November, apparently, was the unofficial month of new,
40-something presidents.
Exactly one week after the nation chose a new leader,
the university's board of trustees
elected Ronald J. Daniels to be Johns Hopkins' 14th
president and the successor to William R. Brody.
Following the board's Nov. 11 vote, Daniels, currently
the provost of the University of
Pennsylvania, barnstormed the university on a whirlwind
tour that took him from the Homewood
campus to Washington, D.C., with several stops in
between.
Daniels, a youthful-looking 49, arrived at Homewood
early in the morning with his wife, Joanne
Rosen.
The first stop was Garland Hall, where Daniels met
with President Brody's staff and checked
out his new office, while his family received a quick
campus tour. His wife and children would later get
a personal tour of their new home, Nichols House, from
President Brody's wife, Wendy.
Daniels was next led to Hodson Hall and the trustees
boardroom, where he had just been
unanimously elected. The trustees loudly applauded as
Daniels and his family were ushered in by board
chair Pamela P. Flaherty.
In her introduction, Flaherty, also chair of the
presidential search committee, remarked how
Daniels stood out as the clear and ideal choice in a
"remarkable" field of 300 nominees. She noted
Daniels' "commitment to excellence," visionary leadership
and "warm and engaging personality" that
would allow him to fit right into the Johns Hopkins
community.
Daniels, as he did throughout the day, took time in
his comments to laud the tenure of President
Brody, whom he referred to as the "gold standard" of
university presidents.
"Today, as a result of Bill's unstinting leadership,
Johns Hopkins is stronger in education,
research and community service," Daniels said. "But more
than that, because of Bill and his willingness
to assume the mantle of leadership nationally and
internationally, the whole system of higher
education is stronger."
President-elect Daniels leaves
Garland Hall, accompanied by wife Joanne Rosen and children
Drew, Ryan and Alexandra, on his way to meet the board of
trustees.
Photo by Jay VanRensselaer / HIPS
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The Canadian-born Daniels took advantage of several
opportunities to display his charm and
good humor, like when he told reporters at the subsequent
press conference in Mason Hall how he
planned to familiarize himself with Charm City by watching
filmmaker Barry Levinson's Baltimore
trilogy and all of John Waters' movies. "I've been warned
to stand clear of The Wire, however," he
quipped.
He also soberly addressed the economic challenges that
lie ahead for Johns Hopkins and all of
higher education.
"But I'm confident that the university will, as it
always has, confront and surmount these
challenges and become even stronger," he said. "I want to
register publicly, proudly and without
equivocation my firm determination to devote every ounce of
my passion and energy to the bright and
promising future that stretches out before Johns
Hopkins."
In his next stop, Shriver Hall, Daniels alluded again
to his predecessor, who sat on stage with
Flaherty; Provost Kristina Johnson; deans Nick Jones of
Engineering, Adam Falk of Arts and Sciences
and Yash Gupta of Business; and APL Director Rich Roca.
"Someone asked me as I was walking over
here why I was looking down at my feet," he told the large
crowd of students, staff and faculty who
had assembled for the early-afternoon event. "I think I was
focusing on the big shoes I have to now
fill [laughs]. Bill, you have big feet. Figuratively, of
course."
Following the event at Shriver, Daniels was shuttled
to the Peabody campus in Mount Vernon.
There he met briefly with a group of its leaders in the
Peabody Institute's Bank of America lounge. He
also had a moment to spare for a quick tour, his first look
at the campus. Daniels said he knew of
Peabody's lofty reputation in the music world but appeared
taken aback by the grandeur of its
facilities.
The Daniels entourage next traveled to East Baltimore
to be introduced to the Johns Hopkins
medical institutions community at the School of Medicine's
Turner Auditorium.
Perhaps feeling more comfortable in his new shoes,
Daniels veered off script and spoke of the
fulfillment of a dream to be the president of an elite
university system with a medical school at its
heart.
"Now, here I am, of all places, at Johns Hopkins," he
said. "What an incredible honor."
Daniels later hopped in a car for his last stop of the
day, the Applied Physics Laboratory. He
would afterward spend the evening in Washington, D.C., so
that he could meet with members of the
SAIS community the following morning.
Then it was back to Philadelphia to resume his role as
Penn's provost.
He did promise, however, that his family would soon be
trading in their cheese steaks for crab
cakes.
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