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Richard "Dick" Levis McCormick (born 26 December 1947 in New Brunswick, New Jersey) is a historian, professor and university administrator currently serving as the nineteenth president of Rutgers University.

Early years

The son of the late Richard P. McCormick, a noted Rutgers professor and administrator, and Katheryne C. McCormick (née Levis), a University administrator, Richard Levis McCormick was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

After graduating from Piscataway High School in Piscataway, New Jersey, McCormick earned his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Amherst College in American studies (1969) and subsequently a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in History (1976) from Yale University. Before being appointed the President of Rutgers University in 2002, McCormick served as President of the University of Washington (1995–2002), vice chancellor and provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1992–1995) and on the faculty of History, department chairman, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University (1976-1992).

In 1985, he held a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship as well as a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Fellowship.

He has been married three times, currently to Joan Barry McCormick. His former marriages were to Cori Jones, a professor at Raritan Valley Community College, and Suzanne Lebsock, a professor in Women's History at Rutgers with whom he has two children, Betsy and Michael.

McCormick's tenure at Rutgers

McCormick's success as President is being established by his proposed Greening Project on the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The project focuses on updating the campus, constructing new classroom and residential buildings, improving transportation and increasing the amount of "green" areas. Five award-winning architectural firms submitted designs under a competition format. These designs, which some detractors among students, alumni and faculty have said are too modern for the college avenue campus—noted for being the historic core of the University—disregarding its heritage the eight-oldest college in the United States and among the nine colonial college have received unfavourable response. However, many of the ideas presented regarding the use of open space, transportation improvements, and others have received a favourable response.

In 2005, McCormick and the Board of Governors also approved a plan to reorganize the undergraduate residential colleges into a School of the Arts and Sciences and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences aimed at reducing budgetary expenses, and eliminating the often overlapping bureaucracy and contradictory admissions and curriculum standards among these residential colleges. Some students and alumni have criticized this plan citing that it sacrifices Rutgers unique institutional history and culture. This plan went into effect during the 2007-2008 academic year.

His salary in the year 2007 was $1,065,056.34 USDhttp://www.thnt.com/data/rutgersweb/search.html.

Published works

• From Realignment to Reform: Political Change in New York State, 1893?1910. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981). ISBN 0-8014-1326-5
• Progressivism. with Arthur S. Link. (Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1983). ISBN 0-88295-814-3
• Political Parties and the Modern State. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1984). ISBN 0-8135-1027-9
• The Party Period and Public Policy: American Politics from the Age of Jackson to the Progressive Era. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). ISBN 0-19-504784-2
• Public Life in Industrial America, 1877-1917 (American Historical Association, 1997). ISBN 0-87229-091-3

External links

• Office of the University President (at the Rutgers University website)