Gallaudet University’s Board of Trustees named Robert R. Davila, a national leader in deaf education, on Sunday as interim president of the institution.

Mr. Davila, who is deaf, is an alumnus and a former professor and administrator at Gallaudet, the nation’s only liberal-arts university for the deaf and hard of hearing. He also served as vice president of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of seven colleges of the Rochester Institute of Technology, from 1996 to 2004, and was assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education under President George H.W. Bush.

Mr. Davila officially starts work at Gallaudet on January 2 and will serve at least 18 months, as the university seeks a permanent replacement for its retiring president, I. King Jordan. In remarks at a news conference announcing his selection, Mr. Davila acknowledged the fierce protests on Gallaudet’s campus over the board’s original choice for president, Jane K. Fernandes, a former provost. (Trustees rescinded that appointment in October.) He proposed a number of changes that he said would allow students and faculty and staff members to voice concerns and seek campuswide solutions, including establishing a university council, naming an ombudsman, and putting in place an e-mail hot line.

“We need to make people feel that when they speak on campus, they will be heard,” he said.

Mr. Davila said he also would work with off-campus groups, including alumni, accreditors, and public officials, to repair Gallaudet’s reputation. Last week, the university’s accreditor, the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Higher Education, announced that it had delayed a decision on accreditation because of concerns about governance and the general climate at Gallaudet. In addition, a 2005 report by the federal Office of Management and Budget described the university as “ineffective” in a number of areas.