HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago Board of Trustees has extended the term of President Robert Zimmer to 2022, making him potentially tied for the second longest serving president in the university’s history.
Joseph Neubauer, chairman of the board, said Friday it had voted to extend Zimmer’s term to continue the work he’s done to improve the university since starting as president in 2006.
“For the past decade, under Bob’s leadership, the university has developed and implemented a program to become the preferred destination for the world’s best scholars and students, and to enhance its eminence among the few top-ranked research universities in the United States and the world,” Neubauer said.
He praised the growth in the university’s endowment, increased applications, growing faculty and a broadening of the areas of research and scholarship at the university.
If Zimmer completes the full term, he will have served 16 years as president, tied with Harry Judson, who served as president from 1907-23, when the university was a small collection of scattered buildings far from the city center.
“There was much in the air, but not much in the ground,” Judson said at the time, according to university accounts.
Zimmer is still a ways away from Robert Hutchins, who served 22 years as president from 1929-51.
It is not uncommon for presidents at the university to serve 15 years, with Hanna Gray most recently serving a 15-year term from 1978-93.
