Brown names new chancellor

PROVIDENCE – Samuel M. Mencoff, a Chicago investment executive, will become Brown University’s 21st chancellor this summer.

Named by the Corporation of Brown University, Mencoff succeeds Thomas J. Tisch, whose nine-year service as chancellor ends at the end of this academic year. Mencoff has been a member of the corporation since 2003. He will begin the position July 1.

“We have excellent leadership in President [Christina H.] Paxson, a strong strategic plan … all the pieces are there to realize the ambitions we’ve set for ourselves to pursue Brown’s mission at a higher level of distinction,” Mencoff said. “I can’t imagine a more worthy legacy for us to leave to the generations who will come after us in this procession in time.”

Mencoff is a founding partner and co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners, one of the nation’s leading private equity investment firms, with approximately $18 billion of capital under management.

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He first served on the Brown Corporation as a member of the Board of Trustees. Election to the Board of Fellows followed that six-year term in 2009. He chairs the academic affairs committee, is a co-chair of the $3 billion BrownTogether campaign and is a member of several other committees.

He has also served on the board of the Brown University Sports Foundation and the Watson Institute.

Mencoff will head a leadership team that includes Alison S. Ressler as vice chancellor, Theresia Gouw as treasurer and Donald C. Hood as secretary. New officers’ terms begin July 1.

“I sincerely appreciate the confidence; it means more to me than I can say,” Mencoff added. “Tom Tisch has been such a magnificent steward of this body, and his warmth, wonderful spirit and total commitment to Brown is an inspiration to everyone on the corporation and throughout the Brown community.”

Ressler, a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Los Angeles is treasurer but will succeed Jerome C. Vascellaro as vice chancellor.

“Jerome Vascellaro has been a giant on this corporation and has served for so many years and in so many leadership roles that if there was a Mt. Rushmore for great corporation members, Jerome would surely be on it,” Mencoff said.

The corporation, which meets three times a year, comprises a 12-member Board of Fellows and a 42-member Board of Trustees. Its four officers, together with the university president and at least nine other members, serve on the advisory and executive committee. The corporation sets the university’s budget, tuition and fees, selects the president, establishes policy and strategic plans, appoints faculty and senior administrative officers, sites buildings, and accepts gifts and naming opportunities.

In other news, the Corporation of Brown University also has approved a budget of $1.01 billion for fiscal 2017, a 5.2 percent increase, and accepted 12 gifts totaling more than $31.4 million.

The budget plan is designed to address a structural deficit and align resources with the “Building on Distinction strategic plan while “investing in academic excellence,” Paxson said in a press release.

Tuition, fees and room and board now total $64,556 a year, an increase of 4.1 percent for the 2016-17 academic year.

The budget includes support for the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, including three new faculty diversity positions, enhanced support for first-generation and low-income students, and new travel support for aided international students.

Four budget divisions include $719 million for education and general programming; $140 million for biological sciences and the Warren Alpert Medical School; $46.8 million for public health; and $105.6 million for auxiliary operations.

The budget for undergraduate financial aid, long one of the fastest-growing lines in the university budget, will increase 7.1 percent to $120.5 million.

The corporation also noted this past weekend that it has surpassed the $1 billion mark in the university’s $3 billion BrownTogether comprehensive campaign.

Of the 13 gifts of $1 million or more, those that are larger than $1 million include:

  • $8,710,216 to endow a professorship and graduate fellowships within the School of Engineering from the late Charles B. Kiesel, a 1936 graduate, and the late Alice P. Kiesel;
  • $5,301,060 to support the Frank V. Carollo Medical Scholarship Fund at the Alpert Medical School from the late Frank V. Carollo, a 1950 graduate;
  • $3.5 million to endow the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Professorship in Economics from Robert J. Carney, a 1961 graduate, and Nancy D. Carney;
  • $3 million to endow the Genine and Josh Fidler Family Campus/Community Collaborative within the Swearer Center for Public Service from Genine M. Fidler and Josh E. Fidler, 1977 graduates and Brown parents;
  • $2 million to endow the Graduate Student Collaboration Space and a graduate fellowship within the School of Engineering from Ching-I Hsu, a 1970 graduate and 1974 PhD graduate, and Esther Hsu, Brown parents;
  • $2 million to support the President’s Discretionary Fund from an anonymous donor;
  • $1,898,223 to support the Davis United World College Scholars Program from Shelby M. C. Davis and Gale L. Davis, friends of the university; and,
  • $1,005,421 to endow the Marvin L. Wilenzik ’56 Head Coaching Chair for Brown Wrestling from Kevin F. McCarthy, a 1991 graduate, and Karen Johnson McCarthy.

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