MOTE TO RETIRE

University President Dan Mote announced his resignation yesterday, ending a 12-year period in which he led the university to unprecedented successes while consistently battling eroding state support for higher education.

"Twelve years is a long time — longer than I expected when I arrived," Mote said of his reason for resigning. "The place is in very good shape, running very well; the staff is very strong, and it's a good time to have a transition."

Mote, 73, will leave his position Aug. 31 and take a one-year leave of absence. Afterward, he will stay with the university as an engineering professor. Mote said announcing his resignation now will limit his time as a lame duck while providing enough time for the university system to search for his replacement.

As per university system requirements, Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he would select a committee to search for Mote's replacement that will include students, faculty and staff. Final approval of the committee's recommendation rests with the Board of Regents — a 17-member panel of gubernatorial appointees that oversees the university system.

The list of the university's accomplishments under Mote is dizzying. Graduation rates have increased from 65 to 82 percent; construction was completed on Comcast Center, Ludwig Field, the alumni center, the bioscience research building, M-Square research park, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and new journalism and engineering buildings; the university launched its first $1 billion fundraising campaign; and the university raised a record-shattering $518 million in research funds last year. Throughout Mote's tenure, the university saw a steady rise in national rankings among public research universities — from No. 30 in U.S. News and World Report in 1998, to No. 18 last year.

But Mote lists one of his greatest accomplishments as creating an "expectation of excellence."

"The most important thing that surprised me is the power of the bully pulpit," Mote said. "That even though you have no authority — the number of people that actually have to do anything I say on this campus is minimal — if you can craft an idea and a vision that people adopt and believe in, and more importantly adopt as their own and realize they want to be a part of it, then you can actually create a movement that has huge impact."

Administrators agreed he created a profound shift in university culture.

"He sort of changed the way we think about ourselves and what's possible," Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie said. "I've been on the faculty here for 38 years, and I think the faculty members and the university believes in ourselves now in a way that we didn't before. And I think we understand that we're a university of true excellence, and I think that's across the board."

Others were less enthusiastic about Mote's tenure.

Former Graduate Student Government President Laura Moore said although Mote did better the university's reputation, he didn't focus enough effort on bettering historically poor university relations with the surrounding community.

"I think those relationships have become so bitter you almost have to have a person come in and make things better," she said. "Neither side trusts the other, each blames the other for the bad things that have gone on in the history of the relationship. ... I hope with a new person we can have a fresh start."

Craig Newman, secretary of the university's chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Mote also fell short on staff relations.

"Mote has not been that staff friendly — plain and simple," he said. "[Mote] delegates the concerns about staff, especially lower paid staff, to people lower down the organizational chain. It's just not something he sees as a priority. ... We don't think he has respect for the work that we do; the work's important but not the staff that does it."

Mote, who had been vice chancellor for university relations at the University of California at Berkeley, assumed the presidency in 1998, taking over for Kirwan.

At a press conference on a boiling July day, Mote was introduced as the university's new president. Already dressed in a suit and tie, Mote joyously threw a bright red university sweatshirt over it. But enthusiasm alone wouldn't solve the university's budget problems.

Under former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, declining state support forced tuition to skyrocket. The state's persistent budget woes continued to cause problems under Gov. Martin O'Malley, who has sliced more than $86 million from the university's budget during the last two years, though he managed to keep tuition frozen for four straight years.

Mote's strategy to minimize the damage was two-fold: He hyped the university as an economic engine that would drive job growth and attract businesses and placed increasing emphasis on raising private funds. In his 2007 State of the Campus address, Mote said the state will not give the university "what we need for this job" in the "foreseeable future."

But now, the university's future will fall into new hands. Kirwan said he hoped to begin the process of looking for Mote's replacement before the end of the month and have a candidate in place by the beginning of the fall semester. If a president has yet to be selected before Mote's resignation, Kirwan will name an interim appointee.

In the past, Mote has mentioned Provost Nariman Farvardin as a future candidate for university president. Mote said yesterday he couldn't comment about who would be good for the job.

Farvardin said it is "way too early for me to make any comment" about whether he is interested in the position, saying Mote's resignation caught him, and many, off-guard.

"We had a cabinet meeting on Friday," Farvardin said. "We were here, the president and the vice presidents, and he started this meeting by making this announcement. And for quite some time, maybe a few seconds, there was complete silence. Everyone was completely surprised."

Everyone except Mote.

"You always want to leave before the party's over," Mote said in a 2005 interview.

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