CAMPUS

B-CU taps University of Denver's Brent Chrite as 7th president

T.S. Jarmusz
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Brent Chrite. [Photo from the University of Denver.]

DAYTONA BEACH — After nearly two years without a permanent president Bethune-Cookman University has tapped Brent Chrite to lead the school.

Chrite, who is dean of the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, will become B-CU’s seventh president July 1. He’ll arrive at B-CU amid an unprecedented financial decline, ongoing FBI and Department of Education investigations into a student housing project — and just a week after a regional accrediting body is scheduled to decide whether to remove or extend the university’s probationary sanction or revoke its accreditation entirely — a decision that could end the historically black university.

Despite the situation, learning of the university’s plight only made him want to help it more, Chrite said.

“After my wife and I spent time with those students and the faculty, we were inspired by them. They deserve better,” Chrite said. “This place, I believe, is worth the effort.”

While at the university of Denver, Chrite led 220 employees and served more than 3,000 students. He previously served as dean at New Jersey’s Montclair State University and has held leadership positions at the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan. He’s also an independent director and chair of a risk committee at Gordon Food Service, a $15 billion privately held company.

Those who know Chrite speak highly of him.

“Dr. Brent Chrite served as dean with deep integrity and great intelligence,” said Gregg Kvistad, the provost who hired Chrite. “His visionary, collaborative leadership is respected by colleagues across the university. His most lasting legacy, however, may be his singular focus on academic excellence and inclusion.”

“Brent Chrite is a leader who has demonstrated an innovative approach to complicated issues in education today,” said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America and a member of the Daniels Executive Advisory Board.

Chrite has taught management, leadership, and international business classes to students and executives at universities across the nation and world. He’s worked with the World Bank to foster educational and business assistance programs across sub-Saharan Africa, the Eurasia Foundation to strengthen Uzbekistan’s economy, and recently under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, spent three years working to improve business education and entrepreneurship in Afghanistan.

While Chrite would not disclose what B-CU agreed to pay him and said his pay was consistent with the salaries of university presidents at similar sized schools, he said he wasn’t taking the job for the money. Chrite, who grew up in Detroit and said college saved his life, said he saw his younger self in B-CU students and wanted them to have the same opportunities he had.

“I’m at the stage in my career … where I’m interested in the consequentiality of what I do,” Chrite said. “I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t need to make a whole lot of money. I am at a place where I want to have the biggest impact, and this is a profound challenge.”

Chrite said he didn’t yet have a full plan to save the school, but that major — and not incremental — changes were in order. Speaking generally, he said he would work on fiscal stewardship, resolving the university’s leadership issues, and improving academics.

B-CU board chair Belvin Perry said Chrite’s strong academic background, leadership skills, demonstrated fundraising experience and solid work ethic left him well poised to lead the university.

Perry wouldn’t say how the board voted but did say that the school’s search committee recommended Chrite over two other finalists. Now that Chrite’s been selected, the board remains unanimous in its support of him, Perry said.

While trustees voted to elect Chrite in late February, his commitments at Denver prevented him from starting sooner, Perry said.

Even if the university’s probation is extended, that only leaves Chrite 11 months to resolve the school’s outstanding issues, a time frame he said was not optimal.

“I wish I had a year to learn the community, to listen and engage and to reflect," Chrite said. "I have no illusions that that’s possible.”

With the clock winding down, Chrite said he would visit campus at least three times a month before he assumes the helm in July.

“It’s going to be a very, very busy summer,” Perry said, adding that the board also would be making policy changes to better the university.

Outbound interim President Hubert Grimes said via text message that he intends to do everything he can to support Chrite’s transition.

While B-CU is facing a multitude of challenges, Chrite said that he didn’t believe the university would lose its accreditation. He said he’s looking forward to “pressing the reset button,” healing the university, and working with the community and the media to help “elevate the institution to its rightful place.”

“There’s a lot to do,” Chrite said. “It starts with bringing the right people on board.”

Chrite and his wife, Phyllis, have three children and one grandchild. He earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, master's from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and has a doctorate from the University of Michigan.