By John C. O'Connell
Stuart Rabinowitz, dean of Hofstra's School of Law, has been chosen to be president of the university when Dr. James M. Shuart retires in June.
Praising the selection, the chairman of the university's Board of Trustees said Rabinowitz's vast talents and outstanding leadership abilities speak well for the many continued successes Hofstra University can expect under his presidency.
John J. Conefry said the search committee made its decision after first putting together a vision of where the university wants to go, and that vision helped determine the qualifications of the person we would need as the next president.
Rabinowitz, Hofstra's eighth president, became dean of the law school in 1989. He joined the school's faculty in 1972 and has spent the last 28 years at Hofstra. He also has served as vice dean at the law school and taught every class that has graduated from it.
And, he has served as the Andrew M. Boas and Mark L. Claster Distinguished Professor of Civil Procedure, and been a member of the university's President's Advisory Committee and the Provost's Council.
The evaluation of candidates included meetings and forums with faculty, students, board members, community members, prominent alumni and trustees emerti.
He enjoys the absolute and complete confidence and trust of the 28 members of the board, Chairman Conefry said at a news conference announcing the appointment of Rabinowitz on Dec. 20 at Hofstra Hall.
The new president's qualifications include leadership, marketing capabilities, fund- raising capabilities, and his obvious and deep-rooted respect for the institution and the faculty, Conefry said.
Rabinowitz received his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a member of the board of editors of the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He served on the Columbia faculty as an associate in law and then practiced with a major New York City law firm. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Law Institute.
I'm delighted in the choice the selection committee and the board made, said Dr. Shuart, who will retire in June at age 70. I feel very strongly his experience won the day. While I was not personally involved in the selection process at all, I do know that competition was very keen.
President-elect Rabinowitz's zeal for his new position was evident in his remarks to the media at the announcement ceremonies. I have a tremendous passion for this place. We are extremely strong and perfectly poised for what the next step should be. We have the kind of infrastructure we need to position ourselves for that next step. We have an absolutely sound fiscal base, and we are now poised to continue that, he said.
Rabinowitz, 55, who officially assumes his duties in June, said he wants to continue to raise the bar of excellence at Hofstra. We intend to move the academic standard to the next level. We have all the assets to move forward. That's what I've done in the law school in improving the academic stature.
Our student body is great, our faculty is great. I think we ought to continue to recruit nationally without ignoring our roots at all. We will be attracting the most highly regarded faculty, and we have a terrific faculty already. What we need to do, too, is to increase the visibility of our accomplishments.
Echoing the new president's call for proclaiming Hofstra's assets, Dr. Shuart used the news conference as an opportunity to praise the university he has been associated with for 40 years. One of the wonderful things about us here is that we are
self-critical. We are always striving to
do better.
We have worked on the texture of opportunity for our students, Shuart said. We strive for excellence in everything we do. The Hofstra family, our deans, our board, our faculty, our students, they buy into the destiny of Hofstra and that's what makes us so strong. I believe this is one of the finest universities in the nation.
Anything but retiring in his affection for the institution he has led for 25 years, Shuart said I'm excited by this selection. I'm a Hofstra man., and I'm proud of what we're doing.
