Timeline: U.Va.'s John T. Casteen III

By: | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 13, 2009

MORE:

• U.Va. president to retire next year

• Timeline: U.Va.'s John T. Casteen III

• Casteen steps down - Read his retirement letter.

JOHN T. CASTEEN III BIO

Age: 65

Hometown: Portsmouth

Education: Holds bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in English from U.Va.

Family: Married to Betsy Foote Casteen; five children

Career highlights: Taught English at the University of California at Berkeley and U.Va.; U.Va. dean of admission 1975-82; Virginia secretary of education, 1982-85; University of Connecticut president, 1985-1990; president of U.Va. 1990-present; Member, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Board of Trustees; Named fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2009

Highlights of Casteen's tenure:

March 9, 1990 -- Casteen is named U.Va. president after a five-month search that included 150 candidates. He is inaugurated Oct. 6.

Jan. 29, 1991 -- U.Va. makes public a decision by Casteen to broaden its nondiscrimination policy to include homosexuals.

Feb. 12, 1991 -- Casteen orders the university's law school to rescind its ban on recruiters from military and government agencies.

May 17, 1991 -- Casteen announces that the university has launched an investigation into whether small loans given to athletes by the Virginia Student Aid Foundation violated NCAA regulations. In 1993, the NCAA announces minor penalties for the offenses.

Dec. 15, 1992 -- Casteen leads the Council of Presidents in denouncing a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia report asking state colleges and universities to accommodate 65,000 additional students over the next decade with little additional funding.

Dec. 8, 1993 -- The school announces plans for an $18 million Northern Virginia Graduate Center in Falls Church in conjunction with Virginia Tech.

June 27, 1994 -- The Virginia Institute of Government, which will offer training and technical help to local government officials, is inaugurated at the university.

Aug. 21, 1995 -- After a Supreme Court ruling, the university announces it will allow the funding of Christian publications such as Wide Awake magazine.

Oct. 6, 1995 -- The university launches a $750 million capital campaign.

Feb. 17, 1998 -- Casteen addresses a new task force formed to consider the problem of student alcohol abuse.

Feb. 25, 1998 -- The university increases its fundraising goal to $1 billion.

April 14, 1999 -- Casteen says using racial preference in public university admissions is a moral obligation in Virginia.

March 14, 2001 -- U.Va. says the final tally of its fundraising campaign is $1.43 billion, the second-highest amount ever raised by a public university.

May 25, 2001 -- Metromedia Co. founder John W. Kluge gives the U.Va. Foundation his 7,378-acre Albemarle County estate, more than doubling the school's land holdings.

Oct. 29, 2001 -- Paul Tudor Jones II pledges $20 million over 10 years to help build a replacement for the aging University Hall.

Oct. 3, 2002 -- U.Va. orders a 15 percent spending cut to offset expected reductions in state funding.

Feb. 6, 2004 -- Casteen announces a $16 million-a-year initiative to help poor and some middle-income undergraduate students attend the university.

July 30, 2004 -- Casteen says he supports "commonwealth chartered university" status, which would make the schools more autonomous but not entirely private.

Sept. 13, 2005 -- In the wake of racial incidents, Casteen appoints a vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity.

Sept. 25, 2006 -- U.Va. announces it is dropping its early-admissions policy, which critics had said benefited applicants from affluent families.

Sept. 29, 2006 -- The university launches a $3 billion fundraising campaign.

April 12, 2007 -- Frank Batten Sr. donates $100 million, the largest single gift in the school's history, to create a school of leadership and public policy.

-- Compiled by Wendy Addison