ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR AND KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITERS NOTE: Lede
The lure of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay area was too strong for Maggie O'Brien to resist.
O'Brien announced Tuesday that she will leave the presidency of Hollins College on June 30, the day her five-year contract with the private women's college expires. She will become president of St. Mary's College of Maryland.
"Hollins is like home to her, but Maryland is home," said long-time friend and Vice President for Academic Affairs Roger Bowen.
St. Mary's, a small, coed, public liberal arts college, is an hour south of Annapolis, Md., O'Brien's birthplace. It describes itself as one of the country's two public "honors colleges," a public institution that provides the same quality of education as many top-notch private institutions, but at a much lower cost.
St. Mary's has an enrollment of 1,500, all undergraduates. Hollins' combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment is 1,061.
"This was definitely just a unique opportunity to be on the leading edge of an entirely new concept in higher education," O'Brien said by telephone as she was about to board a return flight to Roanoke on Tuesday. O'Brien flew Tuesday to Annapolis, where Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening announced her appointment at a news conference.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said. "That was the painful reality - that I would not have this opportunity again."
Student Government Association President Elizabeth Luhn said she doesn't blame O'Brien for seizing the opportunity. But that doesn't lessen the blow.
It has been a particularly difficult year for the small liberal arts college, where bulldozers and workmen have become commonplace and students still are grieving over the slaying of one their classmates in Fairfax over the Thanksgiving holiday, Luhn said.
"This has been a big changing year for us," Luhn said. "There's a little bit of fear. What if we don't find someone who is as dynamic and wonderful as she is?''
O'Brien assured Luhn and others at a student government meeting Tuesday evening that this wasn't a job she went looking for.
"This summer they contacted me," O'Brien, 42, said. "I declined the interview, and they just continued to pursue me."
The announcement stunned members of the Hollins family - especially since the college just launched the largest capital campaign of its history. It has raised $32 million of its $41 million goal.
"I don't think anyone expected that fast a turnover," said George Ledger, dean of faculty.
"No time is a good time to lose an outstanding president," said Jane Bassett Spilman, chairman of the Hollins Board of Trustees. "We have always known that Maggie was a very talented young woman, and we knew we would not be able to retain her at Hollins for a lengthy period of time."
When O'Brien was ironing out the terms of her contract with Hollins in 1991, the board asked her how long she was willing to stay at the college, Spilman said. O'Brien agreed to five years.
"From that standpoint, we weren't terribly surprised," Spilman said. "The national average [for college presidents] today is anywhere from 51/2 to 61/2 years."
In fact, the average tenure for college presidents has dropped in recent years. And according to the American Council on Education, many college presidents believe they are under increased pressure these days - to improve undergraduate education, be more accountable to the public and, most of all, cut their budgets.
O'Brien has faced a tough financial situation at Hollins. Private colleges are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive market. The fight for students is more of a struggle for private women's colleges such as Hollins.
In 1993, she eliminated positions and postponed raises, and a professor who was laid off filed an age discrimination complaint. Still, O'Brien said then that she was not worried about the financial health of the college.
Those changes, however, weren't always well-received, said Tom Edwards, dean of international programs. He cited O'Brien's scaling back the Hollins Abroad Paris program this fall as an example.
Still, he said, "I think the world of her, and I think she was just what Hollins needed. ... She had a strong coalition of support behind her."
She also had detractors. Some faculty members worried about the future, said Mary Houska, an economics professor who retired in the summer.
While faculty members were being told they couldn't spend money or that the college wasn't hiring people in tenured positions, "they built the big entrance," she said, referring to the renovations of the college's front entrance off Williamson Road in Roanoke County.
However, history Professor Joe Leedom said no one begrudged O'Brien the steps she took to improve things.
"Things have improved dramatically," he said. "When Maggie came here, we had a freshman class with 191 students. This year, we had a freshman class of 265. That's a dramatic improvement, and a lot of it is directly attributable to her."
Five years ago, no one would have dared mention a $40 million capital campaign. They would have "shook their heads in disbelief," Spilman said.
O'Brien continued in the footsteps of her predecessor, Paula Brownlee, who was diligent in building bridges between the college and the Roanoke Valley.
O'Brien served on several boards and commissions, including the boards of directors of Norfolk Southern Corp., Landmark Communications (the owner of The Roanoke Times) and United Way of Roanoke Valley.
For years, John Hancock, founder of Roanoke Electric Steel, held an annual Christmas party for friends, all male, When he died last year, his friends decided the party tradition should continue - but that the guest list would widen a bit.
Last year, the group invited O'Brien.
"I met her at the door," Dalhouse said. ``I told her 'There are 85 men here - and you.' Maggie said `Well, that's about parity.'''
Members of the board of trustees met Tuesday to begin discussing a national search for a replacement.
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. 1. Maggie O'Brien tells studentby CNBgovernment leaders Tuesday evening that she will be leaving in June.
2. (headshots) O'Brien. color.