June 15, 2007

Shirley Ann Jackson Sticks to the Plan

By AUDREY WILLIAMS JUNE

After 8 years, she continues her single-minded drive to move Rensselaer Polytechnic to the top ranks

For Shirley Ann Jackson, the appeal of leaving behind a high-level federal-government job to become president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute lay simply in the institution's untapped potential.

In the 15 years before Ms. Jackson's arrival in 1999, Rensselaer had been through five presidents. The 183-year-old institution, which is in a city that was more than once nearly

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