Delaware State News

DOVER — The Delaware State University Presidential Search Committee is inviting input from the DSU family and the community at large, according to Wesley E. Perkins, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and chairman of the Search Committee.

The input will be helpful in the committee’s work in seeking the institution’s 10^th president, Mr. Perkins said.

A survey has been created on the DSU Web site, http://www.desu.edu, that seeks feedback on what challenges face the university, and what experiences and characteristics are needed for the next president.

The survey can be accessed by going to the DSU Web site and clicking on the DSU Presidential Seal on the bottom left hand corner of the homepage. That will take you to the DSU Presidential Search site, where the survey can be found.

The survey can be filled out and submitted online. The answers will be documented and compiled by the Search Committee and the DSU Board of Trustees and will assist in the development of a leadership profile that will be used in advertising the position and as part of the selection process.

The survey will run through Nov. 3.

Board of trustees chair replaces UDC-bound Sessoms

Delaware State News

DOVER — Delaware State University’s board of trustees appointed board chair Dr. Claibourne D. Smith as the university’s acting president Wednesday, filling the role for departing president Dr. Allen L. Sessoms.

Dr. Sessoms announced last week that he is leaving DSU at the end of the month to accept a job as president of the University of the District of Columbia.

The board held a special meeting Wednesday and tapped Dr. Smith as acting DSU president until a permanent or interim president is chosen.

Dr. Smith, who has served on the board since 1987 and as chair since 1993, will step down from the board of trustees while he is serving as acting president.

Dr. John Land, the board’s vice chair, has assumed the post of acting board chair. Once a permanent or interim president is appointed, Dr. Smith and Dr. Land will return to their original posts.

The board also established a search committee Wednesday to conduct a search for a new president. The 12-member panel will be headed by board of trustees member Wesley E. Perkins.

Mr. Perkins said the university would recruit a firm to provide assistance in finding the next permanent president. He added that while the process could be long, it will be inclusive in seeking input in identifying the attributes needed in the next president.

Delaware State News

DOVER — Delaware State University president Dr. Allen L. Sessoms, who has been alternately praised and vilified during his five-year tenure, was hired Wednesday as president of University of the District of Columbia.

His last day with the 117-year-old Dover-based university will be Aug. 31.

"DSU has progressed tremendously and we can all be proud of the improvements academically, infrastructure-wise, in athletics and in the image of the university," Dr. Sessoms said in a prepared statement. He was not available for additional comment.

"As a result, we have enjoyed a significant increase in the visibility of the institution over this period and its future looks great."

When he was hired in 2003, Dr. Sessoms replaced Dr. William B. DeLauder, who served as DSU president for 16 years.

Dr. Sessoms signed a three-year extension with DSU in March 2006 at an annual salary of $250,000.

DSU board of trustees chairman Dr. Claibourne Smith said the board has not made a decision on how it will launch a presidential search or how it will appoint an interim president.

The board, Dr. Smith said, wants to hold a special meeting this month — the board’s next regular meeting isn’t until September — to "discuss and reflect on Dr. Sessoms’ decision."

In hiring Dr. Sessoms, University of the District of Columbia officials said the new president would be charged with creating a comprehensive strategic plan for academic, administrative and operational reform, creating a community college within UDC and implementing "aggressive strategies" for public relations, marketing and fund-raising.

UDC, which also is a historically black university, has an enrollment of more than 5,700 students and is the nation’s only urban land-grant institution of higher education.

A sometimes-controversial figure, Dr. Sessoms was hired in 2003 as DSU’s ninth president and almost immediately drew sharp criticism, especially from the university’s alumni association, which called for the president’s ouster at least twice.

The association blasted Dr. Sessoms for allegedly steering the school away from its roots as a historically black college, for pushing the sports teams to compete at the Division I-A level and for creating a "toxic" work environment for staff.

Alfred Outlaw, who was president during the association’s September 2005 and February 2008 resignation requests, declined to comment and deferred to the current president, Deidre Ottley.

"I wish him well," Ms. Ottley said, declining to comment further.

Dr. Sessoms was chastised for dreaming big, as with his plans to build a $52 million, 30,000-seat football stadium to accommodate a jump from Division I-AA to I-A and his repeated statements to make DSU "the state university," a claim that concerned alumni that the school would lose its historically black identity.

But it was those grand plans and other accomplishments that Dr. Smith said led to the board of trustees’ support of Dr. Sessoms and his work during his five-plus years at DSU.

"In any given situation when a president comes in and makes fundamental changes like he did, you’re going to have detractors and people who are opposed to what you’re doing," Dr. Smith said.

"Looking at the body of work by Dr. Sessoms, we stand by his record."

In a press release, DSU detailed several of Dr. Sessoms’ accomplishments, including:

•Construction of University Village, a three-building complex that houses 628 students;

•Adding five doctoral programs and five master’s degree programs;

•Construction of a wellness center began in 2007 and a new student union began this year;

•Lights and new turf were installed at Alumni Stadium;

•Enrollment has increased 15 percent, from 3,178 students in 2003 to 3,756 in fall 2007.

When Dr. Sessoms began his pitch for the university to become a Division I-A school shortly after arriving in 2003, the football team promptly went 1-10. Head coach Ben Blacknall was fired midway through the season.

But in November 2007, the Hornets advanced to the NCAA football playoffs for the first time, losing 44-7 to the University of Delaware in the first meeting between the two First State schools.

Prior to his hiring at DSU, Dr. Sessoms was a lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also served as president of Queens College in New York from 1995-2000.