Trustees fete ‘John & John’ on their 10th anniversaries

At their first meeting of the new academic year, trustees surprised JOHN HENNESSY and JOHN ETCHEMENDY with cake and a toast celebrating Hennessy’s 10^th year as president and Etchemendy’s 10^th year as provost.

There were souvenirs too: slender chocolate bars with color photos of Hennessy and Etchemendy, with the motto: “John² = Extraordinary Leadership.”

LESLIE HUME, chair of the Board of Trustees, gave the toast at the Monday afternoon gathering at the Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center. Among the surprise guests were the wives of the honorees – ANDREA HENNESSY and NANCY ETCHEMENDY.

Hume said it was time to pause and celebrate the partnership that Hennessy and Etchemendy had forged over the last 10 years.

“In the Stanford annals, this time will go down as one of the legendary times in Stanford history – not unlike the partnership of FRED TERMAN and WALLY STERLING,” Hume said at a Tuesday press briefing.

She was referring to J. E. Wallace Sterling, Stanford’s 5^th president, who held the top post from 1949 to 1968, and Frederick E. Terman, who served as provost from 1955 to 1965.

Hume said the last 10 years have been, across the board, an extraordinary time for Stanford; she cited its new facilities, its fundraising achievements, the excellence of its academic departments, its investment in undergraduate financial aid and the vision that has taken Stanford into the 21^st century.

“It was a time to celebrate and to thank both Johns for their leadership,” she said.

Among the group marking the 10-year milestones were members of Hennessy’s management team, including DEBRA ZUMWALT, vice president and general counsel; HOWARD WOLF, president of the Stanford Alumni Association; MARTIN SHELL, vice president for development; and DAVID DEMAREST, vice president for public affairs.

STEPHANIE KALFAYAN, vice provost for academic affairs, also joined the celebration.

Hennessy became Stanford’s 10^th president in September 2000, after serving as provost for a year. He is the inaugural holder of the Bing Presidential Professorship and is the fifth longest-serving Stanford president.

Hennessy joined Stanford’s faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He rose through the academic ranks to full professorship in 1986 and was the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1987 to 2004.

Etchemendy, who became provost in September 2000, has been a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy since 1983 – the year after receiving his doctorate at Stanford. Etchemendy is now the longest serving provost – the university’s chief academic and budgetary officer – in Stanford’s history.

—Kathleen J. Sullivan