Former Northeastern president picked to lead state higher education agency

November 21, 2008 12:31 PM Email| Comments (3)| Text size – +

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Former Northeastern University president Richard Freeland has been tapped to become the next commissioner of the state's higher education department.

At a meeting this morning, a search committee for the Board of Higher Education unanimously recommended Freeland as the department's next leader, after a lengthy national search.

The appointment requires the approval of the full board and Paul Reville, the state's education secretary.

Frederick W. Clark, chairman of the board and the 13-member search committee, scheduled a board meeting for Dec. 5 to interview Freeland and vote on his candidacy.

The education board sets policy for the state's 29 community colleges, state colleges, and universities, in conjunction with the institutions' boards of trustees.

Freeland, 67, would succeed Patricia Plummer, who stepped down in September after a two-year stint to work as a senior adviser to the president of the University of Massachusetts.

Aundrea Kelley, formerly the department's associate vice chancellor for academic policy, had served as acting commissioner.

Freeland, who retired in 2006 as Northeastern's president, served as dean at the University of Massachusetts at Boston from 1982 to 1992. He is a professor at Northeastern University and Clark University.

Freeland is best known for helping to transform Northeastern into a more selective, research-oriented institution. During his tenure, from 1995 to 2006, freshman applications more than doubled, average SAT scores of incoming freshman rose from 1,008 to 1,227, and the school steadily climbed in the US News & World Report rankings.

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3 comments so far...

Richard Freeland is a good man. I had an opportunity to meet him once - very genuine and a class act.

What's John Silber up to these days? He transformed BU much like Jack Curry and Richard Freeland did for NU.

Posted by Space Oddity November 21, 08 04:18 PM

I'd give Freeland and the NU Board during his tenure credit for wrecking a brand. Internships in the state, and the country, used to be synonymous with NU Coop's. Need an entry level assignment done at your company, get a Coop to do it (which meant an NU student 9/10 times). Freeland and NU Board when off track trying to change the recipe, like Coke did years ago (remember that debacle?). Only NU called it "Practice Oriented Education." What consultant numbnut came up with that mouthful? NU let every other school take their turf, now my company doesn't use Coops from NU; they use interns from UMASS or Wentworth.

Posted by Robroy November 21, 08 09:25 PM

Wasn't this chucklehead also responsible for the "perversion of the conversion" when NU switched from quarters to semesters? And oversaw the constant expansion of class size beyond NU housing capabilities? Constantly failing upwards...

Posted by another NU success story November 23, 08 09:18 PM