John W. Shumaker
Encyclopedia
John William Shumaker is an American educator who served as president of Central Connecticut State University
, the University of Louisville
, and the University of Tennessee
.
, where he was born in 1942. He received a bachelor’s degree in ancient Greek
from the University of Pittsburgh
, where he was admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. He undertook graduate study in classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania
, receiving master's
and doctoral degrees in 1966 and 1969, respectively. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "Homeric transformations in the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes."
. In 1975 he became associate dean of the College of Humanities there. He left Ohio State in 1977 for the State University of New York at Albany, where he was initially the dean of humanities and fine arts and later became vice president for academic planning and development. In 1987 he left SUNY Albany to become president of Central Connecticut State University, where he served until 1995, when he accepted the presidency of the University of Louisville. While he was at Louisville, the university increased its endowment
from $183 million to more than $500 million. Shumaker worked to enhance the university's profile as a research university. He was also credited with a successful effort to build a new football
stadium at Louisville which was largely funded through alumni donations; hiring Rick Pitino
to coach the school's basketball
team; and helping to improve the quality of the student body, as indicated by the test score
s of the freshmen who enrolled at the university.
In 2002, Shumaker left Louisville to accept the University of Tennessee presidency. The move to Tennessee increased his annual compensation to a total of $733,550, including bonuses, which reportedly made him second-highest-paid president of a U.S. public university
. For comparison, his compensation at Louisville was reported by the Louisville Cardinal as $264,000 but was reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education as having been more than $600,000. When Shumaker was offered the Tennessee job, Louisville had offered to pay him a bonus of $1.5 million if he would stay until 2008, but the initiative was unsuccessful.
, news media reported that the university had paid for his personal travel on a university-owned airplane. Shumaker eventually reimbursed the university more than $30,000 (more than $5,000 in July 2003, followed by more than $25,000 the following month) for his personal airplane use. In July 2003, additional questions arose regarding personal expenses that Shumaker had charged to a university credit card
, a $300,000 consulting contract that the university had established with a Washington, D.C.
attorney who was a long-time friend and business partner of Shumaker's without going through a bidding
process, and a revelation that Shumaker had failed to tell the university that he was serving as trustee
of a college in Greece
. In August, it was publicly revealed that in 1995 and 1996, shortly after serving as president of Central Connecticut State University, Shumaker had received $10,000 in personal payments from Hyundai
, apparently related to a $110,000 contract he had signed with Hyundai to train students at the Connecticut school. He submitted his resignation on August 8, 2003, following public requests for his resignation from at least one state senator and a member of the university's board of trustees, as well as a public statement by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen
that the controversy was hurting the university.
After Shumaker's departure from the University of Tennessee, all three of the universities where he had been president undertook audit
s of his spending during his presidencies. The University of Tennessee found that Shumaker had incurred $165,000 in expenses for football
-related entertainment and $73,000 in expenses for holiday receptions. He also ordered $493,000 in renovations and new furnishings for his official residence, which had been remodeled at a cost of $787,597 less than a year earlier. His unauthorized purchases for the home included $97,350 for a new sun room and closet, $77,270 to create two bedroom
s for his sons, a new telecommunications system that cost $64,000, a $7,000 Persian rug
, two $7,400 entertainment systems, and a $4,822 gas grill. Officials in Connecticut
deemed the Hyundai payments to be a violation of the state's ethics law
s, but could not prosecute because of the statute of limitations
.
In a 2004 interview, Shumaker said that the allegations against him were unfair or "not true." He characterized himself as having been the victim of metaphor
ical "piranha
s." He said that the $300,000 no-bid contract had been reviewed by university attorneys and the recipient was not actually his business partner, and he defended his renovations to the University of Tennessee president's house as a necessary expense in connection with entertaining university donor
s.
Shumaker claimed severance pay under his employment contract with the University of Tennessee. Initially he asked for about $420,000 and at one time claimed that he was owed as much as $1.7 million, but eventually received $175,000 after reaching a settlement with the university in January 2009.
Since his departure from the University of Tennessee, Shumaker's professional activities have included assisting nonprofit organization
s as a fund-raising consultant and working on rebuilding the higher education
system of Afghanistan
. In the fall of 2009, it was reported that he was living and working in Pakistan
.
building in Shumaker's honor, commemorating his contribution to increasing the university's focus on research. The John W. Shumaker Building, completed in 2006 and renamed for Shumaker in November 2009, houses offices and labs of the University's College of Arts and Sciences and J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
in 1994. The couple had two sons.
In January 1996, after his move to the University of Louisville, Shumaker married Kentuckian Lucy Craig Steilberg. The couple separated in 2002 when John Shumaker moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
, to assume the Tennessee presidency without his wife Lucy. The couple's divorce trial
in 2003 became a source of some of the revelations that led to his departure from the University of Tennessee. The divorce
became final in August 2003.
Central Connecticut State University
Central Connecticut State University is a state university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States.The school was moved to its present campus in 1922...
, the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
, and the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
.
Early life and education
Shumaker is a native of Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, where he was born in 1942. He received a bachelor’s degree in ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
from the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, where he was admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. He undertook graduate study in classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, receiving master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and doctoral degrees in 1966 and 1969, respectively. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "Homeric transformations in the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes."
University career
Shumaker began his academic career as a faculty member at Ohio State UniversityOhio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. In 1975 he became associate dean of the College of Humanities there. He left Ohio State in 1977 for the State University of New York at Albany, where he was initially the dean of humanities and fine arts and later became vice president for academic planning and development. In 1987 he left SUNY Albany to become president of Central Connecticut State University, where he served until 1995, when he accepted the presidency of the University of Louisville. While he was at Louisville, the university increased its endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
from $183 million to more than $500 million. Shumaker worked to enhance the university's profile as a research university. He was also credited with a successful effort to build a new football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
stadium at Louisville which was largely funded through alumni donations; hiring Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996...
to coach the school's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team; and helping to improve the quality of the student body, as indicated by the test score
Test score
A test score is a piece of information, usually a number, that conveys the performance of an examinee on a test. One formal definition is that it is "a summary of the evidence contained in an examinee's responses to the items of a test that are related to the construct or constructs being...
s of the freshmen who enrolled at the university.
In 2002, Shumaker left Louisville to accept the University of Tennessee presidency. The move to Tennessee increased his annual compensation to a total of $733,550, including bonuses, which reportedly made him second-highest-paid president of a U.S. public university
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
. For comparison, his compensation at Louisville was reported by the Louisville Cardinal as $264,000 but was reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education as having been more than $600,000. When Shumaker was offered the Tennessee job, Louisville had offered to pay him a bonus of $1.5 million if he would stay until 2008, but the initiative was unsuccessful.
Controversy, resignation, and repercussions
Shumaker's tenure at the University of Tennessee ended in August 2003 when he resigned in the midst of controversy over allegations that he had misused university resources. The first allegations were made in June of that year when Knoxville, TennesseeKnoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, news media reported that the university had paid for his personal travel on a university-owned airplane. Shumaker eventually reimbursed the university more than $30,000 (more than $5,000 in July 2003, followed by more than $25,000 the following month) for his personal airplane use. In July 2003, additional questions arose regarding personal expenses that Shumaker had charged to a university credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
, a $300,000 consulting contract that the university had established with a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
attorney who was a long-time friend and business partner of Shumaker's without going through a bidding
Bidding
Bidding is an offer of setting a price one is willing to pay for something. A price offer is called a bid. The term may be used in context of auctions, stock exchange, card games, or real estate transactions....
process, and a revelation that Shumaker had failed to tell the university that he was serving as trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
of a college in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. In August, it was publicly revealed that in 1995 and 1996, shortly after serving as president of Central Connecticut State University, Shumaker had received $10,000 in personal payments from Hyundai
Hyundai
Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...
, apparently related to a $110,000 contract he had signed with Hyundai to train students at the Connecticut school. He submitted his resignation on August 8, 2003, following public requests for his resignation from at least one state senator and a member of the university's board of trustees, as well as a public statement by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen
Phil Bredesen
Philip Norman "Phil" Bredesen Jr. was the 48th Governor of Tennessee, serving from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected Governor in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006. He previously served as the fourth mayor of Nashville and Davidson County from 1991 to...
that the controversy was hurting the university.
After Shumaker's departure from the University of Tennessee, all three of the universities where he had been president undertook audit
Audit
The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation.- Accounting...
s of his spending during his presidencies. The University of Tennessee found that Shumaker had incurred $165,000 in expenses for football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
-related entertainment and $73,000 in expenses for holiday receptions. He also ordered $493,000 in renovations and new furnishings for his official residence, which had been remodeled at a cost of $787,597 less than a year earlier. His unauthorized purchases for the home included $97,350 for a new sun room and closet, $77,270 to create two bedroom
Bedroom
A bedroom is a private room where people usually sleep for the night or relax during the day.About one third of our lives are spent sleeping and most of the time we are asleep, we are sleeping in a bedroom. To be considered a bedroom the room needs to have bed. Bedrooms can range from really simple...
s for his sons, a new telecommunications system that cost $64,000, a $7,000 Persian rug
Persian rug
The Persian carpet is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to ancient Persia. In 2008, Iran’s exports of hand-woven carpets was $420 million or 30% of the world's market...
, two $7,400 entertainment systems, and a $4,822 gas grill. Officials in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
deemed the Hyundai payments to be a violation of the state's ethics law
Regulatory ethics
Regulatory ethics is a body of law and practical political philosophy that governs the conduct of civil servants and the members of regulatory agencies...
s, but could not prosecute because of the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
.
In a 2004 interview, Shumaker said that the allegations against him were unfair or "not true." He characterized himself as having been the victim of metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
ical "piranha
Piranha
A piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...
s." He said that the $300,000 no-bid contract had been reviewed by university attorneys and the recipient was not actually his business partner, and he defended his renovations to the University of Tennessee president's house as a necessary expense in connection with entertaining university donor
Donation
A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...
s.
Shumaker claimed severance pay under his employment contract with the University of Tennessee. Initially he asked for about $420,000 and at one time claimed that he was owed as much as $1.7 million, but eventually received $175,000 after reaching a settlement with the university in January 2009.
Since his departure from the University of Tennessee, Shumaker's professional activities have included assisting nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s as a fund-raising consultant and working on rebuilding the higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
system of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. In the fall of 2009, it was reported that he was living and working in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Shumaker Building at University of Louisville
In October 2009, the University of Louisville announced that it would rename a campusCampus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
building in Shumaker's honor, commemorating his contribution to increasing the university's focus on research. The John W. Shumaker Building, completed in 2006 and renamed for Shumaker in November 2009, houses offices and labs of the University's College of Arts and Sciences and J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
Family
John Shumaker's first marriage, to Michele Deasy Shumaker, ended with her death from cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1994. The couple had two sons.
In January 1996, after his move to the University of Louisville, Shumaker married Kentuckian Lucy Craig Steilberg. The couple separated in 2002 when John Shumaker moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, to assume the Tennessee presidency without his wife Lucy. The couple's divorce trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
in 2003 became a source of some of the revelations that led to his departure from the University of Tennessee. The divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
became final in August 2003.