Johns Hopkins Magazine - February 1995 Issue

Editor's Note

"Have You Heard?"


Journalists are normally a somewhat cynical lot--surprised by nothing, always equipped with a quick retort. And we here at the Magazine are no exception. But when we got the news that President Richardson will leave Hopkins this summer to become president and CEO of the Kellogg Foundation, we were left--quite literally--speechless. Across campus, and around the neighborhood cafes and Hopkins watering holes, the shocked reaction was pretty much the same: "Do you know?" "Have you heard?"

It seems like only yesterday that we were covering William C. Richardson's inauguration as Johns Hopkins's 11th president. In fact, he's been at the helm now for almost five years. And in that time, Richardson has distinguished himself locally, statewide, and nationally for his adept handling of the seemingly "impossible" job today of running a major university.

How has he done it? In this age in which image too often wins out over substance, Richardson is, refreshingly, an exception to the rule. He is not flamboyant. He is not given to colorful quotes and snappy soundbites. He is instead a man of quiet authority and sincerity--the kind who, through his apparent lack of ego, manages to get good things done and create an atmosphere of good will and cooperation in the process.

These qualities have made him both an unusually successful fundraiser (donors trust him and his ardent faith in the worth of Johns Hopkins), and a widely respected leader in the battle to preserve federal support for university research spending. (When education leaders want a persuasive speaker to testify before Congress, he's the one to whom they turn.)

And these qualities are, ultimately, what led the Kellogg Foundation to seek him out. While Richardson's presence will be sorely missed at Hopkins and throughout Maryland, few can blame him for accepting what amounts to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The nation's second largest foundation has had only two directors in the past 50 years, so chances are the offer wouldn't have come around again. And as Kellogg's leader, Richardson will be in charge of doling out $250 million in grants each year in areas that dovetail beautifully with his professional interests and experience: higher education, youth development, health care, rural development. In short, it's his dream job.

In the months ahead, we'll bring you more about the man who so masterfully led Hopkins for the past half decade, and we'll keep you updated on the international search to find his successor. --SD


Contributors

"I like shooting real life, because real life is much odder than anything I could dream up in a studio," says Jennifer Bishop '79, the Baltimore-based photographer who shot this issue's cover story, "A Long Way from the Old Neighborhood."

Known locally for her gritty, off-beat photos that were a regular feature of theBaltimore City Paper for 17 years, Bishop also works nationally and teaches a workshop at the International Center for Photography in New York. She recently shot an article on teenage mothers for People magazine, and simulated a photo of Watergate's infamous "Deep Throat" for the Washington Journalism Review. Or perhaps you spied her photos in Woman's World's expose on purported UFO abductees?

To capture student Greg Drozdek, Bishop started out on campus. "It wasn't really working," she says. So instead she opted for a setting more in tune with the tough New York City neighborhood where he'd grown up. The two headed off to West Baltimore. Bishop was struck by the ease with which Drozdek could move between two such very different worlds: "He fit in as well out on the streets as he did at Hopkins." --SD


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