Close Up -- Samuel Thier

Close Up

Ask Samuel Thier why he wanted to become president of Brandeis University, and he'll point to the obvious reasons--among them the high quality of its faculty, the opportunity to lead a respected research university, and the chance to return to the Boston area, where he trained and taught. With academia under attack from many quarters, Thier says he relishes the chance to show the public that universities are still vital to the country's well-being.

Beyond that, however, something is driving the 53-year-old former medical school department chairman back to the campus. Despite his appointment last year to a second five-year term as president of the Institute of Medicine, Thier says he can't take future success for granted. And that means grabbing a very good opportunity when it appears rather than waiting for an even better one that might never come...