Lexington, KY - Lee T. Todd, Jr. announced he will soon retire after ten years as president of the University of Kentucky, a tenure that saw him saddled with an impossible challenge: a state legislative mandate to grow the university into one of the nation's pre-eminent research institutions by the year 2020, even as the same body consistently reduced the funding that would be required to reach such a daunting goal.
"I'm here to announce I'll be retiring as president of UK at the end of my term, which is June 30th," Todd told a Sept. 8 press conference on the UK campus. "This isn't a health situation," he continued. "I'm as enthusiastic as I was when I took this job."
Todd said he had been weighing a decision about his future with UK since January. The overwhelming challenges of these past 10 years tipped the scales in favor of taking a less encumbered approach to a pitched battled against what Todd dubbed "The Kentucky Uglies" - a list of entrenched, confounding problems that have blocked the path to economic and cultural progress.
In 2005, Todd rolled out the nation's first business plan by a public university. The initiative spelled out what would be required in order to meet that mandate: increases in tuition, an additional $260 million in state funding over a 15-year period, the addition of more than 600 faculty, more than double the current pace of research grants and growth in undergraduate enrollment by more than 6,000 students.
Such an undertaking would depend on the largesse of a state legislature that has consistently exhibited - even in the best of times - deep-rooted fear of turning to the voting public for additional tax dollars.
"It was dead on arrival," said Joe Peek, the outspoken UK Gatton Chair in International Banking and Finance, recently elected as faculty trustee on the university board and highly critical of the General Assembly's Top 20 mandate. "The legislature says, 'By 2020, you're going to be a Top 20 institution - now get out there and go get 'em. You're on your own; I'm not going to fund it.'"
In Peek's view, even if fully funded, the Top 20 by 2020 goal is unattainable. "Even if they funded it, it couldn't happen quickly. It takes decades to build a university," he said. "The legislature failed the University of Kentucky and the people of Kentucky. Yes, we're a poor state, a poorly educated state, and it's going to stay that way if we don't start educating people. That's what raises per capita incomes, that raises skills, it raises incomes, it raises tax revenue, and then you're off and running. Other states have done it."
Todd acknowledged frustration that during tight budget years legislators slashed revenues for Kentucky's public universities along with those of every other state agency - rather than finding efficiencies elsewhere in order to preserve and maintain momentum toward the Top 20 goal that they had mandated.
Under Todd's leadership, UK's annual budget has grown from $1.2 billion during his first year to more than $2.4 billion today. Enrollment at UK has grown from 23,852 students in 2000 to more than 27,000 students. In 2000, the percentage of UK students graduating within six years was 55.5 percent. Last year, it was 61.4 percent - a UK record and the highest of any public university in Kentucky. Still, with that legislative deadline to reach Top 20 status now just a decade away, the university is currently ranked 129th by U.S. News and World Report.
Todd was "trying to run a champagne event on a beer budget," said Billy Joe Miles, interim chair of the university's board of trustees, noting that Todd was facing additional pressures. "We have a lot to be proud of," he said. "But you know, it's never enough until you win the Final Four. Sports has taken a toll on Todd."
Todd's Top 20 Business Plan came in response to an initiative of former Gov. Paul Patton's administration and championed by then-House Speaker Jody Richards to raise the university's stature among the nation's leading research institutions.
"I think that Lee Todd may well be one of the most important legacies of my administration," said Patton, who is now president of Pikeville College. "All we could do was just lay out the blueprint. The universities had to implement it. He certainly kept that commitment and has done an outstanding job."
Watching Todd's announcement online in his office in Pikeville, Patton listened closely as the UK president offered his thoughts on the search for his successor. "He wouldn't be looking for someone who was on their way someplace else. He thinks it should be somebody who wants to finish their career there. I would certainly agree. I think they'll be in a position to attract a person who will have the ability to continue the quest for excellence, which he started."
Patton said it's been his observation that average tenure for a university president is about 10 years, and at 64, Todd has reached what would be considered a reasonable age for retirement.
"We're going to start a search tomorrow. It's a terrible time to start a search with the economy what it is," said Miles. "We have some of the best faculty in America. Some came here making less money than they were making where they were because they wanted to be part of a Top 20 university. It's going to be tough. The board's going to have their hands full now."
Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman said he has appreciated the open communication that he and Todd have shared in their roles as education leaders in the community.
"My gut feeling is that the work that has been started under Dr. Todd's leadership will continue," Silberman said. "The education dean has really been a driving force behind that, with Dr. Todd's support, so I believe that will continue to move forward."
Todd's leadership in developing solid connections between high school and post-secondary education has been particularly valuable, Silberman said, but he believes Todd's efforts in building those closer ties will not be lost.
Bob King, president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education said Todd has assured him that he will remain involved on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, as well as economic development. "He has earned the respect of political, business, scientific and education leaders across Kentucky and the nation," said King.
"I want to use this pulpit to try to sell not only a change in Kentucky but possibly in this nation to figure out what to do when we're not going to see 'normal' again," Todd said. "We're not going to have the jobs that we've had in the past. How are we going to create (new ones?) And I think it is the research universities in America that are going to be able to do that," he said. "I want to spend time talking to the legislators and elected leaders; I think I can say things when I'm not in this position that I can't say when I'm in it."
Peek noted that ultimately, no matter who is president of UK, the responsibility for enabling the mandate Todd was handed by legislators can be found close to home. "As a citizen of Kentucky, you can sit there and complain about what goes on in Frankfort, but you know you have the ability to affect at least a couple of those guys getting elected," he said. "So in the end, where does that responsibility lie?"