Finalist to be next UGA president is quiet, but no pushover

Fiscal year … State appropriations … Enrollment

2008 … $373.8 million … 33,831

2009 … $356.1 million … 34,180

2010 … $290.8 million … 34,885

2011 … $308.7 million … 34,677

2012 … $293.3 million … 34,816

2013 … $291.6 million* … 34,518

NOTE: Lawmakers are currently debating the amended FY 2013 budget. Figure is based on proposed reductions.

Source: University System of Georgia

About Jere Morehead

Jere Morehead is the sole finalist to serve as the next president of the University of Georgia.

Age: 56

Family: Single

Childhood: A native of Lakeland, Fla., he moved to Atlanta as a teenager with his family.

Education: Enrolled at Georgia State University at 16 and graduated four years later in 1977 with a bachelor of arts. Earned a juris doctor from the UGA School of Law in 1980.

Work experience: Assistant U.S. Attorney for Department of Justice from 1980 to 1986. He joined the UGA faculty in 1986 teaching in the Terry College of Business. After serving as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan in 1995, he returned to the UGA faculty in 1996 and joined the UGA administration in 1998, serving as vice president for instruction, vice provost for academic affairs, director of the honors program, and acting executive director of legal affairs. He has been the provost since 2010.

Awards/Honors: Editor-in-Chief of the American Business Law Journal, Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Terry College of Business Teacher of the Year Award, and the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Award, UGA's highest honor for teaching excellence.

Memberships: Vice Chair of the UGA Research Foundation, vice chair of the Georgia Athletic Association, and a trustee of the UGA Foundation and the UGA Real Estate Foundation.

Source: University of Georgia

The sole finalist to serve as the University of Georgia’s next president doesn’t bring with him the demonstrative personality of the man who currently leads the state’s flagship institution.

Rather, those who know longtime UGA administrator Jere Morehead describe him as a quiet and brilliant academic with an unparalleled understanding of the university’s inner workings. While President Michael Adams has never been shy about ruffling feathers, friends describe Morehead differently. He’s a collaborative type more likely to make thoughtful, nuanced changes to the institution as opposed to an overhaul.

And that — friends, colleagues and lawmakers said — is why he is the right person to lead UGA at this time. Morehead, they said, can navigate UGA through a period of financial uncertainty that threatens the trajectory of an institution consistently ranked among the top 25 public colleges in the nation.

Morehead has spent nearly his entire career at UGA and currently serves as provost, overseeing instruction, research, public service and outreach, as well as student affairs. His insider status promises an easier transition of leadership and sends the message that the State Board of Regents is not focused on drastic change, but rather on continuing the school’s current path.

Many in the campus community lauded Morehead’s selection, noting his decades-long allegiance to the state and — above all — the university. Faculty and students say he makes time to listen to their concerns and problems. He’s a familiar sight at different sporting events, often accompanying Adams on away football games.

He’s familiar to lawmakers too, several of whom called his selection “inspired.” By picking him, the regents have continued the pattern of trying to please the Legislature and improve their relationship with the people who control the purse strings. State and federal support will be crucial as UGA focuses on graduate programs and winning more research money.

Morehead “knows the university so well and he knows what areas really need the money at this time with the budget reductions,” said O. Lee Reed, a retired UGA professor and a friend for more than three decades. “It’s all about the budget and who gets the money.”

Reed has heard limited grumbling about Morehead being the finalist, mostly from a few who had hoped one of their own candidates would have been picked.

The university’s influence and that of its president extend far beyond the Athens campus. The college’s research supports farmers and other businesses across the state and country. Its graduates fill Georgia’s boardrooms. And its reputation attracts new employers, making it a crucial economic driver for the state.

The regents named Morehead as the finalist to become the next UGA president after spending about $207,000 on a national search that began last summer. The search committee scheduled interviews with nine candidates last month, a group that consisted of five presidents, three provosts and the dean of a large public university.

Under state law, the regents do not have to release the names of those who applied for the job or were interviewed. Only finalists must be released.

The 56-year-old Morehead said he is “honored and humbled” to be selected, but declined further comments until after the regents take action. They are scheduled to vote Monday.

Adams is stepping down June 30 after serving as president for 16 years. During that tenure he helped turn what was once regarded as a second-rate academic university obsessed with athletics into one of the nation’s most respected public institutions. In doing so Adams alienated some alumni and football fans in 2003 by refusing to extend the contract of athletic director Vince Dooley, a beloved figure in Georgia. He caused controversy again in 2010 when he successfully won permission for UGA to offer engineering degrees in areas long dominated by Georgia Tech.

Morehead was promoted to provost by Adams but he’s expected to be a different type of president. Consider how longtime friend Mary Jane Stewart described his communication style: “Why use a hatchet when a boning knife will do?”

Morehead’s elevation to the presidency would not be unusual. About one-third of college presidents previously worked as provost and about one-third were promoted from within, according to the American Council on Education, an influential umbrella group for higher education.

The prevailing wisdom used to be it was best to hire a president from the outside to bring in new ideas and shake things up. Now colleges are focused more on succession planning, said Gretchen Bataille, a senior vice president at the council.

“Maybe change is not the order of the day, but sustaining and building on what you have is more important,” Bataille said.

Morehead has moved up the college’s ranks since starting as a business professor in 1986. His teaching, legal and administrative experience fit the profile of what colleges are looking for, Bataille said.

He saw and contributed to the massive change UGA underwent during Adams’ tenure. And his connections with the university and lawmakers allow him to hit the ground running, she said.

UGA received about $373.8 million from the state during the 2008 fiscal year but stands to receive $291.6 million this year as the state struggles to rebound from the recession.

Lawmaker relationships remain critical in the battle for more money. Several lawmakers welcomed the idea of an in-state president, knowing he is committed to Georgia and won’t leave the state for another university in a few years.

“I’ve never been one who thought we had to look to California to find someone,” said state Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, who until this year led the Senate Higher Education Committee. “There’s no set of rules that says just because you do a national search that you can’t find the right person right here at home.”

Selecting Morehead shows the regents are continuing to improve their relationship with lawmakers, said state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs and chairman of the House Higher Education budget subcommittee.

That work started in 2011 when the board picked Hank Huckaby, a longtime political insider, as chancellor of the University System of Georgia. Before Huckaby, the system and lawmakers often butted heads over how colleges spend money and why they taught certain subjects.

“I feel they are being deliberate in making these hires and we are all getting along better because of it,” Ehrhart said.

Ehrhart has known Morehead for more than a decade. He doesn’t expect Morehead to maintain the status quo but said he doesn’t come across as the type who will be a “major reactionary.”

He acknowledged that the man’s quiet and serious demeanor could lead some people to think he’s stiff, but Ehrhart said Morehead has a dry, witty sense of humor.

And while Morehead doesn’t seek the spotlight, he can handle it, the legislator said.

“Mike Adams just has that larger-than-life personality. You know his presence as soon as he walks into the room,” Ehrhart said. “You won’t know Jere is in the room until he starts talking to you. And when he starts speaking to you it will be with gravitas because you know he thought about everything he was going to say.”

Morehead is quiet, friends say, but he’s no push-over.

“If there’s something he believes is important enough, he’s going to do everything he can to make it happen or prevent it from happening,” Stewart said.

Stewart has known Morehead since the two attended UGA Law School in the late 1970s. Morehead was a younger student. He enrolled at Georgia State University at 16 and was 23 when he graduated from law school in 1980.

While some say Adams’ leadership style can be autocratic, students, faculty and staff described Morehead as a good listener who has been responsive to their concerns and issues. Faculty note Morehead has approved programs they initiated to provide grants to help with research and teaching.

“He knows we are a strong university, but he knows where we need to improve so we are competitive with schools like Michigan and Chapel Hill,” said Marisa Pagnattaro, a legal studies professor in the Terry College of Business.

Some in the Bulldog community were surprised by Morehead’s selection because they didn’t know he aspired to be president. Stewart knew Morehead was interested but said he was nonchalant about it.

Becoming UGA president is ideal for the man who bleeds red and black, friends said.

Morehead, who’s never been married, likes sports and discussions about national politics. But that’s not where his special interests lie.

“I don’t know that he has hobbies in the traditional sense,” Reed said. “I was being quite candid in saying I think his hobby is the University of Georgia … His whole life has been the University of Georgia.”