By Edward Klopfenstein
Dave Frohnmayer donned his “football regalia” Friday afternoon for the move from Room 275A at the School of Law, to Room 110 Johnson Hall, officially starting his two-year term as interim University president.
“Have you seen a room in such disarray,” Frohnmayer asked East Asian languages and Literatures Chairwoman Wendy Larson. His yellow dress shirt, stained at the elbows, was covered by a green University T-shirt.
The State Board of HIgher Education officially named Frohnmayer interim president May 11, replacing Myles Brand accepted the top administrative position at Indiana University April 14.
Frohnmayer was formerly dean of the law school and has been replaced by Charles O’Kelley, who will act as interim dean.
“This is a very nice office, and I hope it will be seen as an accessible office,” Frohnmayer told a reporter, “one that the door will always be open , so if you have a concern or a problem, you can come to me.”
As Frohnmayer’s daughter, seven-year-old Amy, and son, nine-year-old Jonathan, sat down to their crayons and coloring books, the interim president answered questions from reporters.
“The University has a very solid footing thanks to the leadership Myles Brand has given to it, so we don’t have to make a massive change in course,” Frohnmayer said.
Facing even stricter budget cuts by the state, Frohnmayer said that one of his goals will be to strengthen the school’s financial base.
By carefully conserving present funds and strengthening the school’s reputation, a path first cut by Brand, Frohnmayer said this would help increase out-of-state enrollment and slow possible tuition hikes.
But Frohnmayer noted that making room for qualified in-state student will be a continuing goal.
“We always have to be very conscious of our marketing,” Frohnmayer said. “But as long as we’re not denying Oregonians their place in the sun, and we’ve not done that, then I think the strategy is in place that would keep us stable.”
Demonstrating the importance of higher education to Oregon residents also will be an avenue to pursue, he said.
“The future of this state really rests with what higher education can do and what opportunities our young people and people all the way through life can have,” Frohnmayer said.
Commenting on diversity, Frohnmayer said that he would double efforts of the past to not only increase diversity but to also create a more welcoming atmosphere.
Believing diversity to be “identity within a sense of community,” he said it will be a goal needing constant tending, especially white Oregon.
Frohnmayer, a Harvard graduate, has a long history in public service and at the University. From 1971 to 1980, Frohnmayer was a law professor at the university and until 1979, acted as special assistant to the president.
Oregon’s attorney general from 1982 to 1992, Frohnmayer was appointed dean of the law school in 1991. His tenure as dean helped rank the school as the second best in the the Northwest according to U.S. News and World Report last March.
Besides the University, Frohnmayer is a member of the board of directors of Lane County Chapter f the American Red Cross, the board of trustees of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and a board member of the National Marrow Donor.
Together with his wife, Lynn, Frohnmayer founded the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Inc. he has also served as honorary chairman of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon for Sacred Heart Hospital and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital from 1988 to 1992.