The resignation of Arts & Sciences Dean Ed Ayers after five years in UVA’s administration (www.virginia.edu) prompts the question—how long do University top dogs stay, and when is it time to roll over?
 You can’t touch this: John Casteen outpaces other elite university presidents by almost 3 to 1. |
If administrators at comparable universities are any guide, five to six years seems about average. In that case, many of UVA’s admins are on par, but UVA’s President John T. Casteen III may have sat too long.
Casteen, who does not have a contract as per UVA tradition, but is evaluated every year by the Board of Visitors, has been president of the University for a whopping 16 years. UVA even has a grave site in his name all ready at UVA cemetery for Casteen to be buried among other prominent members of the University when he, er, moves on.
In 2005, Casteen pledged to stay six years—long enough to see through the capital campaign. The president has said he will raise $3 billion by 2011. Casteen’s office could not comment on his unusually lengthy tenure.
University Top Dogs
School Name Position Tenure
UVA John T. Casteen President 16 years
UNC-CH James Moeser Chancellor 6 years
Stanford John Hennessy President 6 years
U Michigan Mary Sue Coleman President 4 years
Duke Richard H. Brodhead President 2 years
UC-Berkeley Robert J. Birgeneau Chancellor 2 years
Cornell David J. Skorton President 5 months
Stanford Sharon Long Dean School of Humanities & Science 6 years
UVA Ed Ayers Dean College of Arts & Sciences 5 years
U Michigan Terrence McDonald Dean College of Literature, 3 years
Science and the Arts
Cornell G. Peter Lepage Dean College of Arts & Sciences 2 years
Duke George McLendon Dean of Faculty of Arts & Sciences 2 years
UC-Berkeley Mark Richards Dean College of Letters & Science 5 months
UNC-CH Vacant Dean College of Arts & Sciences n/a
