Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick appoints Carl Kirschner interim director of intercollegiate athletics

Kirschner – chair of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics – to serve in interim position until a permanent director is chosen in a nationwide search

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers University President Richard L. McCormick today announced the appointment of Carl Kirschner – a well-respected faculty leader who is instrumental in maintaining the high academic standards of Rutgers student-athletes – as the university’s interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. 

Kirschner has served as dean of Rutgers College and chair of the university’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Since 1997, Kirschner has chaired the university’s Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics, which reviews the applications of prospective Rutgers student-athletes and monitors their academic progress. Kirschner also meets regularly with prospective student-athletes and their families during their campus recruitment visits to provide information about academic programs at Rutgers.

“Carl Kirschner has been a loyal, enthusiastic and effective member of the Rutgers community for more than 30 years,” McCormick said. “Carl’s service to this community has earned him the respect of Rutgers faculty, staff, students, alumni and donors – including supporters of Rutgers Athletics. He fully understands the importance of a well-run athletics program that succeeds both on the field and in the classroom.”

Kirschner said: “As we continue to improve as a public research university, we will naturally undergo significant changes. For example, the recent reorganization of undergraduate education, which created a single School of Arts and Sciences on the New Brunswick Campus, was undertaken as part of the progression toward our goal of joining the ranks of the nation’s fnest public universities.

“In the same way, our progression toward developing an athletics program that is the hallmark of a major public research university is an important ongoing initiative. By any criteria that we might use to identify the very top public research universities, we find that every one of them has a nationally recognized athletics program,” Kirschner added. “Rutgers’ pursuit of excellence in learning, research and service includes these important opportunities for our student athletes. They deserve no less.”

Kirschner said he will not be a candidate for the permanent position of director of intercollegiate athletics.

Also today, President McCormick announced that Philip Furmanski, the university’s executive vice president for academic affairs, will lead the committee that will conduct a nationwide search for a permanent director of athletics. The university also will hire an independent consulting firm to work with the search committee. The firm will be selected through a competitive process.

The president also named to the search committee:

Hollis Copeland – A principal-institutional stockbroker at Williams Capital Group and graduate of Rutgers College, Copeland was a standout on the great Rutgers basketball teams of the mid-1970s. He is a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees.

Richard L. Edwards – The dean of the Rutgers School of Social Work since 2005, Edwards previously held deanships at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He will serve as interim chair of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics while Kirschner serves as interim director of athletics.

Albert R. Gamper Jr. – The former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the CIT Group Inc., from which he retired in 2004, Gamper is a past chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors. He chairs the board’s Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics.

John F. Herma – A 1970 Rutgers graduate, Herma is the former chief operating officer of Kohl’s Corp. In addition to being longtime financial supporters of Rutgers University and Rutgers Athletics, Herma and his wife, Susan, are deeply involved in charitable and civic activities in their home state of Wisconsin.

Jorge Marcone – An associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Marcone specializes in comparative literature and Latin American Studies. He is a member of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics.

Patricia Mayer – The interim chair of the Department of Visual Arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Mayer is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Schools of Dance. She also is a member of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics.

Howard McGary – A professor in the Department of Philosophy, McGary founded and directs the university’s prestigious Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy. He also is a member of the President’s Council on Institutional Diversity and Equity. He is a member of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics.

Nina Montero – A Rutgers University senior and English major from Vineland, Montero was captain of the Rutgers women’s soccer team in 2007 and 2008. She has been named a Big East Conference Academic All-Star each of the last three years.

Patricia Nachtigal – Senior vice president, general counsel and a director of Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., Nachtigal serves as vice chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors. She also served as chair of the Rutgers Board of Trustees in 2003-04.

Kenneth M. Schmidt – A 1967 Rutgers graduate, Schmidt chairs the Rutgers University Foundation Board of Overseers. He is also a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees. Schmidt is a retired managing director of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc.

Thomas M. Stephens – A professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Stephens has served as the university’s faculty representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association since 2002. He is a member of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics.

Robert L. Stevenson – A 1965 graduate of the School of Engineering, Stevenson is president of P.L. Custom Body and Equipment Co., Inc. in Manasquan. He is also vice chair of the Rutgers University Alumni Association and vice chair of the Rutgers Board of Trustees.

Kathryn E. Uhrich – A professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Uhrich is a leading researcher in the medical application of polymer compounds. She is best known scientifically for her development of PolyAspirin, a biodegradable polymer form of aspirin. She is also a member of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics.

John Wooding – A 1978 Rutgers graduate, Wooding is a senior associate director of intercollegiate athletics. He also is a former assistant commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference and former associate director of athletics at Seton Hall University.

The permanent director of intercollegiate athletics will succeed Robert E. Mulcahy III, who will leave the position on Dec. 31.

Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. Rutgers is also a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a highly selective organization comprising the 62 leading research universities in North America.

Media Contact: Greg Trevor
732-406-7600
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu