Saying he is confident Northeastern has secured its place among the nation's best research universities, President Freeland announced in August he will step down in August 2006 after ten years at the university's helm.

The Board of Trustees said it would begin an immediate search for a successor, with the goal of having a new president in place by next summer.

Freeland's announcement came just days after news that Northeastern had jumped another five spots in the influential U.S. News & World Report ranking of America's best universities, further cementing its place in the survey's top tier (see story, page 7).

"My charge nine years ago by the trustees was to reposition the university, taking it from a commuter school to a selective, residential institution that is research-focused, practice-oriented, and urban," Freeland said. "I feel I have accomplished that goal."

Board of Trustees chairman Neal Finnegan, BA'61, H'98, praised the achievements of Northeastern's sixth president. "Richard did a great job taking the university to a higher plane. Using him as a model, I hope the next president will move the school even higher," he said.

Freeland joined Northeastern in 1996 from the City University of New York (CUNY), where he served for four years as vice chancellor for academic affairs and president of the CUNY Research Foundation. Early on, he sought to build on the "smaller, better" model established by his predecessor, John Curry, to reverse the severe enrollment declines of the early 1990s.

He articulated a goal of reaching the U.S. News top 100 by 2010 by improving academic quality, revitalizing co-op, and expanding residential options. Throughout his presidency, the university has continually enrolled its best-prepared freshman classes, established several new research centers in emerging fields, appointed more than a dozen scholars to distinguished chairs and named professorships, and increased its on-campus student population from 33 percent to 51 percent.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Freeland promised a full agenda for his final year. He said his priorities would be to continue progress toward the top 100, nurture alumni relationships, and complete the master plan that will guide Northeastern's future development.

Were it not for the march of time, he would wish to stay longer, he said. "In general terms, I am hitting some nice, round numbers," he noted. "I'll be turning sixty-five, and will have served ten years as a university president."

Freeland, a tenured professor of history, said he will take a one-year sabbatical before deciding on his employment future.

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