ITHACA, N.Y. -- There is an important point to be made about Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman's brief time in office, says President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes:

"I don't accept the notion that two years is too short. I think we should all look back and say [Lehman's] has been a good presidency. I give him high marks. Everyone comes out of this with great credit."

Rhodes, Cornell's leader from 1977 to 1995, said in an interview this week that some aspects of the job of a university president have changed since he was in office, including the national average term length, which has shrunk to about six years from about seven in 2001. But university presidents today are still charged with a daunting mandate. "You have to dream the unimaginable and finance the impossible," he said. And even in a short two years, Lehman managed both.

That presidential terms are shrinking, Rhodes said, is probably due to a number of factors -- among them increased outside scrutiny. "The expectations from the public are becoming greater," he said, not just for accountability within the university, but also outside it, in the political and economic arenas. The pressure, he added, is intense. 

In his 2001 book "The Creation of the Future; The Role of the American University," Rhodes described the job of university president:

"The president creates the atmosphere. He or she is everywhere, walking the campus, meeting with students at breakfast, faculty at brown bag lunches, alumni at reunions, everyone at campus events, entertaining at home. The president understands the hopes and concerns of the campus, energizes its efforts, challenges its complacency, raises its aspirations. No encounter is too limited to have an influence -- positive or negative -- on the atmosphere of the campus.

"The president should devote his or her best skills to dream the institution into something new, to challenge it to greatness, to elevate its hopes and extend its reach, to energize it to new levels of success and galvanize it to higher levels of achievement in every area of its institutional life," he wrote.

In general, Rhodes said in the interview, a president with an established reputation will have a better chance of accomplishing more. "If you had a choice in the matter, which you never do, it would be good to have somewhat longer terms," he said. "You build up a reservoir of trust that allows you to do things -- that's part of the basis for moving things along."

But each presidency is unique. And in two years, he added, Lehman energized the community, introduced bold new initiatives, handled issues from parking to snow removal, advocated effectively for Cornell around the world and has been a good local citizen. 

"Jeff has given his heart and soul to Cornell. He's an alumnus. He loves the place," Rhodes said.