the university community, distributed to all faculty, staff and students via electronic mail.
"It has been my great good fortune to be a part of Vermont's extraordinary university, and Rachel and I plan to continue to be a part of this exceptional community for years to come," Fogel wrote in the letter. "In my first statement as UVM's President-elect, in January of 2002, I said that service as president of the University of Vermont seemed to me to be the opportunity of a lifetime. A little more than nine years later, I feel that more than ever."
Board of Trustees Chair Robert F. Cioffi said he and board members are very thankful for President Fogel's vision and strong leadership over the past decade. "Clearly any discussion of UVM's ascendency must begin by acknowledging Dan Fogel's leadership as its central element," Cioffi said. "He has, on so many fronts, set in motion initiatives that are transforming this institution, a transformation that will continue unabated during the remainder of his Presidency. His is a tough and exhausting job, and his commitment to it, and to our University, can only be described as extraordinary."
Cioffi said it is important to position the university for a seamless presidential transition. He said the fact that Fogel will stay for another 15 months should give the institution enough time to conduct a thorough and successful presidential search. He said he intends to appoint a presidential search committee prior to commencement in May.
Regarding the timing of the announcement, Fogel wrote: "It is my observation, after thirty-five years of work in higher education, that the academy does not always do leadership transitions well, but looking forward to the completion of a full decade as UVM's president next spring it struck me that this was a great opportunity to get it right, just as we step up planning for UVM's next comprehensive campaign — the engine of what I believe will be the University's growing margin of excellence — which will not be completed until I am well into my seventies. It is important that UVM's next leader be in a position to see that campaign through from start to finish."
In his letter, Fogel alluded to many successful initiatives at UVM that he and many members of the university community have worked on — from the creation of the Honors College, of the Burack President's Distinguished Lecture Series and the Marsh Professors-at-Large program, the six-credit diversity requirement, and the UVM Transportation Research Center to programs still in the process of coming to birth such as the Transdisciplinary Research Initiative, General Education, and UVM's growing partnership with Vermont's electrical utility industry and the Sandia National Laboratory.
During Fogel's tenure the university has seen the transformation of its physical campus, which has expanded by over a million square feet, or roughly 25%, including the Trinity College Campus, Jeffords Hall, the University Heights Residence Halls, the Greening of Aiken (which will be completed this year), and the opening of the Dudley H. Davis Student Center. The center was completed in time to support an enrollment management plan that has gone from 9,000 applications a year for undergraduate admission to over 22,000.
"Together we have seen UVM achieve unparalleled diversity in its student body. We have seen the University intensify in intentional and effective ways its commitment to our historic land-grant mission and to the indispensable role of Vermont's only research university in supporting the economic vitality of the Green Mountain State. We have seen UVM's wonderful faculty come off the bottom of national salary rankings to attain market averages for public doctoral universities while they have won unprecedented levels of research awards, garnered national honors of great distinction, and made extraordinary contributions to the scholarly and artistic life of the nation. We have seen our students, supported by our talented and dedicated faculty and staff, achieve record numbers of prestigious national fellowships and retention and graduation rates that would be the envy of the vast majority of public colleges and universities nationwide, including last May's historic graduation rate for Vermonters of more than 80%," Fogel wrote.
"Rachel and I have been deeply privileged to play a part in UVM's remarkable advance, and neither our work nor UVM's is done. Much more lies ahead of this great University, and we intend to remain active in the life of the University and of the Vermont community for as long as we live," Fogel wrote.
He continued, "I do not intend in the next fifteen months to be a lame duck. With the continuing, enthusiastic support of a great Board of Trustees, with deans, vice presidents, faculty, and staff who show me every day what terrific colleagues they are, and with engaged, vibrant students, alumni, parents, and friends who cherish this unique institution, we will be working over the course of the next year to ensure that our most recent initiatives, including the Transdisciplinary Research Initiative, General Education, the birth of the UVM Foundation, and the laying of the groundwork for the next campaign are all well established before UVM greets its twenty-sixth president. We look forward to that work with great joy and enthusiasm."