U.Va. names its first female president

CHARLOTTESVILLE

Forty years after enrolling its first class of undergraduate women , the University of Virginia on Monday selected Teresa A. Sullivan, the provost at the University of Michigan, as its first female president.

Sullivan, 60, will replace Portsmouth-born John T. Casteen III, who will retire Aug. 1 after leading one of the nation’s top public universities for 20 years. She will receive an annual compensation package of $680,000.

John O. “Dubby” Wynne, rector of the Board of Visitors, called Sullivan “an extraordinary talent who brings to the university an enormous depth and breadth of experience in every aspect of public higher education.”

Wynne said Sullivan is well-versed in the inner workings of a school’s daily operations . She also knows how to support a second campus, such as U.Va’s College at Wise, and has experience in managing risk.

During a news conference Monday , Sullivan said, “This is really one of the jewels of higher education in the United States.”

She said she was drawn to the university founded by Thomas Jefferson because of its rich history and academic legacy. At Michigan, Wynne said, Sullivan is known as the “provost on the prowl” for the way she circulates around the campus . Sullivan said she looked forward to doing the same on the Grounds .

“I am truly honored to be selected to serve,” Sullivan said.

Deborah DiCroce, president of Tidewater Community College, said she looks forward to working with Sullivan and noted that the new U.Va. leader will join a handful of women college presidents in the state.

“By all indications, the Board of Visitors has hit a home run,” DiCroce said.

Wynne admitted that the 19-member search committee had an almost impossible wish list for a new president.

The committee wanted a strong educator who could ensure the school’s long-term financial health; complete its $3 billion fundraising campaign; increase funded research in the sciences, technology and engineering; and sustain the focus on diversity, among other goals.

Wynne said they’ve found what they were looking for in Sullivan. The Board of Visitors elected her in a unanimous vote.

Sullivan went to the University of Michigan in 2006, where she also serves as executive vice president for academic affairs and chief budget officer. She oversees $1.5 billion of the school ’s $5.4 billion annual budget. She has 44 direct reports, including deans of 19 schools and colleges.

Before coming to Michigan, Sullivan spent 27 years at the University of Texas at Austin.

Sullivan was raised in the South during the time of desegregation – in Little Rock, Ark., until she was 13, and then in Jackson, Miss., until she went to college.

“My high school was the first in Mississippi to integrate,” she said in a statement released Monday afternoon. “We were all touched by those times. They were what led me to become a sociologist.”

She has continued to teach and publish throughout her career and is the author or co-author of six books and more than 80 scholarly articles and chapters.

Her research focuses on labor force demography, and her most recent work explores the question of who files for bankruptcy and why.

Sullivan is married to Douglas Laycock, who will join the School of Law faculty. Sullivan said Monday that her husband’s family has Virginia roots, including his mother, who grew up in Richmond.

John Nelson, the student council president who served on the search committee, said in a statement that he appreciated Sullivan’s understanding of student self-governance.

“It’s clear that she cares deeply about students,” he said.

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com