Woodbury President Sago Will Retire at End of Year

Paul Sago, president of Woodbury University in Burbank since 1990, will retire at the end of the current school year, spurring a search for a successor to head Southern California’s third oldest independent college, university officials said Tuesday.

The 64-year-old Burbank resident, who was credited with bringing fiscal stability to the school while struggling to boost its enrollment and image, said he plans to relocate with his wife to Oklahoma to “find some life outside academia.”

“I’ve been at this for 32 years,” Sago, referring to his career in higher education, said Tuesday in an interview. “I’m tired. It gets to you after a while. It’s a pressure cooker-type job.” he said.

The university’s board of trustees, previously informed of Sago’s decision, already has begun a national search for his successor and received about 20 applications, said board Chairman Richard King. The job is expected to carry an annual salary of about $180,000, he said.

Situated on a 22-acre campus in Burbank, the private university offers career-oriented degrees specializing in business, design and architecture. Founded in 1884 in Downtown Los Angeles as a for-profit venture, the school became nonprofit in 1972 and moved to Burbank in 1987.

The campus has an enrollment of 1,096 and a $13-million budget.

Sago said one of his proudest accomplishments was ending years of annual operating deficits at Woodbury. But during tough economic times, he was unable to achieve his stated goal of substantially boosting enrollment, and the campus remains without any significant endowment.

“I think the biggest problems facing Woodbury University are not academic or educational but financial,” Sago said. “The school has no endowment. That is the biggest problem.” And building one has been tough because the small institution fields no intercollegiate sports teams that draw alumni.

Although Sago will turn 65 soon after his contract expires and he departs in mid-1996, he said the university has no mandatory retirement rules that forced his decision. Previously, he had served as president of Azusa Pacific University in Azusa from 1976 to 1989.