Changing the status quo, though, requires making tough decisions, a skill White approaches with one simple rule, ingrained in him by his father: Always be able to look yourself in the mirror the next morning. "While it's sometimes difficult to execute, implement and communicate decisions, if you have strong principles, it's not that difficult to know what the right thing to do is," White said. "I feel like my most important possession is integrity, personal integrity."

Ashford seconds that. "He's willing to make hard decisions, and he's willing ... to respect people's integrity in the decision-making," she said. "He's the person that taught me there's two sides to every story."

"He loves learning new things and is able, a lot of times," Mary said, "to cut to the heart of something."

In describing himself, White says he is driven to aim high and fulfill those aims. "I am decisive and collaborative, energetic, enthusiastic," he said. "And I have a singular goal, which is to create an environment in which everybody at the University of Illinois ... can thrive in his or her work and feel immense pride in the organization of which we're a part."

He's also an avid jogger, a sometime golfer, a doting grandparent and a dedicated reader. According to Mary, his favorite scene would involve sitting around a table with friends and family, laughing over a good meal.

He also enjoys spending time with his wife of 35 years. "She has an immense amount of common sense. She's very generous and giving," White said, clearly happy to talk about Mary. "She's done a tremendous amount of work in the nonprofit sector, working with older people and students in education and so on."

That attentiveness and willingness to give due credit may help explain why the people around White seem to like him so much. He values differing viewpoints, respects those around him and feels that most boundaries between people are made by each other.

It's a lofty view, but when White thinks about the Earth and our part on it, he thinks about it as a whole — literally, the planet as viewed from space.

"It's very easy, you know, in our neighborhoods and in our cities and towns and states and our nations to focus on boundaries. And boundaries often give rise to conflict," he said. "But when you go to the other end of the telescope and you see the Earth from space, what you see is a brilliantly beautiful planet that is both resilient and fragile, with boundaries that are, by and large, human-made. And I think that in teaching, it's really important to provide our students with perspective in the long view, which is, ultimately, we have only one home, and it's here."

With that in mind, White is excited and prepared to create his new home at Illinois.

"It's a tremendous privilege to be able to lead an organization that, in my view, can make such a difference in the world and in the lives of individuals," he said. "I feel like I've been getting ready to do this job for the last 30 years."