GEORGE DENNISON CAN BE spotted occasionally without a necktie: in the pre-dawn light, loping down Russell Street at a seven-minute-mile clip, wearing gray sweats, his black cap pulled low. But most of Dennison’s waking hours are spent in dark suits and spit-polished shoes as he single-mindedly immerses himself in the job of UM president.

It’s necessary, Dennison says, of the public persona he inhabits nearly 24 hours each day. And Dennison does what’s necessary. Since April 25, Dennison has held his job

longer than any president in UM history, out-distancing the tenure of Charles Clapp, who served during 1921-35.

Remembering the hurdles that he faced when he assumed UM’s presidency in 1990, Dennison says he expected challenges in development of research and academic programs, but he didn't think he'd have to deal with infrastructure. But he did, thus earning the reputation for having an “edifice complex.” Under his leadership, the University launched an extraordinary building boom, but improving

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UM facilities didn’t divert the president from other goals.

During Dennison's tenure, research grants have increased nearly tenfold, from $7 million in 1990 to $65 million this year. In addition, he has been an unwavering and outspoken champion of diversity on campus, encouraging and increasing minority student enrollment. Civic engagement is another of Dennison’s causes, not only for the services that students perform but because, in the process, they’re molded into better citizens.