Brandeis Magazine

Frederick M. Lawrence will step down as Brandeis’ eighth president at the end of the academic year, the university’s Board of Trustees announced on Jan. 30. Provost Lisa Lynch, the former dean of the Heller School, has been named interim president, starting July 1.

In the board’s announcement about the transition, chair Perry Traquina ’78 said Lawrence “has worked tirelessly to move our university forward and has the results to show for it — including making significant progress in balancing the university’s budget, a record endowment, the fundraising of $225 million in gifts, and a 35 percent increase in applications under his stewardship.

“Fred has also brought an unbridled energy and enthusiasm to our campus, and our students have benefited greatly from Fred’s hands-on approach to their education and student experience,” Traquina noted.

In his letter to the community, Lawrence, who became university president on Jan. 1, 2011, wrote, “I am tremendously proud of the ways Brandeis has grown and thrived during my tenure.”

He announced he plans to teach and pursue scholarship at Yale Law School as a senior research scholar.

“Brandeis is a strong, vital and dynamic institution, and I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside so many extraordinary students, faculty, alumni, staff, parents and friends of the university,” Lawrence wrote in his letter. “Living near campus allowed us to spend meaningful time with so many members of the Brandeis family. We will never forget those dinners and receptions in our home.”

Immediately before his tenure at Brandeis, Lawrence served as dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School from 2005-10.

The Brandeis board has begun an international search to identify a new president to succeed Lawrence.