Friday, September 08, 2000
President of UD will leave post he has held since 1979
By Ben L. Kaufman
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Raymond L. Fitz, the shy Marianist brother plucked from the classroom to lead the University of Dayton, is leaving the presidency on June 30, 2002.
He was a professor of electrical engineering when he accepted the job in 1979.
Brother Fitz, 59, is UD's longest-serving president.
He hopes to return to the classroom, albeit probably not in electrical engineering.
He has been team teaching a political science course and probably will continue that, spokeswoman Terry Rizvi said Thursday.
Brother Fitz has been discussing stepping down for a few years and his resignation coincides with the completion of UD's $150 million fund drive.
“It's been a great run, and he's leaving at the top,” Ms. Rizvi said.
Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, an Evendale Republican, 1954 graduate and chair of UD's board, will name a search committee for a new president.
“He wasn't a priest. He wasn't a provost. He wasn't a dean. He was young. It was an interesting stretch, but obviously he's worked out extremely well for the University of Dayton,” Mr. Finan said. “I just hope we can be as fortunate to get a replacement of equal competence.”
Under rules adopted last year, the job now is open to a lay person, although preference will be given to another brother or a priest of the Society of Mary, the Roman Catholic religious order that founded UD in 1850.
Brother Fitz's departure means that three of the four major Catholic schools in the Tristate will have or are getting new chief executives.
The Rev. Michael J. Graham, a Jesuit, takes over Jan. 1 at Xavier University and the Rev. William F. Cleves, a diocesan priest, leaves the presidency of Thomas More College and returns to the classroom when his successor is chosen. Sister Francis Marie Thrailkill, a member of the Ursulines of the Roman Union, remains president of the College of Mount St. Joseph.
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