Francis Leo Lawrence (August 25, 1937 – April 16, 2013)
[Lawrence, Francis L. "Leadership in Higher Education: Views from the Presidency" (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2006), 345.] was an American educator and scholar specializing in
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
and university administrator. A graduate of
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...
and
Tulane University
The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
, Lawrence taught at Tulane for over 30 years and held posts as academic vice president, provost, and dean of the graduate school before being appointed as the 18th president of
Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
(1990–2002).
[Rutgers University Libraries]
Francis L. Lawrence
Retrieved April 17, 2013.
During his career, Lawrence authored several books and articles on French classical drama and baroque poetry with a focus on the works of
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
. For his contributions to this field, Lawrence was awarded the honor of
Chevalier dans L'Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government.
Early years
Francis Leo Lawrence, “Fran”, as he was known by all, was born in 1937 in
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsoc ...
, the fifth child and only son of Anthony and Eldora Lawrence. He attended Mount Saint Charles High School (now
Mount Saint Charles Academy
Mount Saint Charles Academy is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational junior and senior high school academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
History
In 1919, the Federation of Canadian Catholic C ...
) where he played hockey and was a star pitcher on the baseball team. He was inducted into the Mount Saint Charles Hall of Fame in 2005. Lawrence earned his bachelor's degree from St. Louis University in French and Italian in 1959, where he met his future wife Mary Kay at the beginning of his freshman year. He was awarded an NDEA fellowship for graduate study and earned a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
(Ph.D.) degree in French classical literature from
Tulane University
The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
in 1962.
[
He rose through Tulane University's academic and administrative ranks to full professor, chairman of the French and Italian department, Dean of Newcomb College, Dean of the Graduate School and chief academic officer/Provost. In 1990, he was appointed president of Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.][ He was married to Mary Kathryn Long Lawrence. They have four children and thirteen grandchildren. Lawrence died peacefully following an illness on April 16, 2013, at his home in ]Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Mount Laurel is a Township (New Jersey), township in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading, Pennsylvania, Reading-Camd ...
, with his wife of 54 years, Mary Kay, by his side as well as his daughter, Naomi; he was 75 years old.
Presidency of Rutgers
Among his many accomplishments as president of Rutgers included: a strategic plan to further excellence in learning, research, and service that built upon Rutgers' strengths and offered a new vision of the university; the first university-wide curriculum committee assembled in over two decades to evaluate Rutgers' general education curriculum and to make recommendations that would focus the curriculum on the beginning of the 21st Century; Learning Resource Centers on each campus to help students achieve their greatest potential, and Teaching Excellence Centers on each campus to assist faculty in their classroom work; the RUNet 2000 project, which realized the goal of a fully wired campus and transformed teaching, research, and outreach at Rutgers; Community service initiatives, including the Adult Lifelong Learning program, now known as the Osher Institute; programs in the arts, music, and theater such as the Mason Gross School of the Arts' Rutgers in New York series, which exposed Rutgers artists to one of the world's most important cultural environments; the hugely successful Rutgers Campaign: Creating the Future Today, which raised 75 percent of its goal within the first 42 months and would far surpass its goal, raising more than $600 million; Rutgers' evolution as a global force in education, with new connections in Namibia, South Africa, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.
In 2002, he announced his plan to return to academia, and became a Rutgers University Professor. While on the Rutgers faculty, he authored Leadership in Higher Education: Views from the Presidency, a collection of interviews with presidents and chancellors of leading universities. He was praised for energetic fundraising attempts, the appointment of several committees to address the decline of undergraduate education and the academic quality of incoming students, as well as the construction of new academic facilities for the Mason Gross School of the Arts, the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University (The Bloustein School) serves as a center for the theory and practice of urban planning, public policy and public health/health administration scholarship. The sc ...
, and the Rutgers-Newark Center for Law and Justice. Dr. Lawrence was also credited with retaining some members of the distinguished faculty recruited by his predecessor Edward Bloustein, some of whom earned several prestigious awards (including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Science, the MacArthur Foundation "genius" prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, and Sloan Fellowships). Lawrence has served as President of the North American Society for French Seventeenth Century Literature, on editorial boards for several scholarly journals, as the board chair of a monograph series, on the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, and on the boards of several national higher education organizations.
He retired from the office of president in 2002. As President Emeritus, he returned to teaching, with an appointment as University Professor at Rutgers.
Controversy
Comments made in 1994, in which Lawrence urged that higher education should not be denied to disadvantaged students who might lack the "genetic, hereditary background" to perform well on standardized tests, were publicized in 1995. The comments led to calls demanding for his resignation, and student protests, including one that brought a televised basketball game to a halt as protesters staged a sit-in on the court. Lawrence repeatedly apologized for the comments which he said were a verbal slip that did not represent his views.
Selected publications
*Molière, The Comedy of Unreason. Tulane Studies in Romance Languages and Literature, no. 2. New Orleans, 1968.
*The Influence of Rhetoric on Seventeenth Century French Literature. (Co-Editor) Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, no.3 Seattle, 1975.
*"Dom Juan and the Manifest God: Molière's Anti-Tragic Hero." PMLA 93, 1978.
*Visages de Molière. (Editor, Author) Oeuvres et Critiques V.1: Paris: Editions Jean-Michel Place, 1981.
*Actes de New Orleans. (Editor) Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature/Biblio 17, Paris-Seattle-Tuebingen, 1982.
*Leadership in Higher Education: Views from the Presidency. Transaction Publishers, 2006.
References
External links
Francis L. Lawrence
at Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Francis L.
1937 births
2013 deaths
Presidents of Rutgers University
People from Mount Laurel, New Jersey
People from Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Recipients of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Saint Louis University alumni
Tulane University alumni
Tulane University faculty