Адам Герберт: Биография американского университетского администратора

American academic administrator

Adam William Herbert, Jr. (born December 1, 1943) is an American retired academic administrator. He served as president of the University of North Florida from 1989 to 1998, as chancellor of the State University System of Florida from 1998 to 2001, and as president of Indiana University from 2003 to 2007. He was the first African American to hold the latter two positions. He announced his retirement from Indiana University in 2007, and was succeeded by Michael McRobbie.

Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he and his sister Tamashia Buckner were raised by their mother Addie Hibler Herbert a divorcee. Herbert attended Manual Training High School. Herbert's mother was a teacher and librarian and a strong influence on him. He has called her his personal hero. Herbert earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science (1966) and a Master of Public Administration (1968) from the University of Southern California. He earned his Ph. D. in urban affairs and public administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971.

Herbert's academic career started at University of Southern California as a faculty member in the School of Public Administration and the Center for Urban Affairs. In 1972 he became the chair of urban affairs program and associate professor of urban affairs at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

On June 6, 2003, Herbert was selected to be IU's 17th president, his term began on August 1, 2003. Upon assuming leadership of Indiana University, one of Herbert's biggest initiatives focused on "mission differentiation" for IU's eight campuses, which included making the flagship Bloomington campus more selective. Under the proposal Indiana University Bloomington would have educated the professionals, executives and researchers while the regional campuses would be tasked with educating the labor force. In his inaugural address, IU's 17th president noted that "the opportunity before us is to shape and lay the stones that will serve as the foundation for expansions and additions, new spires and buttresses of this magnificent cathedral of learning." He did so by overseeing transformative initiatives in teaching, research, and public engagement. Under his direction, the faculty instituted a general education curriculum, and brought more than $1.7 billion to Indiana in research grants and contracts. He oversaw the development of the Indiana Life Sciences Initiative, designed to establish IU as one of the nation's leading centers of life sciences research and Indiana as a leader in the life sciences industry. He helped each of IU's eight campuses become more market smart and mission centered by launching the Mission Differentiation initiative and enhanced IU's relationships with Indiana's community colleges. He undertook the university's first major administrative restructuring in 30 years, expanded IU's physical infrastructure through the construction or renovation of more than 3,000,000 square feet of university facilities, and significantly strengthened the university's athletics programs. Throughout his presidency, Adam Herbert placed special emphasis on fund raising, particularly in the area of student financial aid. He also enthusiastically promoted diversity in IU's faculty, staff and student body, challenging each IU campus to develop concrete diversity goals. A signature accomplishment of Herbert's time at IU was the creation of what was then called the "Hoosier Presidential Scholars," in 2005. Following the announcement of his retirement, the scholarship was renamed in his honor and remains awarded as the "Herbert Presidential Scholars Program."

Herbert served on the transition team of Mayor elect of Jacksonville Alvin Brown.