Francis Leo Lawrence
Francis Leo Lawrence, born 1937, was the eighteenth president of Rutgers University, serving from 1990 to 2002.
Early years
Francis Leo Lawrence was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he graduated from Mount St. Charles Academy in 1955. Lawrence earned his bachelor's degree from St. Louis University in French and Spanish (1959), was awarded an NDEA fellowship for doctoral study, and earned a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in French Classical Literature from Tulane University in 1962.
Before his appointment as President of Rutgers University in 1990, Lawrence was the Academic Vice President and Provost at Tulane University, where he had also served as Dean of Newcomb College and Dean of the Graduate School. In recognition of his contributions to scholarship and cultural exchange, he was awarded the title of Chevalier dans l'Ordres des Palmes Académiques by the French government. He is married to Mary Kathryn Long Lawrence. They have four children and thirteen grandchildren.
Presidency of Rutgers
Lawrence's twelve year tenure at Rutgers was received with a mix of criticism and praise: praise for impressive fundraising efforts, strengthening undergraduate education and increasing the academic qualifications of incoming students, construction of new academic facilities for the Mason Gross School of the Arts, the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and the Rutgers-Newark Center for Law and Justice, as well as a massive computing network. He was also credited with building a distinguished faculty that earned several awards (including the Pulitzer Prize, National Medal of Science, MacArthur Foundation "genius" prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, and Sloan Fellowships), but criticized for decisions that led to greater support and success for "bigger time" athletic participation (for example, joining the Big East Conference), which some alleged drained university prestige and diverted funds away from academic projects. Comments made in 1994,in which Lawrence urged that higher education should not be denied to disadvantaged students who might lack the "genetic hereditary background to have a higher average" on standardized tests, were publicized in 1995 by a union in negotiations with the Rutgers administration and led to calls for his resignation and student protests, including one that brought a televised basketball game to a halt, as protesters staged a sit-in on the court.
Lawrence has served as President of the North American Society for French Seventeenth-Century Literature, on editorial boards for several journals, as board chair of a monograph series, as a member of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and on the boards of directors and the governing committees of several state and national higher education organizations. He retired from the office of President in 2002. As President Emeritus, he has returned to teaching with an appointment as University Professor at Rutgers.
Selected Publications
- Molière,The Comedy of Unreason. Tulane Studies in Romance Languages and Literature, no. 2. New Orleans, 1968.
- The Influence of Rhetoric on Seventeenth Century French Literature. (Co-Editor) Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, no.3 Seattle, 1975.
- "Dom Juan and the Manifest God: Molière's Anti-Tragic Hero." PMLA 93, 1978.
- Visages de Molière. (Editor, Author) Oeuvres et Critiques V.1: Paris: Editions Jean-Michel Place, 1981.
- Actes de New Orleans. (Editor) Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature/Biblio 17, Paris-Seattle-Tuebingen, 1982.
- Leadership in Higher Education: Views from the Presidency. Transaction Publishers, 2006.