News-Letter

Media Credit: Daniel Litwin Ronald Daniels says he will be a strong advocate for undergraduate life as the 14th president of Hopkins.

Atop President Ronald Daniels's conference table in his new Garland Hall office sit various flower bouquets adorned with ribbons and notes from well-wishers. For now, Daniels moves them aside.

On Tuesday, his second day of office, he is scheduled straight from morning until evening at 15 minute intervals. Daniels had just returned from consecutive meetings at the Schools of Education and Nursing in an attempt to get acquainted with Hopkins's 10 divisions.

"Everyone wants to see you, and Ron could spend all day of the next month meeting with people," former President William Brody, who also began a new position this week as president of the Salk Institute, said.

He has been spending one day a week meeting with those important to Hopkins and getting acquainted with the University, its leaders and the Hopkins community, since his Nov. 11 appointment as president.

"I am clearly, unequivocally in transition," he said. "Although I have clear responsibilities now in making decisions, I still see myself as having my primary responsibility now, which is to become much better acquainted with the institution. So that's task number one."

In this transitional period, Daniels does not yet have specific plans for the University.

"Right now I think it would be imprudent for me to run an agenda until I talk to lots of students, to have opportunities to meet with student leadership, to get a sense of what you [students] believe the priorities should be for enhancing the undergraduate experience," Daniels said.

Although Daniels is reluctant to lay out a list of priorities for his presidency or discuss any specific plans at this early stage in his term, he pointed to financial aid and the accessibility of a Hopkins education as priorities for his presidency and issues that are at the forefront of all discussions.

"My job will be to work with the University community and with University supporters to galvanize support for the preservation and enhancement of programs for financial aid," he said.

While Daniels is not ready to take Hopkins down a specific path just yet, his predecessor will no longer be in the position to make decisions for the University.

Continued...

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