Post by Boy on May 15, 2006 11:02:17 GMT -5
By Cristina Silva, Globe Staff | May 15, 2006
The cafeteria staff at Simmons College had begun to complain. Faculty and staff were swiping lunch trays and piling them up in their offices.
Determined to help, the college's president, Daniel S. Cheever, slipped on his pink slippers, each adorned with a huge daisy on top, which he wears when his feet hurt. He walked around the campus buildings, kindly reminding professors to return their trays.
The cafeteria crisis was soon resolved, another success for the quirky leadership Cheever has used to win over faculty, students, and alumnae in his 11 years as president. Cheever, 63, will oversee his last Simmons commencement on Saturday.
The charismatic president with the hands-on approach retires in July, and his upcoming departure is leading to anxious murmurs from professors. They wonder whether his successor, Susan C. Scrimshaw, currently dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will be as approachable or as successful.
Cheever said he has used the pink slippers as a way to seem more accessible.
''It's a way of symbolically saying, 'Hey, I'm a person,' " said the college administrator with the wispy silver hair, who wears traditional college presidential attire -- Brooks Brothers shirts, ties, and slacks.
During his tenure, faculty and others say, Cheever helped transform Simmons from a sinking institution into an expanding campus with a $170 million endowment and rising enrollment. Of the many colleges in Boston and Cambridge, Simmons, with its nearly 5,000 students, is the only women's college.
After two years on the job, Cheever's predecessor, Jean Dowdall, the college's first female president, resigned after a faculty no-confidence vote.
When Cheever arrived in 1995 as interim president, a somber mood haunted the campus. Undergraduate enrollment had plummeted. Because of budgetary woes, salaries had been frozen and department budgets slashed. Rumors circulated that the undergraduate school would start accepting men.
Many alumnae and staff had wanted the next president to be a woman, but say Cheever's style allowed him to make swift, pointed changes with little resistance.
''He really demystified the role of the presidency," said Judy A. Beal, a nursing professor at the college for the past 23 years. ''The other presidents rarely came out of their office."
For his first faculty meeting, Cheever, a former CEO and president of Wheelock College, supplied juice, cookies, and Magic Markers. He unrolled a spool of construction paper, taped it along the wall, and asked professors to write in key milestones in Simmons's history, including their first day of work.
''It wasn't the kind of thing where the president comes in and says 'OK, Simmons, you are going to do XYZ,' " said Leonard J. Soltzberg, chairman of the chemistry department and a faculty member for 37 years. ''He listened."
Faculty and alumnae were so impressed, they lobbied the board of trustees to keep Cheever on permanently.
''I think they figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't in the backyard when God was going through the house passing out brains," Cheever said.
In his first year in office, Cheever established the Colleges of Fenway, a coalition that allowed students to cross-register at Simmons, Wheelock College, Emmanuel College, the Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
It was a low-cost way of diversifying course offerings, he said.
Simmons, under Cheever, has had a budget surplus averaging about $2.3 million for the past seven years, compared with a million-dollar deficit in 1995. In its last endowment campaign, the college raised $69.3 million, nearly 40 percent above its $50 million goal.
Undergraduate applications more than doubled in 10 years, increasing from about 1,100 in 1995 to 2,300 in 2005. The college credits the increase to Cheever because he helped expand course offerings and improved the facilities. Housing officials said they are now considering buying more land so they can admit more students.
Under Cheever's leadership, the college renovated most of the school buildings, and added 21 computer labs and a college student center.
A new library will be open for public use beginning this summer. Cheever also called to move the school parking lot underground and create a grassy common in its place behind the main building. Construction begins this month.
For the past two years, the Boston Business Journal has listed Simmons as one of the top 20 places to work in Massachusetts. The award is based on an analysis of lengthy questionnaires filled out by human resource administrators and employees on a wide range of workplace issues.
Many professors said they were pleased with Cheever's openness and his decision to conduct annual employee opinion surveys.
Cheever has repeatedly reached out to faculty as well as students.
He hosts ice cream socials for staff, carves the turkey at the annual holiday dinner for students, and responds daily to his e-mails.
When he meets with various administrators, he walks to their offices instead of requesting they come to his.
''He always walks around and says 'hi' to everyone," said Healy Zanengo, 19, a sophomore.
Cheever said he is not sure how he will spend his retirement.
This summer, he and his wife, Sue, will travel to Greece. After that, Cheever said, his appointment book is mostly blank.
''I'm ready for the next thing," he said.
The cafeteria staff at Simmons College had begun to complain. Faculty and staff were swiping lunch trays and piling them up in their offices.
Determined to help, the college's president, Daniel S. Cheever, slipped on his pink slippers, each adorned with a huge daisy on top, which he wears when his feet hurt. He walked around the campus buildings, kindly reminding professors to return their trays.
The cafeteria crisis was soon resolved, another success for the quirky leadership Cheever has used to win over faculty, students, and alumnae in his 11 years as president. Cheever, 63, will oversee his last Simmons commencement on Saturday.
The charismatic president with the hands-on approach retires in July, and his upcoming departure is leading to anxious murmurs from professors. They wonder whether his successor, Susan C. Scrimshaw, currently dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will be as approachable or as successful.
Cheever said he has used the pink slippers as a way to seem more accessible.
''It's a way of symbolically saying, 'Hey, I'm a person,' " said the college administrator with the wispy silver hair, who wears traditional college presidential attire -- Brooks Brothers shirts, ties, and slacks.
During his tenure, faculty and others say, Cheever helped transform Simmons from a sinking institution into an expanding campus with a $170 million endowment and rising enrollment. Of the many colleges in Boston and Cambridge, Simmons, with its nearly 5,000 students, is the only women's college.
After two years on the job, Cheever's predecessor, Jean Dowdall, the college's first female president, resigned after a faculty no-confidence vote.
When Cheever arrived in 1995 as interim president, a somber mood haunted the campus. Undergraduate enrollment had plummeted. Because of budgetary woes, salaries had been frozen and department budgets slashed. Rumors circulated that the undergraduate school would start accepting men.
Many alumnae and staff had wanted the next president to be a woman, but say Cheever's style allowed him to make swift, pointed changes with little resistance.
''He really demystified the role of the presidency," said Judy A. Beal, a nursing professor at the college for the past 23 years. ''The other presidents rarely came out of their office."
For his first faculty meeting, Cheever, a former CEO and president of Wheelock College, supplied juice, cookies, and Magic Markers. He unrolled a spool of construction paper, taped it along the wall, and asked professors to write in key milestones in Simmons's history, including their first day of work.
''It wasn't the kind of thing where the president comes in and says 'OK, Simmons, you are going to do XYZ,' " said Leonard J. Soltzberg, chairman of the chemistry department and a faculty member for 37 years. ''He listened."
Faculty and alumnae were so impressed, they lobbied the board of trustees to keep Cheever on permanently.
''I think they figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't in the backyard when God was going through the house passing out brains," Cheever said.
In his first year in office, Cheever established the Colleges of Fenway, a coalition that allowed students to cross-register at Simmons, Wheelock College, Emmanuel College, the Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
It was a low-cost way of diversifying course offerings, he said.
Simmons, under Cheever, has had a budget surplus averaging about $2.3 million for the past seven years, compared with a million-dollar deficit in 1995. In its last endowment campaign, the college raised $69.3 million, nearly 40 percent above its $50 million goal.
Undergraduate applications more than doubled in 10 years, increasing from about 1,100 in 1995 to 2,300 in 2005. The college credits the increase to Cheever because he helped expand course offerings and improved the facilities. Housing officials said they are now considering buying more land so they can admit more students.
Under Cheever's leadership, the college renovated most of the school buildings, and added 21 computer labs and a college student center.
A new library will be open for public use beginning this summer. Cheever also called to move the school parking lot underground and create a grassy common in its place behind the main building. Construction begins this month.
For the past two years, the Boston Business Journal has listed Simmons as one of the top 20 places to work in Massachusetts. The award is based on an analysis of lengthy questionnaires filled out by human resource administrators and employees on a wide range of workplace issues.
Many professors said they were pleased with Cheever's openness and his decision to conduct annual employee opinion surveys.
Cheever has repeatedly reached out to faculty as well as students.
He hosts ice cream socials for staff, carves the turkey at the annual holiday dinner for students, and responds daily to his e-mails.
When he meets with various administrators, he walks to their offices instead of requesting they come to his.
''He always walks around and says 'hi' to everyone," said Healy Zanengo, 19, a sophomore.
Cheever said he is not sure how he will spend his retirement.
This summer, he and his wife, Sue, will travel to Greece. After that, Cheever said, his appointment book is mostly blank.
''I'm ready for the next thing," he said.