President Ricciardone Discusses his Four-Year Term

The Four-Year Term:

Do you plan on continuing after your four year term is over?

There is no four year term. There is no set term. You can read the bylaws about the appointment of the president. It doesn’t refer to a president’s term of any set number of years.

How does it work?

There was a recruitment process. I had no idea the job was open I wasn’t looking for it. I interviewed several times and back and forth and I finally decided I just can’t stay away from Egypt. This country’s too exciting. I have a kind of personal relationship with this country from before. It’s just too exciting.

What’s going to happen next year is so important not just for this country but for the world. And there’s such great possibilities and yet there’s big risks and threats. So I saw a very nice life in Washington in a think tank but I couldn’t stay away from here.

So we negotiated the terms and you know, they wanted me to stay longer and I said ‘you know, I am where I am in life and I’ll commit to four years.’ And they wanted it to be longer and we finally settled for four. But they said they’d hoped it would be longer.

I feel a long way from finished. There’s so much to accomplish here. I feel a turn. People say, but I don’t know, that the university was good but kind of drifting. And now there’s a focus and a direction. I can see reforms. They’re taking root.

There’s a lot more to do. And I would feel I can’t run out on this. I’m too committed to the people that I serve and I enjoy working with the people that are here.

The Board is keen to have me stay longer and we will in the right time, we will make an announcement about that. But let me just reassure you, if it is reassuring to you that, I am committed to this place.