When Robert L. Caret, the new president of Towson University, ventures out to talk about his vision for the school, he often gets asked about something else. "Everyone wants to know about the elevator," he says.
"The elevator," of course, refers to one of the standout features of the mansion in Baltimore's Guilford neighborhood that Towson purchased and renovated - at a cost of $1.8 million - for Caret's predecessor. Mark L. Perkins resigned last year under fire for the spending, leaving it to an interim president and now Caret to handle the fallout and get the state's second-largest public university back on track.
Four months into the job, Caret will be formally installed today. He says he's enjoying his role as a restorer of order at Towson, where he served as a chemistry professor and provost for 21 years before leaving in 1995 to be president of San Jose State University.
"I came back because I thought I could give [the university] that stability and leadership," said Caret, 56. "People are coming up and hugging me and saying, `Thanks for being here.'"
Caret returned at a critical juncture for the 15,000-student campus. In addition to coping with the effects of the brief Perkins reign, he is under pressure from the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents to raise Towson's profile and improve its fund raising.
To that end, Caret has been busy meeting with local and state lawmakers, area business leaders and others to talk about his plans for the university. He's been encouraged by strong statements of support from leaders of the university system and from lawmakers - groups that some feel slighted the school in the past.
And, yes, that networking has included cocktail parties at the mansion in the 3900 block of Greenway. After one year of renovations and another year of sitting vacant (interim President Dan L. Jones opted not to move in), the 8,900-square-foot house is being used for the purpose for which it was intended.
This week, Caret made use of the $25,000 plasma-screen television that Perkins purchased: It displayed a high-tech presentation of the campus master plan to the university's Board of Visitors.
`Great media system'
"It's a great media system," Caret said. "I wouldn't go out and buy it, but since it's there, I'm going to use it."
The university's second big challenge of the moment is preparing for the continued increase in enrollment as the "baby boom echo" nears its peak.
