Chancellor Khayat Announces Retirement Plans

By Barbara Lago,
UM Media and Public Relations

OXFORD, Miss. -- Some University of Mississippi employees wept this morning when their chancellor of 14 years, Robert C. Khayat, told them of his plans to retire June 30.

"Having reached the ripe old age of 70-plus, it is time for me to retire," Khayat said. "I do so with a heart filled with gratitude to the thousands of people who support our university. I leave with an abiding affection for the people and the school, and with confidence that this university will continue to provide the quality programs so vital to our state and region."

Sue Keiser, Khayat's assistant for 11 years, said, "I simply can't imagine Ole Miss without him. Working with him on a daily basis to move our university from good to great has been richly rewarding, but above that, our friendship has been one of the greatest joys of my life. "

Khayat, a former baseball catcher and football kicker on Ole Miss sports teams, has been calling the signals at his alma mater since summer 1995. Since then, he has drawn praise for a multitude of achievements that have earned the institution national respect, recognition and admiration.

This past semester alone, the university ranked among the nation's top 25 public universities on Forbes.com, hosted a presidential debate, announced its 25th Rhodes Scholar, inaugurated the first black president of its alumni association, trounced Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl and wound down its successful $200 million MomentUM campaign.

"We were really a relatively unknown state university, but he has made us nationally prominent," said Provost Emeritus Carolyn Staton, Khayat's friend and colleague for more than 30 years. "I think that will forever change the direction of the university. I think history will truly treat him as one of the heroes of Ole Miss."

Under Khayat's leadership, two capital campaigns generated nearly $775 million in private support. With that support, UM created the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, Croft Institute for International Studies, Lott Leadership Institute, Galtney Center for Academic Computing, Ford Center for the Performing Arts and Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and expanded its academic and athletics facilities.

It also secured a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most prestigious liberal arts honor society. The chapter, the first awarded to a public university in Mississippi, was granted only after endowments, library holdings, technological resources, liberal arts programs and student scholarships were increased.

"Robert Khayat enables people to believe in themselves and what they're doing," said Gloria Kellum, UM's vice chancellor for university relations since 1998.

"Because of that, Ole Miss became the little engine that could,' and we accomplished things that faculty, staff, students and alumni believed impossible only a decade or two ago," Kellum said. "He inspired all of us to come together to build a great public university."

Those accomplishments include:

Increasing UM's enrollment by 43.6 percent and its minority enrollment by 78.5 percent
Earning the Grand Award for the country's best maintained college campus
Celebrating its Sesquicentennial and commemorating the 40th anniversary of its integration.
Growing its endowment by 313 percent and private support by nearly 288 percent.
Securing $1.2 billion in research and development awards
Increasing its annual operating budget from less than $500 million to nearly $1.5 billion and its annual payroll from $260.8 million to $667 million
Providing $138.5 million annually in student financial aid (up from $16.5 million in 1995)
Investing more than $535 million (excluding the $210-plus million in construction under way on the Oxford campus) in physical facilities on Oxford and Jackson campuses

"In the university's 160-year history, no one has done more to enhance its luster," said alumnus and longtime supporter Jim Barksdale. "We could not have asked for more effort, diligence, love and ability than we've received from Robert Khayat. He has brought the university national renown, great credibility and respect. He is leaving us with a strong foundation upon which to build."

Alumnus and famed author John Grisham said, "It is rare to find one person so perfectly suited for one job. Robert Khayat was meant to be the Ole Miss chancellor, and his charismatic leadership will impact the lives of many students for many years."

A dedicated caretaker, Khayat until recently began most days with an early morning campus walk, visiting with custodial and grounds staff and surveying the university's buildings. Among them are a new performing arts center, chapel, business and accountancy complex, eight-story Inn at Ole Miss, indoor practice facility, academic support center, and office buildings for athletics and physical plant departments.

Construction has been equally prolific at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where new facilities include the $53 million University Hospital, student union, Guyton Research Center, health related professions building and critical care, and hospitals for children, women and infants.

Dr. Dan Jones, vice chancellor for health affairs at the Medical Center, said that Khayat's leadership has been "transformational."

"He's made sure that all members of the university family see that they have a responsibility to not only move the university forward but also our state," Jones said. "His increased expectations have lifted every part of the university, and that has led to greater expectations throughout our state."

That's especially true, he said, of diversity and racial reconciliation.

"When it comes to health disparities across races, Chancellor Khayat encouraged the Medical Center's leadership to expand its vision and role in addressing these disparities in our state and nation," he said. "He is an important mentor to me, and working with him has been a rare privilege."

That sentiment is shared by many, including Alumni Association president Rose Flenorl of Memphis.

"I knew him while I was a student. His door was always open. He listened and made us feel our input was important. He was a mentor and a friend," said Flenorl. "As an alumnus, he challenged us to give back to the university that had given so much to us. No one could say no' to him.

"Today, there will be many tears shed on our campus, in our state and around the country. Tears of sadness because we don't want him to go and tears of joy because we will always be thankful for his many years of leadership and service to Ole Miss.

"He is a rare man, and I consider myself privileged to have been a part of his team."

Khayat's emotional attachment to his beloved Ole Miss began in 1956. As an undergraduate, the Moss Point native was a star athlete, playing for renowned baseball coach Tom Swayze and legendary football coach John Vaught.

As the Rebel baseball catcher, Khayat helped lead Ole Miss to SEC Championships in 1959 and 1960. On the football team, he led the nation in scoring by a kicker in 1958 and 1959, the only player in school history to do so in consecutive seasons. He also earned Academic All-American and Academic All-SEC honors in 1959.

Khayat played for the Washington Redskins from 1960 to 63 and in the NFL Pro Bowl in 1961. He was inducted into the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. During the Ole Miss Football Centennial in 1993, he was named by fans as kicker on the "Team of the Century." In December 2003, he received the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame's Distinguished American Award.

Following his pro football career, Khayat returned to Ole Miss to attend law school, graduating third in his class. Three years later, he joined the school's faculty, then took a leave of absence during the 1980-81 academic year to earn a Master of Laws at Yale University on a prestigious Sterling Fellowship.

Khayat was promoted to associate dean of the UM Law School before becoming vice chancellor for university affairs in 1984. He held that post until 1989, when he became the first president of the NCAA Foundation. After three years with the NCAA, he returned to Oxford as a law professor.

The Law School Student Body chose him as its 1993-94 Outstanding Law Professor of the Year, and the school's Mississippi Law Journal staff honored him with a scholarship in his name in 1995.

Khayat was named the university's 15th chancellor July 1, 1995, and began overseeing degree-granting campuses in Oxford, Jackson, Southaven and Tupelo.

"There are rare occasions in the lives of an individual and an institution when the destinies of both come together to offer the promise of greatness, but Robert Khayat's tenure as chancellor of the University of Mississippi is one of those occasions," said Aubrey Patterson, CEO of Tupelo-based BancorpSouth.

"He has been a transformational leader in the most powerful and positive ways," Patterson said. "Any attempt to catalog his many contributions to the university's renaissance would likely fall short of their totality. Every phase of the university has been touched in a significant and positive way under Chancellor Khayat's stewardship, and it has, in fact, been positioned to be a great American university."

Khayat finds such praise difficult to accept.

"We worked together as a team - students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends who love this place as much as I do," he said. "Everyone accepted his or her responsibilities and performed at extraordinary levels. My family and I have been blessed to serve our university and the state."

Warner Alford, UM's former athletics and alumni affairs director who has known Khayat since they were boys, said the opposite.

"Robert Khayat fell in love with Ole Miss at 18, and the university is better because of his love, service and vision for making it a great public university," Alford said. "He lived and fulfilled his dream for Ole Miss by his dynamic leadership.

"People gave to Ole Miss or gave their best for Ole Miss because they believed in him and believed in what he wanted to accomplish for the University of Mississippi."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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