From: Suffolk University <mailer@suffolk.

edu>
Subject: Message from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Date: October 20, 2010 6:59:37 PM EDT
To: Suffolk_all_students@lists.suffolk.edu
Reply-To: mailer@suffolk.edu

Dear Members of the Suffolk University Community,

President Sargent has informed the Board of Trustees that he is retiring today. At a special meeting, the
Board has accepted his retirement and unanimously conferred the status of president emeritus on him in
recognition of his extraordinary years of service to Suffolk University.

As I stated in the press release below, I can think of no university that could be prouder of a president
than we are of President Sargent. He has devoted his entire career and all of his energies to the
betterment of Suffolk University, and in particular to its students. President Sargent has been a
transformational force in the growth of this institution, and I speak for the Board in thanking him for his
outstanding service.

The Board of Trustees will create a search committee to conduct a nationwide search for the purpose of
identifying a successor.

University Provost Barry Brown will assume responsibilities for the Office of the President, overseeing
day-to-day operations while the search process takes place.

Below is a press release with additional details of President Sargentʼs many contributions to Suffolk
University.

Sincerely,
Andrew C. Meyer, Jr., Esq.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Suffolk University President David J. Sargent to Retire; Receives Emeritus Status

David J. Sargent, who has led Suffolk University through a period of unparalleled academic growth and whose
passion for the institution became his life’s work, announced his retirement as president today. At a special
meeting, the Board of Trustees unanimously conferred the status of president emeritus on him in recognition of his
extraordinary years of service.

Under President Sargent’s leadership since 1989, Suffolk has grown to a major urban university serving a student
population from across the country and the world.

“No university in this country could be prouder of a president than we are of David Sargent, who has done so
much to serve the University and the wider community,” said Andrew C. Meyer, Jr., Esq., chairman of the Board
of Trustees, and a former law student of President Sargent. “The contributions he has made as a leader and an
architect for growth will serve as a model for future presidents of universities who attempt to achieve a similar
level of excellence.”
“As a professor, Law School dean and president, David’s singular focus on growing and expanding Suffolk’s
potential to serve students has made a huge difference in the lives of thousands who have walked through these
doors,” Meyer continued. “He will forever leave his imprint on this institution, and I speak for the whole Board
when I say how profoundly grateful we are for his many years of service.”

Meyer announced that the Board of Trustees will create a search committee to conduct a nationwide search for the
purpose of identifying a successor. University Provost Barry Brown will assume responsibilities for the Office of
the President, overseeing day-to-day operations while that process takes place. Brown has served Suffolk since
1976, as an esteemed law school professor and, more recently, as provost.

President Sargent, 79, is one of the nation’s longest serving college presidents, and his more than half a century of
service to Suffolk University is nearly unparalleled in higher education. A 1954 graduate of Suffolk University
Law School, he returned to the University in 1956 as a professor of law before becoming dean of the Law School
in 1972 and assuming the presidency of the University in 1989.

“I feel privileged to have been at this University for such a long period of time,” President Sargent said. “It is a
uniquely wonderful institution. Its students, faculty and staff have become my extended family. Suffolk today is a
vibrant and thriving institution dedicated to academic excellence and social responsibility.”

As the University’s eighth leader, President Sargent has taken great pride in hewing closely to the University’s
founding mission of providing access and opportunity for all deserving students.

President Sargent has strengthened and expanded the University’s academic programs, introducing Suffolk’s first
doctoral degree programs as an extension of its wide array of graduate-level offerings. Internationally, Suffolk
University now has campuses in Madrid, Spain, and Dakar, Senegal. In Boston, the New England School of Art &
Design has come under Suffolk’s mantle during President Sargent’s tenure. And the University’s dedicated faculty
remains committed to scholarship, teaching and learning. Today, 91 percent of Suffolk faculty members hold
Ph.D. degrees and the undergraduate faculty to student ratio is 1-to-12.

President Sargent’s tenure saw the establishment of many important centers of research at the crossroads of public
policy, law and business, including:
· The Center for Global Business Law and Ethics
· The Center for Innovation and Change Leadership
· The Juvenile Justice Center
· The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service
· The John Joseph Moakley Institute on Public Policy and Political Leadership
· The Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights
· The Barbara and Richard M. Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies
· The Suffolk University Political Research Center

The Sargent era of institutional growth has seen the addition of four residence halls, including the recently opened
Modern Theatre residence hall, a new Law School, and an administrative building that houses the Mildred Sawyer
Library, and the soon-to-open, magnificently restored Modern Theatre performance space.

President Sargent is a past recipient of the American Trial Lawyers Association Award for service to the Bar and
to the public, a recipient of the John Joseph Moakley Public Service Award, and holds an honorary doctor of laws
degree from Suffolk University.

Suffolk today, has a devoted alumni base that is more than 60,000 strong, and a student population of nearly
10,000. It remains committed to educating students to become lifelong learners, as well as professionals who lead
and serve the communities in which they live and work.