  Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 466 Registered: 11-2006 |
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20070926/U PDATE/709260458/1003 Big loss for both WSU and Detroit. No word what his next career move is. (Message edited by emu_steve on September 26, 2007) | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2211 Registered: 06-2006 |
Wow. That sucks...he's going to be hard to replace... | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 258 Registered: 08-2005 |
finally someone psoted...i've been sitting on this all day :-) | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 2416 Registered: 06-2004 |
Sweet -- Maybe Dr. Crissman will make his triumphant return. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 2790 Registered: 10-2003 |
Unfortunate. I hope his successor continues his desire to renew WSU's commitment to the welfare of its neighboring community. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6595 Registered: 02-2004 |
We'll miss you Reid. The man who saved Wayne State University. | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 488 Registered: 02-2006 |
REID FOR MAYOR!•••••••<313> | ||
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248 Post Number: 974 Registered: 10-2006 |
That really sucks! I bet some high falutin' bigwig University is recruiting his socks off. | ||
Dissolvedgirl3 Member Username: Dissolvedgirl3 Post Number: 6 Registered: 09-2007 |
BOOO!••• He was awesome! Loved my time at WSU under him. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 776 Registered: 01-2006 |
Just fyi...WSU also announced they will be dropping the men's hockey team after this season. This is like a punch in the stomach to me, as huge college hockey fan. : ( I met Dr. Reid at a football game last season. He seemed like a great leader for the school and Detroit. | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 259 Registered: 08-2005 |
man, I didnt know we were lettin hockey go to...we actually weren't bad at it...just didn't have a place of our own to play. | ||
Belleislerunner Member Username: Belleislerunner Post Number: 366 Registered: 12-2003 |
"He sits on the boards of Detroit Renaissance, Handleman Company, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Mack-Cali Real Estate Trust. He is married to Pamela Trotman Reid, provost and executive vice president of Roosevelt University in Chicago." His wife used to work at Univ of Mich in Ann Arbor but left recently for this promotion in Chicago. My guess is this is more a “family” decision as he looks at what schools are available in the Chicago market. If I was a betting man…it's tought to do the long distance commute. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 3710 Registered: 02-2005 |
He's wayyy better than Mary Sue Coleman here at UM. His attitude towards making Wayne a place to live was just what we needed. There's still a lot to be done, and a lot he didn't do esp. in terms of raising the university's standards and climbing the rankings. | ||
Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 2228 Registered: 10-2003 |
He has cut back some important programs that tie in with his desire to make the campus and city more intertwined. The Geography & Urban Planning Dept. is continually threatened with budget cut backs. They were a key school in the the College of Urban, Labor & Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA). Once CULMA was dismantled, a lot of great talent was lost: Kurt Metzger and many others who aren't so well known outside of academic circles, left for other places where Urban Planning and related fields were more valued. | ||
Ccbatson Member Username: Ccbatson Post Number: 4414 Registered: 11-2006 |
Crissman? Former dean of the med school and a pathologist...why would he be chosen, or want the job? | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 2420 Registered: 06-2004 |
Yes that Crissman. He and the Dean did not have the best of relationships - and Dr. Reid hastened his departure from the medical school. Had nothing to do with being Dean of the university. It was not really a serious post - and probably did not deserve the 55 words I have used to explain it. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3173 Registered: 10-2003 |
condoleeza rice anyone? | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 260 Registered: 08-2005 |
PResident Reid's wife has worked in Chicago for many years and she, too, will be making a similar announcement. He's not leaving for anything else so much (don't want to eat my words later) as he just wants to rest...he is in his 60's. | ||
Mdoyle Member Username: Mdoyle Post Number: 219 Registered: 10-2006 |
As a WSU student and a soon to be alum I dearly hope that the next president continues Dr. Reids dedication to not only the expansion of Wayne State but also the integration with the Midtown and greater Detroit community. From the push to make WSU less commuter oriented to South University Village I hope the trend to revitalize the area continues. | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 5992 Registered: 11-2004 |
I met Dr. Reid years ago at a WSU men's hockey game and I thought he was a very cordial man. He was down to earth and was genuinely excited about watching the men's hockey team play. He never seemed boastful nor arrogant and just seemed like a likable sort of man who cared. The Cultural Center & surrounding community as well as WSU will miss him. | ||
Sharmaal Member Username: Sharmaal Post Number: 1218 Registered: 09-2004 |
In case anyone is interested, here is his letter to the University. Dear Members of the Wayne State University Community: I have informed the Board of Governors of my intention to step down from the presidency of Wayne State University, effective in 2008 toward the end of this academic year. I was selected President in 1997 after a national search comprising scores of candidates. I was honored to be offered the ninth presidency of the university. As I thought then, my presidency here has become the pinnacle of my career. I take great pride in serving as President and for the successes that the faculty, staff and the Board of Governors have enabled me to accomplish even when there were obstacles to overcome. A New Era of Greatness Immediately after being named President of Wayne State University, I identified 10 key challenges the university needed to address. These included developing a comprehensive strategy to fund research; creating an infrastructure both inside and outside the university to support a major capital campaign; adopting strategic planning and facility master planning processes; improving academic, recreational and service facilities; developing our academic programs; formulating a comprehensive enrollment and management strategy; planning for the future of athletics; and enhancing campus life to meet the needs of both residential and commuter students. Early efforts in my administration led to two five-year strategic planning processes. I am proud that each plan was adopted unanimously by the Board of Governors. I have no doubt that our disciplined strategic planning has changed this university for decades to come. We have improved the educational experience for our students through major initiatives in global education, honors, information technology and urban partnerships. We have instituted new programs and development to energize the urban campus for the 21st century. We have accomplished these things while continuing to enhance the diversity of the university. Our enrollment has grown from just under 30,000 to approximately 33,000 students. Our most recent entering class of full-time first-time students is the largest in the history of our institution. We are among the nation’s 30 largest universities and among the prestigious 3.6 percent of universities classified under Carnegie’s most recent system as Research University, Very High Activity, the highest research classification possible. We have the largest enrollment of graduate and professional students in Michigan, placing us among the top 10 in the United States. We have the nation’s largest single-campus medical school, one that conducts more federally funded research than most medical schools at public universities. Recently, our PhD in Nursing was ranked fifth in the nation and was the only Nursing PhD program at Michigan’s three research universities to be listed in the top 10. In fall 2007, for the very first time, we were informed that our MBA program, the 10th largest part-time program of its type in the nation, will be ranked quite favorably by the Princeton Review. The undergraduate program in social work consistently has ranked number one in the nation. Students in engineering won a national ethanol efficiency competition with a General Motors engine they modified. Our debate team has national ranking, and won the national championship last year, competing against elite schools such as Princeton, Columbia and Harvard. We are attracting academically stronger students in all schools and colleges. The Honors Program during my tenure has grown from 250 students to more than 1,000, with participation from every undergraduate school and college in the university. We have 12 National Merit Scholars (up from 10 last year), and a record enrollment in the program overall. The Honors Program includes a strong service component; many participants conduct their projects with some of our top researchers. All 21 honors students who submitted papers for a national research conference in 2006 were selected, leading us to field one of the largest groups in attendance. We have expanded our programs abroad and increased our international student enrollment to one of the largest in the nation. We educate nearly 1,000 Canadian citizens, the largest enrollment of Canadians at any university in the United States. While we are predominantly a commuter campus, in the past five years we added three new residence halls with more than 1,700 beds, bringing our total resident population to nearly 2,500 students. Capital and Strategic Planning As part of our strategic planning, a 20-year master plan for facilities was formulated and subsequently adopted by the Board of Governors. We built the four-story Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center and a new home for the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; expanded the law school complex to include the new Spencer Partrich auditorium/moot court facility; renovated a building to be the new home for mortuary and forensic sciences; built the Wayne State University Welcome Center complex, a development comprising a bookstore, café, a 700-vehicle parking structure and a four-story one-stop-shopping student services facility; and renovated the chemistry building. We acquired the Maccabees Building from Detroit Public Schools along with various other properties. Overall, the university completed $700 million in new construction within the past nine years. Capital projects under construction or in planning include the $200 million Biomedical Research Building, the School of Medicine’s $35 million Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Education Commons, the Law School’s $10 million Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights and Classroom Building, and the $36 million South Village Residential and Retail Complex, a unique joint venture with a private developer to further the revitalization of our campus neighborhood. When these projects are completed, they will take our capital spending to almost $1 billion by the end of this decade. Fundraising and the Capital Campaign The challenge of fundraising has been a personal joy and the centerpiece of my 10-year tenure as President. During my first three years at Wayne State, we initiated successful fundraising campaigns for the Law School (with considerable help from Eugene Driker), and the College of Pharmacy (including pharmacy and mortuary science). We solicited and secured three $5 million pledges in my first 13 months as president, and received a $2 million gift to endow the Maggie Allesee Department of Dance, at that time believed to be the largest gift to an academic dance program in the history of the United States. Early in my presidency I asked the Board to create the Wayne State University Foundation, and the university’s endowment was transferred to the Foundation in 2001. Prior to my arrival, the university’s annual fundraising was around $25 million; this year we expect to raise more than $80 million. Total giving in all categories and the number of alumni donors have increased dramatically during my administration, and the positive trend continues. We now are entering the final phase of Wayne First, our first comprehensive capital campaign. We set an ambitious goal of $500 million by 2009, and I am delighted to report that the campaign is a resounding success. While we have far surpassed our goal, we will continue our fundraising efforts to meet several outstanding needs. Many successes of the capital campaign have come from distinguished alumni and friends, including a gift of $2 million to name the Mort Harris Fitness and Recreation Center and a $10 million gift by Nick Labedz in honor of alumnus Richard J. Mazurek, M.D. to name the medical school’s educational commons. This was the largest individual gift ever received by the university. Nick Labedz’s commitment to the School of Medicine now exceeds $25 million. Most recently we solicited and received a cash gift of $3 million for the naming of the Marvin I. Danto Engineering Development Center. Another alumnus, Yousif Ghafari, made a commitment of $9 million to name one of our new residence halls, also funding chairs in mathematics, engineering and medicine, an endowment for student programs and a laboratory in engineering. This was the second largest individual gift ever received by the university. It is most gratifying that over the past 10 years we consistently have raised the largest or second largest amount of money in the city of Detroit. We are the third most successful fundraiser in the state (after the University of Michigan and Michigan State). According to a report on philanthropy published last year, we are among the top 200 fundraisers of all organizations in the nation. Just last week we unveiled the largest gift in the history of the university, a nearly $408 million in-kind contribution from the General Motors-sponsored Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE). This award is the third largest in the history of the PACE program, the second largest ever in the U.S., and the largest to a U.S. public university. The PACE gift now takes our campaign to more than $813 million. My goal is that before I depart in 2008, total fundraising during my tenure will exceed $1 billion. Strengthening the University in Difficult Times While I take pride in many accomplishments, there have been challenges along the way. Throughout my tenure there has been a profound retrenchment in state funding for higher education. Much of the burden of the downturn in Michigan’s economy has been placed on higher education by two different governors and two different political parties. This dwindling of resources has occurred against the backdrop of double-digit increases in our healthcare and utility costs and aging facilities that require attention. Through these challenges, I remained steadfast in my commitment to innovate in the academic area and maintain a safety net for our most vulnerable students. During this period, we combined two colleges and eliminated two others while preserving most programs. We added Ph.D. programs in social work and business, and created the Pharm.D. program. Despite deteriorating fiscal conditions, my administration began two innovative programs to support research. While the Program Enhancement Fund targeted specific doctoral programs for special support, the President’s Research Enhancement Funds targeted specific faculty, or more often faculty working in groups, to broaden research areas across disciplines. Annual research expenditures have grown every year for the past decade and now exceed $225 million, up from approximately $120 million 10 years ago. Wayne State University now is a recognized leader in economic innovation. I am a strong advocate of economic development as both a vehicle for the discovery of knowledge and a direct way to benefit society. In 1998, I persuaded Jack Smith, then Chairman and CEO of General Motors, to donate a historic building valued at $1.3 million that could become a research and technology incubator. We successfully pursued designation as a “SmartZone;” as a result, we and our partners have created TechTown, an urban research and technology village comprising a collaboration center, startup businesses, high-tech companies, retail space and residential facilities. TechTown now is home to TechOne, NextEnergy and Asterand, an international tissue bank organization that operates on five continents and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. More than 40 companies are housed in TechOne. Innovative Research We have promoted close relationships with businesses in the Detroit area. Our initiatives have resulted in successes including a $6.5 million donation in “clean room” equipment to our College of Engineering by Delphi Automotive Systems. Faculty researchers in engineering, medicine, chemistry, biology and physics now work collaboratively at our smart sensors laboratories to develop novel micro-devices to restore sight to the blind, provide instant blood analysis and controlled chemical or drug release, detect cancerous tumors and monitor vehicle emissions. I am proud of a new spirit of collaboration with our partners in higher education in Michigan. In 1999, my counterparts at the University of Michigan and Michigan State joined me to propose to the Governor and the State Legislature the use of a portion of tobacco settlement funds to create the Life Sciences Corridor, a $1 billion 20-year project to place Michigan at the head of life sciences research -- and as it has evolved, homeland security, alternative fuel and advanced automotive manufacturing. The three presidents have since formed the University Research Corridor, a consortium of our research universities designed to transform Michigan in a post-automotive area, similar to what the North Carolina Research Triangle did after the tobacco and textile industries declined in that state. Establishment of the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) here on campus was a tremendous accomplishment for the university. It resulted from a national competition among the University of Miami, University of Pittsburgh, Yale University and Wayne State University. In 2002, NIH awarded us a 10-year, multimillion-dollar contract to house and support the PRB, an intramural branch that conducts studies of maternal and infant health and disease. As part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the PRB is one of only a few NIH intramural branches located outside its main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This represents a unique partnership between the NIH and an academic medical program. The contract, with an estimated potential value of $125 million over its 10-year duration, has had a profound and far-reaching social and economic impact on Detroit and surrounding communities. We are in the midst of another exciting research challenge that presents the greatest opportunity of my tenure. It is the Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) competition, a program of NIH. Universities have two paths for consideration for the CTSA. They may apply outright for an award, and 13 universities have received one. An alternative path for universities whose research enterprise needed more time was to apply for a CTSA planning grant. On the advice of Robert Mentzer, MD, dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine and a distinguished researcher in his own right, I appointed a presidential commission to address NIH’s goals for the project. The Commission’s work was successful, and the university received a CTSA Planning Grant in 2006. The entire university is now preparing the application, with 12 working groups engaged across virtually all schools and colleges, centers and institutes. When the NIH process is complete, there will be 40 to 50 CTSA Centers nationwide and significant federal funding will flow to those centers over a five-year period. Our application for a Wayne State University CTSA Center will be submitted before I leave the presidency. The Next Era of Greatness Finally, most of all I am proud of the fact that my presidency steered the university through its 10-year accreditation review, receiving extraordinary marks from the visiting evaluation team. This would seem to be a logical place for a new presidency to start. It is where my own presidency started in 1997. Our effort to rebuild an environment of civility on campus is one of the most satisfying achievements of my leadership. Much has changed about the university during my tenure, including the faculty, students, schools and colleges; the quality of campus life; and even the Board of Governors itself. I hope the Board, with the help of the entire university community, will seek and find a new president whose vision and leadership result in the next era of greatness for Wayne State. I genuinely think the Board and everyone at Wayne State will benefit immensely from a search for a new president. The university and the greater community at large will receive an infusion of new ideas and a new vision of future opportunities. After more than a decade at the helm, it is time for me to turn over the presidency to someone else. I realize with a great deal of satisfaction that my tenure here has been nearly twice as long as the typical presidency of a major research university. I have served longer than the presidents of the state’s other research universities and third longest among all of Michigan’s 15 public universities. In addition to the Board of Governors, I have so many to thank: colleagues who have served in my cabinet; deans who have been partners in leading our schools and colleges; chairs of departments and centers and program directors; staff members throughout the university; supporters in the community, particularly hundreds of thousands of alumni and friends worldwide; and, of course, the many thousands of students who have attended our university over the past 10 years. Pam and I have not completed our plans for the future but hopefully we will do so soon. We always will be interested in the prosperity of Wayne State University, and support this extraordinary institution in its mission to become the nation’s premier urban, public research university. Working together, you and I have kept Wayne State University both great and accessible; we can be especially proud of that accomplishment and look confidently toward the years to come. As we begin this transition year, I extend my best wishes to each and every one of you. I appreciate the many kindnesses you have shown me and my family. Most of all, I want to emphasize the gratitude I feel for having had the honor to be your President for the 10 finest years of my life. I look forward to the journey ahead, and realize that no matter what path lies before me, I always will be a Warrior, and a Tartar, at heart. Sincerely, Irvin D. Reid President |
