Low-tech edition
Low-tech edition
Lawrence, Kansas
Robert Hemenway has been at the helm of the state's largest university since 1995.
The 62-year-old chancellor is known for being at his Strong Hall office by 7 a.m., carrying a typed schedule in his shirt pocket. The schedule is generally packed with meetings with Endowment Association officials and administrators and trips to the KU Medical Center. The meetings often last until evening.
Hemenway's often-stated goal is for KU to be a top-25 research university. He's worked toward that end by getting more research grants and attracting more students with higher academic credentials. He said the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at KU this year will develop criteria for measuring KU's progress toward the top-25 goal.
Hemenway has championed the KU Endowment Association's $500 million "KU First: Invest in Excellence" campaign that runs through 2004. So far, more than $404 million has been raised.
During the next two years, Hemenway will serve as chairman of the NCAA Division I board of directors. He also will be on the five-member committee working to hire a new NCAA president. Hemenway, who is also an English professor, enjoys reading mystery novels, surfing the Internet and reading four or five newspapers a day. Hemenway said he enjoyed many of the amenities of living in Lawrence — such as the Farmers Market, Lied Center programming and KU's picturesque campus — and said those amenities kept many faculty members at KU who might otherwise leave for other universities.
As he starts his ninth year as chancellor, Hemenway said he still enjoys his job every day.
"I know there's always potential in a job to get burned out," he said. "I've never worried at all about being burned out. Frankly, I thrive on the day-to-day activity. It's a chance to make an impact at the university."
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