A Times Editorial

USF's new leader

Dr. Judy Genshaft, the new president of the University of South Florida, may rise to the challenge of her new job. If so, the concerns raised by the search process won't be remembered.

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 12, 2000

The University of South Florida community and its friends throughout Tampa Bay have a stake in the success of USF's new president, Dr. Judy Genshaft. Colleagues at the State University of New York at Albany, where Genshaft has been serving as provost, speak highly of her energy and drive. Tom Petway, chairman of the Board of Regents, praised her fundraising talents and administrative skills. University system Chancellor Adam Herbert called her a consensus-builder. All of those attributes will serve her and USF well.

However, Genshaft -- along with Herbert, Petway and the other officials responsible for her selection -- also must overcome concerns raised by this search process.

The original pool of candidates for the USF presidency was weak. Supporters of USF, a large and growing urban research university, had reason to expect that the next president would have experience either as provost of a major research university or as president of a smaller but comparable institution. Interim USF President Richard Peck, former president of the University of New Mexico, met that standard. Neither Genshaft nor the other finalists for the USF post did.

Several leading members of the search committee would have preferred to reopen the search. Once it was clear that Herbert and the regents intended to press forward, Genshaft was not the search committee's first choice. In fact, she probably would not have been one of the three finalists for the job if Petway had not intervened on her behalf.

Of course, former USF President Betty Castor, who resigned last fall, had none of the typical academic qualifications for the job. Her appointment was met with broad skepticism -- not to mention the active hostility of a prominent bloc of USF faculty members. Yet

Castor quickly used her charm, energy, political acumen and solid credentials as an educa-

tor to win over most of the skeptics. Castor departed as a popular and successful president and left Genshaft with a tough act to follow.

Genshaft's advocates say she has what it takes to build on USF's emerging profile in research and technology, to stabilize the medical school, to fend with the byzantine politics of Tallahassee, to control a sprawling, multicampus urban university. Nothing in a curriculum vitae ensures success in such a complex job. Instead, success will depend largely on Genshaft's personal attributes, which the USF community is only beginning to get to know.

Herbert has been a powerful friend to USF in his short tenure as chancellor. He fought for USF's inclusion in the top tier of the system's research universities, and he helped overcome considerable political obstacles to the expansion of undergraduate programs at USF's St. Petersburg campus. However, the choice of Genshaft is the most important action Herbert has taken to chart USF's future.

If Genshaft turns out to be the right choice, none of the bumps along the way to her selection will be remembered.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.