Moving On
President John Shumaker is Leaving to Become
President of the University of Tennessee

It was John Shumaker's first day on the job as president of the University of Louisville.

He strode into his office, adjusted his tie and settled into the chair behind his desk. His first news conference with the media was less than a minute away. His media relations director was standing by, ready to usher a dozen reporters into the room.

"Wait a second. What's that?" she asked the president.

Shumaker turned and looked over his shoulder at the back of his chair, a brand new one that somebody had bought especially for him. There was a string dangling from the top. Attached to the end of the string was a large cardboard tag emblazoned with the words: "La-Z-Boy."

As he read the tag, his face lit up in a devilish grin. "Let's leave it on."

The door opened, and the members of the press filed into the room.

"Hi," he said. "My name is John Shumaker, and I'm pleased to meet you. Today I'll talk with you about my plans for the university's future, and I'll try to answer any questions you may have for me."

He reached over, grabbed the La-Z-Boy tag and held it up for all to see.

"But first, I'd like to say that this label has it all wrong about my leadership style."

John Shumaker hasn't spent much time in an easy chair since he assumed U of L's top job six-and-a-half years ago. But then, he's not the kind of guy who sits around and waits for things to happen.

"I've gone full bore all the time because I've really liked working here."

Shumaker, who was inaugurated as the university's 16th president in 1995, announced on March 1 he was resigning to become president of the University of Tennessee. Despite a formidable list of accomplishments during his tenure at U of L, he hesitates to tout the legacy he is leaving behind.

"I don't think you can determine someone's legacy until at least 20 or 30 years go by," he says. "My hope is that during U of L's tricentennial celebration somebody notices that the trajectory for the university changed sharply between 1995 and 2002, that this became a different place."

As soon as Shumaker arrived in Louisville he faced two monumental tasks. First, he had to come up with a way to manage the university's hospital that would put it back on sound financial footing. He also had to deal with an athletics program whose reputation was in serious trouble due to a series of NCAA violations.

"To operate the hospital, we developed University Medical Center, an innovative partnership among the university and Jewish and Norton hospitals. And we successfully dealt with athletics, which took a little longer but resulted in a much cleaner program."

He's also proud of U of L's renewed focus on undergraduate students. The university has invested in more student financial aid, new student residence halls, an undergraduate research initiative, new academic advising positions, improved counseling and career services and an expanded and enriched honors program.

Shumaker is careful to not take all of the credit for the university's many successes during his presidency.

"It was all done through teamwork," he says. "I may have formed the teams and empowered them, but the work was done by a lot of people working together‹not just me."

As an example, Shumaker cited the Challenge for Excellence, U of L's agenda to become a nationally preeminent metropolitan research university.

"The Challenge wasn't my idea alone. I took it on the road and discussed it with hundreds of people here at the university and off campus ... We kept incorporating their feedback, and the plan we ended up with reflects the best thinking of the faculty, students, staff and leaders in our community and state."

Because the plan has measurable goals U of L has been able to effectively chart its progress, he notes.

"I think people never thought we could be a research university," he says. "They never thought it could happen. But look at us today. We're doing quality research and we have more Ph.D. programs than ever before.

"We set lofty goals and we've made amazing strides toward accomplishing them."

Another indicator of U of L's success is having "people after your people," he notes. In recent months, other universities across the country have been actively working to lure some of U of L's top administrators and faculty members to their institutions.

"This tells you that you must be doing something right," Shumaker says.

His time at U of L has not been without conflicts, Shumaker notes. Humor and a refusal to get stressed have helped him relieve the friction in many situations.

"Relaxation and not getting tense is very important in this job," he says.

What has been his most unusual experience as president?

"It has to be the Grawemeyer Awards dinner we had several years ago" he responds. "It was one of the most awful experiences of my presidency.

"We had the dinner outside in a tent in the tailgating area of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. A lot of influential people were there. The weather suddenly went crazy‹the temperature dropped 45 degrees in 20 minutes and people were freezing. The wind almost blew the tent down.

"Then one of our guests, a state legislator, ate some shrimp and nearly died because he was allergic to shellfish. If Joel Kaplan (vice president for health affairs) hadn't broken into the athletic training room and found some adrenaline to give him, he would have died for sure."

The energy Shumaker has devoted to being president has made it difficult for him to balance work with home, family and his personal interests. He has had to be relentless in carving out time for himself or "the job would have swallowed me whole."

Shumaker is confident that U of L's administration, faculty, students, staff and alumni will keep the momentum going after he leaves.

"There is so much talent in the university family ... If I can give one piece of parting advice to people here it's that they should keep the faith and keep the focus."

As for his replacement, he hopes that U of L's presidential search committee will recruit someone who will value the Challenge for Excellence agenda and keep pushing to make the university the best it can be.

"We've come so far in six years," he says. "We must continue to work hard to keep U of L moving forward."