By Sam Lane
University of Iowa Provost Wallace Loh has accepted an offer to become the next president of the University of Maryland. He is set to start in the new role Nov. 1.
Loh, who has served as UI provost since August 2008, will leave as the shortest tenured individual in the position.
Loh said in an e-mail to employees that the Maryland search process was relatively quick and confidential, and the opportunity was not one he sought.
“I was — and still am — rather stunned, while honored to have been appointed,” he said in the email. “To be asked to serve, first as provost at Iowa and now as president at Maryland — two of the great public AAU universities in the nation — is truly humbling.”
The 65-year-old initiated many efforts to make the UI a “stronger and leaner” university in light of budget cuts and has taken an active role in the UI’s fight against dangerous drinking.
In the wake of budget cuts in spring 2009, Loh began working toward one of those goals by appointing top UI faculty and administrators to six “strategic” task forces charged with improving the UI and fulfilling the Iowa Promise. Last spring, the task forces released their reports, which provided Loh with recommendations for cutting spending while increasing the quality of education at the UI.
Loh always stressed interdisciplinary research and internationalization, items he pushed for while working to create 100 new tenure-track positions within five years. Loh also emphasized living-learning communities as a measure for increasing retention, hoping to place every incoming freshman in a community within five years.
In addition to goals related specifically to education, Loh chaired the Partnership for Alcohol safety, a committee whose charge was to reduce high-risk drinking in Iowa City and on the UI”s campus. Along with UI President Sally Mason, he has famously been at the forefront of pro-21 ordinance discussion.
“He’s been very instrumental in helping to get things going,” said Victoria Sharp, a UI urology professor and member of the alcohol partnership. “But it’s a partnership. It’s made up of a variety of people. The momentum will continue.”
In an offer letter to Loh before he was hired, UI President Sally Mason said the position would be “at will,” but she intended him to serve a minimum of five years.
Loh did not immediately return calls for comment on Tuesday.
Though UI officials expressed sadness over Loh’s departure, they spoke positively about his time at the university and wished him well on his new endeavors at Maryland, which U.S. News & World Report ranked 18 among public institutions. The UI is ranked 29th in the same category.
“Wallace Loh has been a tremendous asset to the University of Iowa and a valued, forward-looking member of my administrative team for the past two years,” said UI President Sally Mason in a press release. “He has proven himself to be one of the nation’s top academic leaders, and certainly is well-prepared to assume the presidency of a major university. This is a wonderful opportunity for him, and I’m confident that he will bring great vision and strategic direction to the University of Maryland.”
Loh will start at the University of Maryland in November and will earn $450,000 a year, equal to the salary of UI President Sally Mason before the state Board of Regents approved a 3 percent salary hike at its meeting earlier this month. Loh will also be given an on-campus president’s house and will either receive a car allowance for his own vehicle or will drive a state-owned car, said University of Maryland spokeswoman Anne Moultrie.
Michael Cohen, a pathology professor and chair of Loh’s Task Force on Research and Creative Excellence, described Loh as a “very dynamic, energetic, and eloquent individual.”
Born in Shanghai, China, Loh has also served as dean of the University of Washington Law School and Seattle University College of Arts and Sciences. He was also the vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and dean of faculties at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He’s held several faculty positions as well.
“The university is losing a great asset,” said Michael Artman, who is head of the pediatrics department and served on the original committee that selected Loh as the UI’s provost.
Artman said he felt Loh and Mason made a great team and that “our loss is certainly the University of Maryland’s gain.”
He said Loh kept focus on “why we are here at the university, which is to teach.”
He possessed all the tools, experience, drive and background that was well suited with the committee’s vision.
“He is a compelling communicator who had a vision for the University of Iowa coming in,” Artman said.
UI Spokesman Tom Moore said the UI will launch a national search for a new provost, but noted the search is in its early stages.
Donald Kettl, the chair of Maryland’s Presidential Search and Screen Committee and dean of the School of Public Policy, said the university received over 300 applications and recommendations, but that Loh”s leadership, relationship with Iowa, work on the flood and budget management won him the position.
“We embarked on an international search to identify the best candidates,” Kettl said. “Because of his experience at Iowa and previously, he came to the top of our stack.”
Kettl was unable to reveal further information about the search, including the number of people they interviewed. Maryland’s presidential search committee was named in March. William Kirwan, the chancellor for the University System of Maryland, said the committee appointed Loh in “an expedient fashion” because they needed to name a president before the previous president, C.D. (Dan) Mote, Jr., left.
The University of Maryland has a student population of nearly 26,500 and employs over 1,600 faculty, according to its website.
DI Reporter Alison Sullivan contributed to this report.
