UD's Harker leaving for Philly Fed

Patrick Harker, whose 8-year tenure as president of the University of Delaware was alternately hailed and reviled, surprised members of the school's community Monday morning by announcing his resignation to become head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

"With mixed emotions, I write to tell you I will be stepping down as president of the University of Delaware ... effective July 1," Harker wrote. "It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as president of this University. Working with our motivated students, illustrious faculty and dedicated staff has been inspiring, invigorating and unforgettable."

Harker's new job comes with a 10-year appointment. The Philadelphia Fed is one of 12 regional Fed banks that make up the Federal Reserve System and helps formulate U.S. monetary policy.

"Some people think he's stepping down," said Fred Hofstetter, a professor of education and president of the Faculty Senate. "But when you become head of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, I think that might be stepping up."

Harker became UD's 26th president in July 2007, arriving to great acclaim from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he'd served as dean since 2000. Harker was considered the perfect choice to lead the university at a crucial point in its history.

Many still feel that way, citing a long list of accomplishments and expressing strong support. For others, the prevailing emotion is utter disdain.

The university is "in a stronger position than when he picked it up" in 2007, including the implementation of a number of initiatives that will serve the university and state far into the future, A. Gilchrist Sparks III, chairman of the UD board of trustees, said of Harker. "I think he's done all one could do in the time period he's been here."

Harker's accomplishments haven't swayed some UD faculty members, who said they were glad he's leaving.

"We're celebrating. E-mails went all around this morning saying: 'Yippee!' It's cathartic," said Sheldon Pollack, a professor of business law, legal studies and political science. "I couldn't name a single faculty member who is sad."

Sparks said the Philadelphia Fed's selection of Harker sends a positive message about both Harker's leadership and the University of Delaware.

Supporters say Harker's work speaks for itself. About a year after he arrived on campus, Harker unveiled Path to Prominence, a strategic plan to improve undergraduate, graduate and professional education, environmental leadership, global engagement and service to the community.

The same year, he created the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships, which led to agreements between the school's researchers and entities such as the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. The office worked with state officials, the Delaware Technology Park and outside companies to foster a culture of innovation. It also laid the groundwork for the STAR (Science, Technology & Research) Campus on the site of the former Newark Chrysler auto plant.

STAR will perhaps be Harker's greatest legacy, Sparks said.

Harker's tenure included a number of capital improvements, including the construction of two residence halls and the nearly 200,000-square-foot Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory. His diversity initiative led to the most diverse incoming student class in 2014.

"The endowment is up higher than it was when the financial crisis began," Sparks said.

What's more, Harker managed to rein in the pace of tuition increases to 2 to 3 percent, down from the previous increases that were approaching double digits, Sparks said.

Tuition increases have been shrinking since the 2011-12 academic year, which saw a 9.6 percent increase for in-state tuition and 8.1 for out-of-state students, according to figures supplied by UD. The previous three years, annual in-state tuition increased between 6.1 and 9.7 percent for in-state students, and 8.9 and 9.8 percent for non-residents.

For academic year 2014-15, tuition and mandatory fees at the University of Delaware increased by 1.9 percent for in-state undergraduates and by 2.54 percent for out-of-state undergraduates, the lowest percentage increase in more than 30 years, according to the university.

One idea floated by Harker failed to materialize: the possible development of a law school.

Harker was hamstrung to some extent by a failing economy, one faculty member said. "The 2008-plus recession had a big influence, and I'm sure limited the types of things that he was able to do," said John Gizis, a professor of physics and astronomy. "We were all on damage control."

According to Pollack, who once headed the UD Faculty Senate, Harker started off on the wrong foot. His marketing slogan about raising the university to the next level implied the faculty was "mediocre," Pollack said.

Faculty raises have been paltry, while Harker added administrators at big salaries, he said. Morale has fallen, he said.

"His legacy will be that he raised expectations and didn't deliver. That leaves people bitter," Pollack said.

"I think he has the wrong model," said Jan Blits, UD professor emeritus of education. "He has a corporate model for the university and it is top-down management and no respect for faculty governance. Under Harker, the tone of many deans and high-level administrators was: 'Do what I say, I'm the boss.' "

Many were even more disappointed by events that took place during Harker's last two years.

First, a large data center and 279-megawatt power plant the university agreed to situate on a corner of UD's 272-acre STAR Campus was rejected last summer when UD terminated the lease at the recommendation of an internal working group that expressed doubts about the center's claims of energy efficiency. Harker said, "We have carefully examined The Data Centers' plans, and have determined that they are not a good fit for the STAR Campus."

Harker had begun expressing reservations about the plan, which was aggressively backed by labor unions and the Markell administration but fiercely opposed by neighborhood and environmental groups, in September 2013, saying, "We want to take some time and understand exactly what the issues are."

Then, last week, the angry reaction of the union representing UD faculty members to an opinion piece Harker penned in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Feb. 5 became public after it was obtained by the News Journal. Harker opined that "smart students" are looking for higher education alternatives such as for-profit schools, and that faculty members should lose some of their autonomy in course design.

Those stances, along with what the Executive Council of the American Association of University Professors, UD Chapter called "his claim higher education should 'deliver learning that suits the customer,' " are "an affront to the mission of university education and to core values of academic life.

Some faculty members took issue with what they felt was Harker's singular emphasis on science and technology to the exclusion of other academic areas. Historically, UD presidents have had long tenures and led slowly in limited areas, professors say.

"His approach was forgetting the importance of the humanities," said Giorgio Melloni, an Italian language professor. "Saying that we have to reinvent academia forgets that there is a big core made of human substance, and of being together, that the computer will never replace."

"Survey after survey has demonstrated that our University suffers from very low morale, the executive council said. "President Harker's Op-Ed has the potential of turning dismal morale into a true crisis, a crisis of confidence in his leadership. Such a crisis of confidence cannot be repaired by public relations, slogans, or claims of respect and admiration for the faculty that directly contradict his Op-Ed. Indeed, such gestures can only do more harm."

For the first time in memory, numerous official complaints were filed by faculty members during Harker's tenure against the administration for violations of faculty rules and rights, according to a former long-time chair of the UD Faculty Welfare and Privileges Committee.

Harker defended his Inquirer stance, telling the News Journal he has "long been concerned about the issues facing higher education, especially the effect of rising costs on our students and their families, and have written and spoken about these challenges many times over the past year, at UD and elsewhere."

During a previously scheduled address to at least 200 faculty members Monday afternoon, Harker acknowledged the discord his words had sown.

"I know that my recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer has caused a lot of discussion," Harker said. "Above all, I want you to know that it was never my intention to dismiss or belittle the excellent work being done by our faculty. To those who were offended, I do apologize.

"I certainly never intended to seem hostile or dismissive," Harker said.

That's how some faculty members took Harker's abrupt departure following his remarks Monday afternoon, skipping an advertised question-and-answer session.

"Did you see the way he walked off the stage?" said one professor.

Despite the Executive Council's harsh response, one of the professors on the council offered praise Monday for Harker's overall stint at UD.

"I personally wish Dr. Harker all the best as he takes on the responsibilities as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia," said Gerry Turkel, a 38-year veteran of the university and an Executive Council member.

"While we have had our differences, I believe he has made many important contributions during his tenure as president of the University of Delaware," Turkel said. "He advanced the University as a research institution, and he had the vision to make the University a very important feature for the development of Newark, the state of Delaware, and the region. As we move forward, I believe that the faculty should participate fully in selecting new leadership and in building the future of the University."

Sparks said unhappiness among some at the university was a sign of Harker's willingness to lead and meet the tough challenges facing higher education.

"Whenever change is coming, you'll have periods when people are uncomfortable with it. If he had gone through eight years without controversy, he would not have been doing his job. Being a university president is a tough job," Sparks said. "He was willing to take on the hard issues."

Harker's departure had nothing to do with the issues with the faculty, he said.

"This was an opportunity that wasn't going to come again," Sparks said. "The timing of this doesn't really have anything to do with the University of Delaware."

Chris Castillo, the president of Graduate Student Government, said Harker has not been as visible on campus in the last year or so. Furthermore, Castillo said, Harker was willing to take a stance on controversial issues in a public forum as he did last week in the Inquirer while rarely showing the same conviction when addressing students or faculty.

"He's willing to share big ideas in a public setting that may go against the grain for some people," Castillo said, "but he's not willing to share big ideas in the campus community."

An undergraduate said Harker's departure was like when a losing coach leaves.

"He's there physically and you can hear what he says sometimes, but you don't really follow along with it or feel motivated," said Eli Webster, a junior studying criminal justice who is president of the Black Student Union. "I think for our community and others, that was really the sense of his last year here or his last few years here."

Harker was particularly lacking in terms of presence and providing a prompt response to the student body, Webster added, pointing particularly to an incident last September where racist comments were posted on the university's Yik Yak social media site before a football game against predominantly black Delaware State University.

That moment, Webster said, was one where Harker could have started a campus-wide conversation about making the school more inclusive or even gone to the Center for Black Culture to discuss the matter with them. Instead, he wrote a letter condemning the remarks several days later.

Black student leaders, Webster said, also wanted to consider banning Yik Yak on campus, but didn't get the chance to discuss the matter with Harker long enough to know where the president stood.

"He's seen as someone who had good intentions but didn't really have any follow-through," Webster said, specifically citing the Path to Promise campaign in addition to diversity efforts on campus as efforts that fell short.

Among Harker's strong interests at UD were Blue Hens sports teams – he was recruited to play at Delaware by College Football Hall-of-Fame coach Tubby Raymond in the 1970s, but instead played at the University of Pennsylvania.

Soon after becoming UD president in the summer of 2007, Harker made headlines when he ended the university's long-time dismissal of Delaware State University, the historically black school in Dover that Delaware had refused to ever play in football. They played in a Division I-AA playoff game that season at Delaware Stadium, then arranged five regular-season games. The series resumes in 2016.

Harker was a familiar sight at UD sporting events. He also garnered headlines with contracts he gave – and didn't give – to his high-profile coaches. In 2008, Harker signed football coach K.C. Keeler to an extension through the 2017 season, but later had a hand in Keeler's January 2013 firing.

Harker also granted men's basketball coach Monte Ross an unusually long extension in 2008 through this 2014-15 season, which initially appeared ill-conceived as Ross' first five teams had losing records. Now that Ross has engineered a turnaround, including last year's NCAA berth, and has a promising young roster again, many have been surprised Harker has not seen to it that Ross receives a new contract. Instead, UD appears set to hire a new coach.

Delaware's senior senator praised Harker's accomplishments, particularly with regard to STAR and UD's efforts to leverage its high-tech research.

"I will greatly miss working with Pat Harker to move the University of Delaware, the city of Newark, and the state of Delaware along on its path to prominence," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. "He was pivotal in creating the STAR campus ... from the rubble of the Chrysler auto plant. He was also a true partner in getting the Newark Train Station through the planning stage and negotiations."

Gov. Jack Markell also weighed in. "I thank President Harker for his outstanding service in leading one of our state's most important institutions and I wish him continued success in his next role," Markell said in a statement. "President Harker leaves UD in an outstanding position to continue as a leader in research and innovation and, most importantly, in preparing present and future classes of Blue Hens to realize their potential."

Harker, who for the past three years has served as a nonbanking Class B director of the Philadelphia Fed – a position designed to represent the public in the central bank's decisions – will succeed Charles I. Plosser, who retired effective March 1, 2015.

Harker also has extensive experience serving on the boards of numerous companies and non-profits, including Christiana Care Health Systems, First State Innovation, Pepco Holdings and Huntsman Corporation. He is a member of the CEO Council for Growth at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

He previously served as a trustee of the Goldman Sachs Trust and Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust.

In his message posted on the UD site late Monday morning, Harker offered praise for educators. "Together we have accomplished much over the past eight years: facing challenges, crafting solutions, maximizing opportunities and ensuring the future of this noble institution," he wrote.

"With your expertise and commitment, we have enhanced our outstanding reputation and expanded UD's contributions to the state, the nation and the world. These achievements position us well in the increasingly challenging world of higher education. Over the next four months, I will work closely with our Board of Trustees and our dedicated administrative team to ensure smooth transition in leadership.

"While I am excited about my new role with the Philadelphia Fed, I will miss working on this beautiful campus with the best students and the most dedicated faculty and staff in American higher education."

Staff writers Kevin Tresolini, Adam Wagner and Matthew Albright contributed to this report.

Contact William H. McMichael at (302) 324-2812 or bmcmichael@delawareonline.com. On Twitter: @billmcmichael.