John V. Lombardi
Encyclopedia
John Vincent Paul Maher Lombardi (born August 19, 1942) is an American university professor
and administrator. Lombardi currently serves as the president of the Louisiana State University System
, a position he has held since 2007. He is a native of California
, and earned his bachelor's
, master's
and doctoral degrees before becoming a professor of Latin American history. Lombardi was formerly the president of the University of Florida
and the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst
.
in 1942. His father was the president of Los Angeles City College
, a California community college, and superintendent of the Los Angeles Community College District. His mother worked as a college librarian. He earned his bachelor of arts
degree from Pomona College
in Claremont, California
in 1963, and his master of arts
and doctor of philosophy
degrees from Columbia University
in New York City
in 1964 and 1968, respectively. He also attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City
, where he learned Spanish
while living with a Mexican family, as an undergraduate, and the University of California, Los Angeles
for graduate school. While he was a graduate student, Lombardi spent several years living and researching in Venezuela as a Fulbright Scholar.
Lombardi married the former Cathryn L. Lee in 1964, whom he met while they were attending Pomona College. They have two children: son John Lee Lombardi and daughter Mary Ann Lombardi.
, first at the Jeffersonville, Indiana
branch campus and then at the main campus in Bloomington, Indiana
, from 1967 through 1987. At Indiana, he held various administrative posts, including director of Latin American studies, dean
of international programs, and dean of arts and sciences. He served as the provost
and vice president
for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, Maryland from 1987 through 1990. As the provost of Johns Hopkins, Lombardi played a key role in fund-raising and in resolving a financial crisis in which the university was then embroiled.
Lombardi is a specialist in Latin American history, and has a particular interest in Venezuela
. He has written numerous academic journal
articles and several books on Venezuela and Latin American history and affairs, as well as on many university administration-related subjects. He is a nationally recognized authority on American higher education
, and has been the co-editor of the annual editions of The Top American Research Universities from 2000 to the present. In addition to Latin American history classes, he has taught courses on intercollegiate sports, international business and university management.
located in Gainesville, Florida
, from 1990 to 1999. He was barely settled in his job at the beginning of the fall 1990 semester when Lombardi was confronted by one of the most serious crises in the university's history—the horrific murders of five students by serial killer
Danny Rolling
. He is remembered as both comforter-in-chief and as a "student's president" during his term as president. As part of his athletics reform agenda, Lombardi created the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, which ultimately removed responsibility for student-athlete academics from the control of the University Athletic Association
(UAA) and placed it under the control of the committee. Lombardi actively reinserted the office of the president in the UAA's chain of decision-making; the president retained final authority over all major decisions. He implemented further institutional controls intended to promote the welfare and academic achievement of student-athletes and continued compliance with the rules of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Lombardi was also responsible for the selection of Jeremy Foley
as the new athletic director
in 1992, now recognized as one of the most successful athletic directors in NCAA Division I sports. His relationships with the Florida Board of Regents
and the Florida Legislature
were characterized by a series of ups and downs, confrontation followed by conciliation, usually involving conflicts over declining state financial support and conflicting state education funding priorities of the legislature. Lombardi resigned as president in 1999, but continued to teach as a member of the history faculty
until 2002.
Lombardi's enthusiasm for classic cars led him and a friend to operate Farmer's Garage, a specialty shop for older model automobiles. At the University of Florida, he is fondly remembered for driving about the Gainesville campus in an old red pickup truck.
of the five campuses, eleven institutions and ten hospitals within the system. He also holds an appointment as a history professor at Louisiana State University
.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and administrator. Lombardi currently serves as the president of the Louisiana State University System
Louisiana State University System
The Louisiana State University System is budgetarily the largest public university system in Louisiana. John V. Lombardi is the system's president...
, a position he has held since 2007. He is a native of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and earned his bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and doctoral degrees before becoming a professor of Latin American history. Lombardi was formerly the president of the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
and the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
.
Early life and education
Lombardi was born into a family of educators in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1942. His father was the president of Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College, known as LACC, is a public community college in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard...
, a California community college, and superintendent of the Los Angeles Community College District. His mother worked as a college librarian. He earned his bachelor of arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
in 1963, and his master of arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and doctor of philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degrees from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1964 and 1968, respectively. He also attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, where he learned Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
while living with a Mexican family, as an undergraduate, and the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
for graduate school. While he was a graduate student, Lombardi spent several years living and researching in Venezuela as a Fulbright Scholar.
Lombardi married the former Cathryn L. Lee in 1964, whom he met while they were attending Pomona College. They have two children: son John Lee Lombardi and daughter Mary Ann Lombardi.
Early academic appointments
Lombardi taught in the history department at Indiana UniversityIndiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, first at the Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
branch campus and then at the main campus in Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
, from 1967 through 1987. At Indiana, he held various administrative posts, including director of Latin American studies, dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of international programs, and dean of arts and sciences. He served as the provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
and vice president
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in Baltimore, Maryland from 1987 through 1990. As the provost of Johns Hopkins, Lombardi played a key role in fund-raising and in resolving a financial crisis in which the university was then embroiled.
Lombardi is a specialist in Latin American history, and has a particular interest in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. He has written numerous academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
articles and several books on Venezuela and Latin American history and affairs, as well as on many university administration-related subjects. He is a nationally recognized authority on American higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, and has been the co-editor of the annual editions of The Top American Research Universities from 2000 to the present. In addition to Latin American history classes, he has taught courses on intercollegiate sports, international business and university management.
University of Florida
Lombardi served as the ninth president of the University of FloridaUniversity of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
located in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, from 1990 to 1999. He was barely settled in his job at the beginning of the fall 1990 semester when Lombardi was confronted by one of the most serious crises in the university's history—the horrific murders of five students by serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Danny Rolling
Danny Rolling
Daniel Harold Rolling , also known as The Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida. Rolling later confessed to raping several of his victims, committing an additional 1989 triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder...
. He is remembered as both comforter-in-chief and as a "student's president" during his term as president. As part of his athletics reform agenda, Lombardi created the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, which ultimately removed responsibility for student-athlete academics from the control of the University Athletic Association
University of Florida Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
(UAA) and placed it under the control of the committee. Lombardi actively reinserted the office of the president in the UAA's chain of decision-making; the president retained final authority over all major decisions. He implemented further institutional controls intended to promote the welfare and academic achievement of student-athletes and continued compliance with the rules of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Lombardi was also responsible for the selection of Jeremy Foley
Jeremy Foley
Jeremy N. Foley is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley is currently the athletic director for the Florida Gators Division I sports program of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida...
as the new athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
in 1992, now recognized as one of the most successful athletic directors in NCAA Division I sports. His relationships with the Florida Board of Regents
Florida Board of Regents
The Florida Board of Regents was from 1965 to 2001 the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida, United States. It was created to replace a predecessor body called the Florida Board of Control, which had existed from...
and the Florida Legislature
Florida Legislature
The Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
were characterized by a series of ups and downs, confrontation followed by conciliation, usually involving conflicts over declining state financial support and conflicting state education funding priorities of the legislature. Lombardi resigned as president in 1999, but continued to teach as a member of the history faculty
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
until 2002.
Lombardi's enthusiasm for classic cars led him and a friend to operate Farmer's Garage, a specialty shop for older model automobiles. At the University of Florida, he is fondly remembered for driving about the Gainesville campus in an old red pickup truck.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Lombardi served as the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2002 to 2007.Louisiana State University System
As president of the LSU System, Lombardi serves as the chief executive officerChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the five campuses, eleven institutions and ten hospitals within the system. He also holds an appointment as a history professor at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
.
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- List of Columbia University people
- List of Indiana University faculty
- List of Johns Hopkins University faculty
- List of Pomona College people
- List of Presidents of the University of Florida
- Lombardi Scholars ProgramLombardi Scholars ProgramThe Lombardi Scholars Program is a significant merit scholarship for students at the University of Florida. The scholarship offers $2,700 a semester for a total of 8-10 semesters.- History and background :...
- LSU TigersLSU TigersThe LSU Tigers are the athletic teams of Louisiana State University. They participate in the NCAA's Division I, in the Southeastern Conference. It fields teams in 14 varsity sports . Its official team nickname is the Fighting Tigers and the school mascot is Mike the Tiger...
- State University System of FloridaState University System of FloridaThe State University System of Florida is a system of eleven public universities in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2011, over 320,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities...
External links
- University of Florida – Official website of the University of Florida.
- Louisiana State University System – Official website of the Louisiana State University System.
- University of Massachusetts Amherst – Official website of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.