Roselle to step down after 17 years as UD president

Roselle, who also is professor of mathematical sciences at UD, made the announcement at the semiannual meeting of the University’s Board of Trustees on May 23.

“It has been my privilege to lead this University for more than 16 years,” Roselle said. “Our achievements would not have been possible without the unflagging support of our Board of Trustees and the consistently high level of assistance I have received from the administrators, faculty and staff across the campus. The energy and the attitude of optimism on this campus have made it a wonderful and exciting place to be.”

“The University of Delaware is a very different place than it was when David Roselle became president,” Howard E. Cosgrove, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said. “He has transformed the University from a good-quality regional public university into a national leader, with excellent faculty, successful students, superior research and public service and a physical campus that serves as a model for other institutions across the country.

“We are all indebted to him for all that he has accomplished here.”

A committee of 15 individuals, including trustees, alumni, faculty and staff, has been appointed to conduct a national search for Roselle’s successor. Chairing the search committee are trustees Robert A. Fischer Jr., vice chairman of the board, and A. Gilchrist Sparks III. A leading higher education search consultant, R. William Funk of Korn/Ferry International, will assist the process.

In speaking to the Board of Trustees, Roselle noted that during his tenure, more than 70,000 degrees will have been awarded, accounting for about 50 percent of all living alumni.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Roselle received a standing ovation from the members of the Board of Trustees and the audience.

Under Roselle’s leadership, the University has reached many major milestones, including the highly successful completion of its first capital fund-raising effort, known as the Campaign for Delaware. The campaign far exceeded its original goal of $225 million, raising more than $431 million. Other accomplishments during Roselle’s tenure include:

• an endowment in excess of $1.2 billion, compared with $326 million in 1990;
  
  
• an increase in average SAT scores of entering freshmen from 1121 in 1991 to 1206 in 2005, and an increase in student aid from $19 million in 1991 to $56 million in 2005;
  
  
• a 75 percent increase in full-time graduate students and a 160 percent increase in financial aid to graduate students;
  
  
• an increase in the percentage of new graduates who have taken advantage of study abroad, from 11.8 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2005, and a dramatic change in scholarship support for study abroad from nothing in 1990 to $400,000 in 2005;
  
  
• greater diversity on the campus among students, faculty and staff;
  
  
• an increase in scholarship support for men’s and women’s varsity athletics from $1.3 million in 1990 to $5.8 million in 2005;
  
  
• an increase in the number of endowed faculty positions from 21 in 1997 to 106 today;
  
  
• the addition of major new buildings across the campus, including the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, Allen Laboratory, Gore Hall, new sorority houses, Trabant University Center, Lerner Hall, Studio Arts Building, P.S. du Pont Hall, the Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware hotel, George Read Hall, three parking decks and the soon-to-be-completed Center for the Arts, as well as Arsht Hall in Wilmington, the Paradee Center in Dover and the Carvel Research and Education Center in Georgetown;
  
  
• renovations of almost all campus buildings, including Mitchell, Memorial, Bayard Sharp, Mechanical and Jastak-Burgess halls;
  
  
• completely integrating technology into the University’s infrastructure so that all campus buildings are wired for computer access, with wireless support where appropriate;
  
  
• an award-winning use of technology across the campus to facilitate everything from course registration to human resources management, all in a way that is user-friendly;
  
  
• a transformed University of Delaware Library, with thousands of resources now available to the University community online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
  
  
• the acquisition of the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art, which is among the world’s largest and most complete holdings of works by 20th-Century African American artists; and
  
  
• an award-winning effort to address the problem of alcohol abuse on campus.

A 1961 graduate of West Chester University, Roselle received his doctorate in mathematics in 1965 from Duke University. He served on the faculties of the University of Maryland, Louisiana State University and Virginia Polytechnic and State University, where he also served as provost. He became president of the University of Kentucky in 1987, serving for nearly three years there before coming to UD.

Roselle’s professional activities include membership in the Mathematical Association of America, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society. He also referees and writes for Mathematical Reviews.

Roselle and his wife, Louise, have a son, a daughter, four grandsons and a granddaughter.

For more information
For updates or to offer input on the search, visit the web site [www.udel.edu/presidentialsearch/]