By Jennifer Mrozowski
Enquirer staff writer

Joseph Steger, retired president of the University of Cincinnati, was recruited once before to review financial operations of the Cincinnati Public Schools District.

Steger served on a commission in 1991 that evaluated the schools' business operations, staffing and budget. That blue ribbon task force was called the Buenger Commission after Clement L. Buenger, then-chairman of Fifth Third Bancorp.

"Joseph Steger is an excellent selection by the mayor to chair this budget task force," Cincinnati school board president Florence Newell said.

Newell said Steger's leadership at UC and other experience make him "very knowledgeable about bringing people together to work on a specific task, being successful in completing that task and bringing reasonable recommendations forward."

Steger, 67, who held the top post at UC for almost two decades before retiring last year, is no stranger to conquering financial struggles.

He served during some of the worst state budget cuts in UC's history. In 1992, he oversaw massive budget cuts at the university and 320 layoffs. Though the board of trustees backed him, Steger suffered a one-time no-confidence vote by the faculty because of his approach to the budget cuts.

Yet the university, the city's largest employer, also grew under his leadership. In 1989, Steger unveiled a campus master plan to update the school's aging facilities. Since then, state-of-the-art science labs have replaced the university's dilapidated buildings.

At his departure, UC's endowment, a measure of gifts given to the university for investment, had reached about $1 billion.

Before coming to UC, Steger held a management position at Colt Industries Inc. in New York

Steger was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment.

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com