David Roselle - President of The University of Delaware

President of The University of Delaware

In the wake of the basketball scandal and proposed budget cuts by the Kentucky Legislature, Roselle left the University of Kentucky to accept a post as President of the University of Delaware. He was unanimously elected the university’s 25th president by the Board of Trustees. His term began May 1, 1990. He was the highest paid public university president in the nation, making $874,687 annually.

Roselle’s tenure as President was marked by aggressive fund-raising campaigns and an increase in fiscal discipline. Through privatizing many services and other cost-cutting measures, he cut the University’s annual budget by $32 million and eliminated the school’s $8 million annual deficit. Under Roselle’s leadership, the university’s endowment more than tripled from $362 million when he took office in 1990 to over $1.4 billion in 2006.

In addition to the increase in the endowment, Roselle’s fundraising allowed for the renovation of over a dozen older buildings and the construction of several new buildings on campus. The new buildings include a student center named after former University President Edward A. Trabant, the Charles C. Allen Jr. Laboratory, MBNA America Hall (now Alfred Lerner Hall), Gore Hall, and the Louise and David Roselle Center For the Arts, which was named in his wife and his honor. The renovations and new constructions were a part of a general campus beautification project that included brick walkways, ivy wall coverings, and the planting of new trees.

As he had at Virginia Tech and University of Kentucky, Roselle also made student access to technology a top priority. Not long after the beginning of his tenure as president, every class room, residence hall lounge, and office was wired to the campus’ computer network.

Roselle was also active in the community of the state of Delaware. In addition to acting as President of its top university, he served on the boards of Winterthur Museum, the Wilmington Grand Opera House, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Delaware and the Wilmington Trust Company. He is also a member of the Boards of OCLC and Brown Advisory. In 2005, Roselle and Robert Carothers were the first recipients of the American Council on Education's Fellows Mentor Award.

His intent was to resign on May 1, 2007, exactly 17 years after his term began, but Roselle served until July 1, 2007, when he was succeeded by Patrick T. Harker, formerly Dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

On June 1, 2008, Roselle began service as Interim Director of Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. In November he was named Winterthur's Director.

In 2012, Delaware Today named Roselle as one of "The 50 Most Influential Delawareans in the Past 50Years". The accompanying citation highlighted improvements at the University of Delaware during his tenure.