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President
Ned Regan, Baruch College, New York
by
Joan Baum, Ph.D.
There
are talkers and there are doers, and some, like Ned Regan,
the former Comptroller of the State of New York (1979-1993)
excel at both—articulating a vision and acting on it. The irony
is that this modest and thoughtful straight shooter, who has
been president of Baruch College for the last three years,
hardly mentions the obvious—how his long and distinguished
career—which includes being elected Erie Country executive,
chairing the Municipal Assistance Corporation, serving as trustee
of the Financial Accounting Foundation (which oversees national
accounting and financial reporting standards), and serving
on numerous corporate and non-profit boards recently being
appointed to an advisory panel looking into the restructuring
of Arthur Andersen—makes him one of the most experienced and
informed academic administrators in the country, at the helm
of the largest business school (156,000 students), at a time
of critical importance to the nation. Troubled, but also challenged,
by the cataclysmic events of the last two years—September 11,
the dot.com bubble burst, corporate scandal—Regan sees his
role as ensuring the value, integrity and promise of a Baruch
College degree, undergraduate and graduate. “Ten years from
now, it should be even more respected.” To that end he has
established a Center for Financial Integrity at the college,
and he himself talks to students about corporate governance
and responsibility. He uses his extensive contacts in the business
community to bring CEOs on campus to discuss the major issues
of the day and to get those same CEOs to have their Human Resources
departments recruit Baruch students. He also personally speaks
with HR directors at major corporations and invites them on
campus to debate the issues of the day and to recruit.
 The
conversation constantly returns to the theme of government
service and ethics, and to the great pleasure he has working
in an academic institution once again (he was president and
a distinguished fellow at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute
at Bard College, where, unlike President Botstein, he restricted
himself to conducting seminars. A tall, lanky man, with patrician
good looks, his craggy face bursts into wide smile when he
talks about what he thinks is more important than professional
background, namely his “feeling for public service.” He seems
delighted, almost surprised, at being where he is and wears
the position with refreshing ease, his presidential office
being anything but ostentatious. At his own request, it is
located on a lower floor of Baruch’s state-of-the-art 17-story “vertical
campus,” two blocks away from the official Administration Building.
He wants to be “where the students are.” The touchstone of
his presidency is that students come first—they are, he likes
to remind administrators and faculty—the reason why Baruch
exists. His door is unlocked, and he e-mails his calendar and
staff meeting minutes to campus members on the website. All
glass, so that he and what he does are readily transparent,
and with only a small sign to indicate there’s a president
within, the office gives evidence of what he wants to signal:
community, both within the college and between the college
and its business neighbors. No town/gown conflict here.
“Diversity,” a
word that comes easily to many an administrative lip, for Ned
Regan has wide and deep significance. Although 85 percent of
Baruch degrees are in business, only 50 percent of credit hours
are given over to business subjects. “Business people today
won’t hire graduates unless they are broadly educated.” That
means, courses in arts and sciences, familiarity with other
cultures, history, and urban affairs, Regan’s particular passion
since law school days. New cutting-edge seminars in Baruch’s
School of Public Affairs are meant to enhance the curriculum
in ways that instill a sense of “civic engagement.” He wants
Baruch graduates to be not only well educated but productive
citizens.
A
conversation with Ned Regan is also a trip down memory lane,
celebrating what’s different now in higher education from when
he was an undergraduate at Hobart College and a law student
at SUNY Buffalo—the increased presence of women, minorities,
immigrants, older, and working-class adults. Baruch, with “the
most diversified campus in the world,” carries on the great
tradition of making higher education available and affordable—after
all, he proudly points out, the college is on the site of the
original Free Academy of 1847. Though only one school in the
CUNY system, Baruch is—dare he say it?—“the best” (broad grin).
Neither patronizing nor pro-forma politically correct, Ned
Regan feels confident that even in a poor economy, Baruch students
will do well since they are particularly enterprising, capable
of finding opportunities in adversity and tend to go into standard
middle-management positions that are not adversely affected
by downturns. With improved tracking of alums, he hopes soon
to have the solid backup data. Meanwhile, he takes pleasure
in noting that many families of graduating seniors wear tuxedos
to graduation. This is the promise of America and for Ned Regan,
a promise that must be kept.#
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 1588, New York, NY 10159.
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