University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan is leaving after just two years on the job, reported Inside Higher Ed. Sullivan cited “philosophical differences’ with the university’s governing board, though what that could mean is quite a mystery.
One board member suggested that Sullivan was unprepared to meet the university’s financial challenges:
“The board feels strongly and overwhelmingly that we need bold and proactive leadership on tackling the difficult issues that we face. The pace of change in higher education and in health care has accelerated greatly in the last two years. We have calls internally for resolution of tough financial issues that require hard decisions on resource allocation. The compensation of our valued faculty and staff has continued to decline in real terms, and we acknowledge the tremendous task ahead of making star hires to fill the many spots that will be vacated over the next few years as our eminent faculty members retire in great numbers. These challenges are truly an existential threat to the greatness of UVA,” said the statement.
This news is weird, to put it mildly. I remember Sullivan from her days as provost at the University of Michigan, where I earned my undergraduate degree. She was certainly considered to be a capable administrator. It is hard to imagine a series of events that would result in her losing favor with Virginia so rapidly. Perhaps more details will follow.
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