Gillis Plans to Step Down in Mid-2004

Consistent with a leadership characterized by planning for the future, Malcolm Gillis has announced that he will complete his term as the sixth president of Rice University on June 30, 2004.

“I have said for over a decade that the optimum period for a university president is 10 to 12 years,” Gillis said. “June of 2004 will be exactly 11 years.

“I also have often stressed that an incoming president should have ample time to prepare for the job. By making an early announcement of my decision, I hope to give the university time to find my successor and to give him or her such time to prepare before taking office.”

William Barnett, chair of the Rice Board of Trustees, said such thinking was much in keeping with the first nine and one-half years of Gillis’s presidency.

“The strong consensus of the board is that Malcolm’s tenure so far has marked one of the most productive periods since Rice opened in 1912,” Barnett said. “We completed our first comprehensive strategic plan. We are near the $415 million mark of our first comprehensive fundraising campaign. We are completing the largest building program in Rice history.

“With all those things coming to culmination, Rice will enter a new cycle of planning for the next dozen years. We also will have another leadership transition, as my term as board chairman ends in the summer of 2005. Thus, it seemed appropriate to Malcolm and me that the new leaders be in place to participate in creating the plans they will be charged with carrying out.”

The board chairman said that a search committee that represents the entire Rice community would be formed during the next semester. The goal would be to name Rice’s next president by the spring of 2004, allowing him or her to prepare for a July 1 entry into office.

He also said the Board of Trustees had planned ahead on another matter.

“The board was greatly pleased to offer Malcolm the designation of University Professor,” Barnett said. “This is the highest faculty designation we have—one that has been awarded only three times before—and it allows the holder to teach in any Rice department.”

Gillis, expressing gratitude for the honor, said that suited him perfectly.

“It would be enough to resume my position as a full-time faculty member,” he said. “I’ve always felt that was the best job on Earth, and I have worked to maintain my faculty status while serving as president of Rice by, among other things, teaching and continuing to publish in my field—10 papers in nine years.

“Now, I have a whole inventory of research topics and materials stacked up—including an economic history of technology and a study of organizational effectiveness built around some very specific issues. I also hope to be an independent voice on future directions of higher education, nationally and internationally.”

Barnett said that Gillis would be granted a sabbatical year after he steps down, something the demands of research and academic leadership had prevented for all his 35 years as a faculty member at three institutions. Gillis said it would be useful in three ways.

“One, it will allow me to retool for my teaching and research fields, old and new,” he said. “Two, I’ve always felt that a new president should have the chance to get established without his or her predecessor hanging around. Three, it will give me blessedly more time with Elizabeth.”

The Rice Board of Trustees in 2000 recognized the contribution of Elizabeth Gillis, Malcolm’s wife of four decades, by creating in her name a university-wide award for exemplary service.

Gillis’s successor will have a long list of accomplishments to build on, Barnett said.

“In addition to the strategic plan, the campaign, and the building program,” Barnett said, “Malcolm guided an unprecedented period of collaboration with other institutions; a deeper and more fruitful involvement in the community; an enormous enhancement of Rice’s international presence through such things as the Baker Institute for Public Policy, study abroad, and International University Bremen; a successful effort to maintain diversity under difficult circumstances; a very substantial expansion of the faculty; a foresighted investment in nano, bio, info, and enviro science and technology; the biggest expansion of humanities facilities ever; the first addition to the college system in 30 years; the rise of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management; and on and on.”

Gillis was born December 28, 1940, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1968. Before entering university leadership, he spent the first 25 years of his professional life teaching economics and applying economic analysis to public policy in almost 20 countries, from the United States and Canada to Ecuador, Colombia, Ghana, and Indonesia. His research and teaching have mainly been in the areas of fiscal economics and environmental policy.

His first faculty post was as an assistant professor of economics at Duke University, followed by a 15-year stint at Harvard University. He returned to Duke in 1984 as a professor of economics and public policy, was awarded a distinguished named chair, became dean of the graduate school and vice provost for academic affairs, and then was named dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. He came to Rice as president in July 1993, and he also has served here as the Ervin Kenneth Zingler Professor of Economics.