The Daily Orange

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"Buzz" Shaw talks about focusing on students, and few things you may not know about the 2003 NCAA Championship.

Chancellor Emeritus Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw spends his days at Syracuse University as a professor at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. He teaches a course on leadership, and works out of an office overlooking Marshall Street and the Syracuse skyline. He can enjoy these low-key activities because his time as president of a world-renowned university is behind him.

Those days are now comfortably in the past, reserved for lessons and reflection. Shaw's arrival at SU in 1991 occurred when the university needed a leader who would defend student interests, in light of issues that would invariably need to be addressed. Shaw's natural leadership qualities and the state of SU at his arrival became a winning combination that solidified a century's worth of growth.



Budget battles

Following presidencies at both Southern Illinois University and University of Wisconsin, Shaw took SU's highest post. At that point, Central New York was facing an economic recession and the university was not spared from the effects. Change was needed - and fast.

"There needed to be some belt tightening," said John Palmer, former dean of the Maxwell School. Palmer was part of the small group that the previous chancellor, Melvin Eggers, had organized to assess the university's financial situation for Shaw.

Gershon Vincow, vice chancellor under Shaw, said that at the time, the university projected a 20 percent decrease in undergraduate enrollment. The budget would need to be adjusted to reflect this change in income.

Seventy percent of the staff at the time was tenured, and somewhere, jobs needed to be cut to reflect the change in budget. On learning the details of the university's situation, Shaw made the executive decision to go public with the information.

He released the results from the group's report and showed the financial situation for each of the schools and colleges at SU. The data clearly demonstrated how much was spent and earned.

The value of the university's endowment and reserves was also released, a modern move considered highly controversial at the time.



"We had to be transparent," Shaw said. "When I came, what I heard was two different things: this place is broke (and) we're going under. The second was there are billions of dollars in the reserves, these people are just too tight."

The "transparent" attitude provoked discussion of the issue within both the university and the city. Because they knew the details of the situation, community members could comment to Shaw and he received about 150 comments regarding his plans to cut.

"Chancellor Shaw had a very good understanding of the ways in which you need to move to inform a community about the realities they face and then build consensus around a plan for dealing with it," Palmer said of transparent policy.

As part of the process, Shaw went to the administration of each college and showed faculty the data of how much their school was spending versus how much they were bringing in. With this information, the colleges would understand the necessity of the cuts.

"This was serious. We were looking at cutting millions of dollars in jobs, facilities," Shaw said.

He was trying to show the administrators that it was a very difficult situation, Vincow said. The question was only where and how the university was going to cut.

"When you go public in a crisis, people will understand you and trust you more with the solution," Vincow said.

"People couldn't say we were going broke and they also knew that we were in a very solid position to deal with our problem if we were willing to spend money to get the problem solved," Shaw said. "And we did."

Shaw's final budget plan, released during his first year as chancellor in February 1992, stabilized the university and improved on what was already there. He had taken Vincow's proposed academic plan and made adjustments before the release.

About 350 university employees were let go from SU as a result of financial cuts.

That number wasn't nearly as high as it would have been, though, due to careful planning and sensitive consideration, Vincow said.

A supported resignation plan came out of the planning, which enticed faculty to resign in exchange for financial incentives.

"My numbers might be wrong at this time - everything gets magnified over time except your faults, they get decreased - I think there were probably about 150 faculty total that took the supported resignation plan," Shaw said.

The changes that took place financially let the university choose a smaller, more selective incoming class. With a smaller class there were higher standards for admissions.

"We came out of it stronger and better, and he was obviously the right leader at the right time for what we had to go through," said Lou Marcoccia, who was senior vice president for business, finance and administrative services at the time.

In less than a year, most of the changes from the budget plan were made, said Kathryn Lee, professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Shaw's speechwriter throughout his chancellorship.

"I think we did an excellent job as we downsized, because we didn't just downsize the administration, we downsized the number of students," Lee said.



An unprecedented challenge

While Shaw's early tenure was burned by financial matters, during his latter years he faced more intimate challenges. He found that the most difficult times as chancellor were following the death of a student.

"It's usually alcohol or drug related, but that was always the hardest thing by far. It's so out of sequence with the way life is supposed to be," he said.

Lee said that in such situations, Shaw always made himself available to families. She also remembered him visiting staff members who were in the hospital.

The Labor Day storm in 1998 was another devastating incident for SU. It was a dangerous storm for the area, resulting in three deaths in the city.

"We had hundreds of trees down on campus, it was really depressing time, I thought he showed good leadership there," said David Rubin, who took his position as dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1990.

While natural, local disasters took their toll on the community, an attack on the entire nation brought about unprecedented challenges. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Shaw faced one of the most difficult days to be a leader. The Crisis Management team was assembled at 11 a.m. to discuss what the university would do.

"I met with my staff, and the first decision was the unpopular one, which was that we're going to have classes," Shaw said. He said he believed that at the time, students should be doing something and have the opportunity to talk to mature adults about what was going on.

"We were quite frightened, because we didn't know whether or not it was something that was going to happen elsewhere," Lee said. "He said to me, 'You have to write your finest speech right now.'"

As soon as possible, information centers were set up, as well phone banks for students to call home. Counselors and volunteers held discussion sessions in residence halls, where more than 2,100 students participated.

A gathering for Shaw's speech took place in Hendricks Chapel at 3 p.m. The turnout was immense, with several thousand members of the university community packed in pews and standing up against walls.

"It was surreal for like 15 minutes and then it was very, very real," Shaw said.

Shaw was informed that the number of people present exceeded the fire marshal's code.

"I was told that. I ignored it," he said.

"One of his real strengths was to understand how to provide that kind of leadership in difficult times for an institution," Palmer said.

On-campus ceremonies and vigils were held in memorial of victims and various fund-raising efforts were held. Students who lost a parent, guardian or spouse in the disaster were given special consideration by the Office of Financial Aid.

"He was very strong on making sure people understood that our students on campus were not to be scapegoated for this," Rubin said. "I think he did an excellent job in the days after 9/11."



Restructuring academia

From the beginning of his chancellorship, a redressing of SU's academic atmosphere was a top priority. The qualities and standards of academic programs would be altered to bring the university into a new era of strong, student-centered values.

Coupled with the budget cuts from his first year, Shaw announced that SU would strive to become the nation's top student-centered research university by using 22 initiative programs to return the focus to students.

"That's when we started talking about, 'Who are we? What are our values?'" Shaw said.

The concept would separate SU from other major research universities, as well as schools that weren't strong in research but strong in being student centered, he said.

"I think he was ahead of the curve in doing that," Rubin said. "I think it was important that we did that, and I think it's still part of Syracuse's value in the marketplace that it's known as a place that's student centered."

Rubin said the idea of putting students first by design helped the school bounce back as a selective institution.

Dean Palmer recalled the idea as "exactly what was needed in regards to progress."

"What he was signaling to the faculty was, we're not going to deemphasize research in scholarship, we're going to put more emphasis on naming this a high quality environment for our students," Palmer said.

The theme of being student centered would give SU a new face in the academic marketplace.

"Given the price of attendance at SU, and given that we were not going to be able to rely on an Ivy League reputation, we were going to have to focus much more directly not on the research mission of the university, but on the teaching mission," Rubin said.

Like any major decision, the move to being a student-centered research university didn't arrive without controversy.

There were faculty members who were committed to the research side and less committed to the teaching side who weren't happy to see this, Rubin said.

Still, the idea brought about changes from teaching styles to core values. One program started was called SUIQ, with IQ standing for "improving quality."

The program involved outside trainers meeting with faculty for a day and half, encouraging excellence across campus. Vincow described the program as, "a way in which the staff could recognize the way they treated students."

Looking back at the program, Shaw described it as one of the 22 initiatives that was "moderately successful."

"What you have to learn is the first question is 'Who is our customer?' And that used to tick some people off, that you'd say customer," he said. "But we all have customers, and it's not just students - we all have customers; we're serving each other."

To better serve the students, Shaw made the decision to start giving out merit-based scholarships to incoming students. And the quality of the entering class went up significantly for the rest of the 1990s.

"If Syracuse would be attractive, it had to be selective where the students wanted to come," Vincow said.

Shaw reflected on the hard work involved in establishing these changes.

"It wasn't easy by any stretch. There weren't a whole lot of places in this country that could have pulled off what was done," he said. "It wasn't just me, it was all these people that as their goal, let's get this done, let's get it done right."



Working with Buzz

The first year saw changes that could have troubled any leader, but Buzz Shaw remained steadfast in his characteristics.

"So many leaders, you can see them age in their office," said Lee, who worked with Shaw on a daily basis as his speechwriter. "There are so many responsibilities, so many pressures and so many people that want a piece of you."

Lee said that the job must have weighed heavily on him, yet it was hard to tell by his outward actions. She said working with Shaw was "the best job she ever had."

"He really enjoyed being chancellor, and you could tell he was having a good time," she said.

But it was Shaw's motivation to improve upon what the university had established that helped usher in a new direction for the future.

"I felt from the day I came on campus that I was going to make a difference," Shaw said. "What I saw was a high quality place with fixable problems and with a culture and a value system that said let's get the job done."

Members of the SU community say the timing of Shaw's arrival was essential to the events that took place.

"Overall, he was the right guy at the right time. He was calm. He didn't take drastic action. He took necessary action," Rubin said.

Shaw's leadership style reflected itself fully in that first year. His willingness to listen to the community and his commitment to progress led to changes.

"There are many people who could have just cut the budget and damaged the institution," Vincow said. "Buzz Shaw transformed the institution and made it a better and stronger institution."

Like most chancellors, Shaw worked a full day and did a lot of traveling. Lee recalled days when the chancellor would go from 7:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night.

"I never saw him in a foul humor, not once," Lee said. "He was such a pleasure to work for. He knew how to pace himself."

His colleagues recall his consistent practice of delegating of responsibilities. Decisions wouldn't sit at his desk for long; he would pass them on to who was responsible for that specific department.

"He was a good manager in that sense," Palmer said. "I've always thought that's a characteristic of a good manager - that they don't sit on things for a long time, they move them through, they make the decision that needs to be done, they delegate to the people who are around who are appropriate for various tasks."

Shaw was known as a skilled communicator. He addressed problems openly and had open office hours on Fridays for students.

"He knew how to be a leader." Vincow said. "When there was anything negative that had to come out, it came out quickly, fully and honestly."

Shaw was known to send personal notes to those who were in distress, remembered Lee.

"For celebratory occasions he would write poetry," she said. "And it was bad poetry. I turned 50 so I got a 50-year-old poem. It was pretty funny."



Goodbye Buzz

In March 2003, Shaw made the personal decision that he would spend only one more year as chancellor. But something else was happening that March that gave him a little competition: SU's run at the NCAA Basketball Championship.

"The Friday before the Final Four, I was slated to announce my stepping down. I had spent a year with the chairman of the board, Joe Lampe, privately going over how we would do all this," Shaw said.

"After we won the regional game, I called Joe Lampe on the way home and said this announcement's off. The last thing we should be doing is in any way competing with the basketball which is a wonderful thing. So we waited."

When Shaw did finally make his announcement, his final year as chancellor included finding a replacement, as well as staff rearrangements.

"We had a handshaking relationship, and he gave me a big hug," said Lee, who transferred as full-time professor in Newhouse after Shaw stepped down.

Though Shaw still remains within the folds of the SU community, he refuses to comment about the way the university is run today.

"When you're an ex-president or chancellor that goes back to the school you were president of, you don't say anything about what was going on. It's just better that way," he said from his spacious Whitman office.

"I made a vow to myself that if I were to come back here to teach, I'm going to teach," he said.

Upon reflection on his years at SU, Shaw credited the success of the university to the help he received from the campus community.

"At the end of it, you say the people here are so resilient and caring that we did the best we could with what we had," he said.

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