Many of you may have already heard that Dr. John Rudley as been selected as the sole finalist for the next president of Texas Southern University. I'm going to work very closely with President-Designate Rudley, just as I've worked with him as interim chancellor/president and vice president for administration and finance at the University of Houston. I believe he is a solid administrator and will do a good job; let's make sure we support his efforts.

Below are two Houston Chronicle articles about President-Designate Rudley. My goals are still, as they always have been, to protect the strength and independence of Texas Southern University.

New TSU President Rudley eager to start fixing troubled campus

Former point guard not accustomed to sitting on the bench and waiting

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

John Rudley is not inclined to wait — especially not now, not with a thick binder labeled "Texas Southern University" on his desk and a call list that includes an adviser to Gov. Rick Perry and several potential employees.

So what if state law requires a 21-day waiting period before Rudley takes over as the next president at TSU? He's already at work on his new job from the office suite he still occupies as vice president for administration and finance at the University of Houston.

"I can't wait 21 days," Rudley said recently, a few days after regents named the tough-minded, bottom-line administrator as the only finalist for the presidency at the state's largest historically black university.

What's the rush? The high stakes are one reason. His personality is another.

TSU is at risk of losing accreditation because of its poor financial picture. Enrollment is at a five-year low. The graduation rate ranks among the nation's lowest.

The man barreling forward on these fronts and others is a former point guard who led his team to the NCAA tournament. He likes to set a fast pace and stick to an agenda.

As Rudley again takes the point, he understands there is much to do to fix the proud but chronically troubled university. His choices, from overhauling accounting practices to perhaps restricting admissions for the first time, could shape the school for decades to come.

"Once in a while, you're presented with the opportunity to do great things," Rudley said when asked why he would want to step into a situation that few others would touch. "I will be of more value at TSU than at the University of Houston."

Rudley is no rainmaker, no showman. He does not possess the camera-ready charisma of his predecessor, Priscilla Slade, who crisscrossed the globe in the name of TSU for six years before the regents fired her amid a spending scandal.

Those who know Rudley, 60, describe him as tough, smart and direct. When the search committee asked about TSU's long-standing promise to accept anyone who applies, he said the policy should be reconsidered if it impedes the university's progress. The reply troubled some committee members.

But his record of success swayed regents, who unanimously picked Rudley. He is expected to take the reins Feb. 8 after a 26-year climb up the administrative ladder.

History with TSU

Rudley is the son of a factory worker and the second of nine children. They lived in public housing, and folks around his blue-collar hometown of Benton Harbor, Mich., talked about getting jobs at General Motors or Whirlpool after high school.

Instead, Rudley attended the University of Toledo, where he started as a sophomore on the 1967 Mid-American Conference champion team that is considered the best in the school's history.

"I had teammates who were bigger and faster," said 5-foot-9-inch Rudley, who averaged 11 points per game over three seasons. "My job was always about showing them how to win."

Rudley could have played professionally, said his coach, Bob Nichols, but he had his sights set beyond one or two years in the NBA. He studied accounting, got his bachelor's degree and went to work at the firm Coopers & Lybrand. He later earned a master's degree and doctorate at Tennessee State University.

After eight years at accounting firms, he took a job at TSU as an assistant to the vice president for fiscal affairs in 1981. He became the school's chief financial officer three years later and established an accounting system that led to clean audits for the first time in several years.

He left for a similar job at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1987, then followed former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander to the U.S. Department of Education in 1991. Alexander wanted him to create an accounting arm for the department.

Rudley succeeded despite some internal friction, carving a 22-person division out of a big bureaucracy. In his office, Rudley keeps a framed organizational chart, a well-thumbed copy of the department's first financial statement and a thank-you note from Alexander, now a Republican senator. "That job took blood, sweat and tears out of me," Rudley said.

Inspires loyalty

After the Democrats seized the White House in 1992, Rudley returned to UT-Chattanooga and later became vice chancellor for business and finance for the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth-largest higher education system in the country.

When UH called in 2002, he jumped at the opportunity to return to a campus. At UH, he is known for balanced budgets and on-time construction projects. He played a key role in developing plans for an ambitious makeover of the University Park campus, a few blocks from TSU.

At Rudley's urging, the plan calls for the campus to meld with the surrounding Third Ward while reducing blight and attracting retailers. Near campus, Scott Street is largely a landscape of carry-out joints, sagging apartments and vacant lots, not the vibrant strip of bars, bookstores and theaters sprouting around many universities.

"Before Dr. Rudley, UH turned its back to the Third Ward," said David Irvin, special assistant to the president at UH.

Irvin said Rudley inspires loyalty by listening and making everyone feel a part of big decisions.

"It's a wonderfully liberating way of working," said Irvin, who expects several people to follow Rudley from UH to TSU.

Explaining his approach, Rudley said, "I won't throw myself on the sword. Everyone must do their part. I'll delegate, and if you don't do your job, then that's when you'll be replaced."

Several other opportunities

Rudley isn't a workaholic but often works through lunch. He sometimes sneaks out for a mid-afternoon run to untangle his thoughts and tries to go home by 5:30 p.m. It's about being focused and efficient, he says.

His skills prompted the UH System's governing board to ask him to serve as interim chancellor and president in June after Jay Gogue abruptly left for Auburn University. The job came on the condition that Rudley wouldn't be considered for the permanent post: Regents didn't want anyone to question the interim's motives.

Rudley accepted, hoping the additional line to his résumé would lead to a presidency somewhere.

Search firms approached about university presidencies in California, Indiana and North Carolina, but the TSU job appealed to him, in part, because he could stay in Houston. His wife, Docia, teaches law at TSU but plans to leave, possibly for UH, once he moves into the president's suite.

Rudley hasn't laid out an explicit agenda so far but has said his first priority will be to rectify the issues raised by the regional accrediting body that recently put TSU on probation.

Rudley also must ease the concerns of state lawmakers, who are withholding nearly $40 million in supplemental funding over the next two years until TSU provides an acceptable rehabilitation plan.

"The politics of the situation are going to be difficult for Dr. Rudley," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat whose district includes the 9,500-student campus. "But I think he can deal with it."

Search for TSU chief all but over

Regents name UH's Rudley as their sole finalist

Jan. 12, 2008

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE
Staff

Texas Southern University all but ended a 19-month search for a new president Friday, turning to a familiar face and known problem solver to rehabilitate the proud but chronically troubled school.

Regents voted 9-0 to name John Rudley, the University of Houston's interim president, as the sole finalist for the top job at Texas' largest historically black university. State law requires the governing board to wait 21 days before finalizing the appointment.

Glenn Lewis, the board's chairman, said Rudley emerged as the leading candidate because of his extensive background in higher education finance, edging former state lawmaker Anthony Hall, the city of Houston's chief administrative officer.

Both candidates had ideas for turning around the 9,500-student university, Lewis said, but Rudley "showed us that he has the ability to implement his vision. I think his résumé speaks for itself."

TSU has been without a permanent president since the board fired Priscilla Slade amid a spending scandal in June 2006. A hung jury in October spared Slade from a conviction on charges related to her use of school money for personal expenses, but her former chief financial officer, Quintin Wiggins, received a 10-year prison sentence in May for his role in the scandal.

Rudley's selection comes as he is about to end a seven-month stint as UH's interim president. Renu Khator, previously the second in command at the University of South Florida, is scheduled to take the reins Tuesday, with Rudley returning to his role of vice president for administration and finance.

Rudley, 60, is known as a no-nonsense numbers cruncher who has built his career on balanced budgets and on-time construction projects. He played a key role in developing the plans for an ambitious makeover of the University Park campus, a few blocks from TSU.

He served as TSU's chief financial officer and internal auditor during the 1980s and then worked in administrative posts for the U.S. Department of Education and the Tennessee Board of Regents, the nation's sixth-largest higher-education system.

Challenges await

Rudley received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Toledo and master's and doctoral degrees from Tennessee State University.

His wife, Docia, is a professor at TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

"It is a singular honor to be selected as the next president of Texas Southern University, and it is one that I do not take lightly," Rudley said in a statement. "I am privileged to have the opportunity to return to this great institution."

The challenges facing Rudley include declining enrollment and low graduation rates. TSU's accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, recently placed the university on probation, citing financial and managements issues that must be rectified within the next year.

TSU also is under intense scrutiny from state lawmakers, who are withholding nearly $40 million in supplemental funding over the next two years until the university provides an acceptable reorganization plan.

The proposed roadmap focuses mainly on management, recommending a series of tighter controls, including several continuous, scheduled reports and audits to the board. State lawmakers had raised doubts about implementation of the plan in the absence of a permanent president.

"We don't expect him to wave a magic wand," Lewis said of Rudley. "But we expect him to provide some direction and guidance."

Christopher LeBlanc, president of the TSU National Alumni Association, welcomed the selection.

"We've waited for this day," he said. "We're ready to move forward."

The university had suspended the search this year after Gov. Rick Perry decided to replace the entire nine-member governing board. The search resumed in September after Lewis added three regents to the advisory committee.

The committee, headed by Gerald Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Houston investment firm Smith, Graham & Co., narrowed the field to Rudley and Hall last month.

Before the vote, James Douglas, a law professor and former president of TSU, endorsed Rudley, whom he called a personal friend.

"It's clear to me that we need someone who understands higher education and finance and has some experience at Texas Southern University," Douglas said. "This is a university that has a lot of potential. That's not to say that it won't be a challenge, but at the end of the day, there is potential for a lot of rewards."