Education: New Energy for N.Y.U.

It is one of the toughest jobs in U.S. higher education—and a tough job to fill. In the five months since James M. Hester announced that he planned to retire as president of New York University, a trustees' search committee—with the help of faculty and students—considered some 400 candidates for the post. Last week the university's trustees produced their man: John C. Sawhill, former Federal Energy Administrator.

Sawhill, who will officially take over in September after Hester, 51, leaves to become rector of the new United Nations University in Tokyo, was a natural...