Chicago Journal

Bird Watching

If success had a syllabus, President Don M. Randel could teach Lesson 1: the power of persuasion. That's the message of the September Chicago magazine article "Success 101," which attributes Randel's popularity in his first two years as Chicago's 12th president to his personal style: "effortless and unassuming," thoughtfully encouraging. Although writer John Balz points out that Randel "has done little to turn back, or even slow, [former President Hugo] Sonnenschein's big changes"-controversial decisions such as adding 1,000 undergraduates and shrinking the core curriculum from 21 to 18 courses-most U of Cers are happy with the new administration. Why? Because, Balz notes, Randel knows how to relate to people. "Even in a place that prides itself on intellectual rigor," he writes, "a little sweet-talking and coddling seem to have made all the difference in the world."
- Sharla A. Stewart