DATE: Saturday, September 6, 1997           TAG: 9709060345

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  108 lines

REGENT GETS NEW MARCHING ORDERS FORMER ARMY GENERAL, BOARD MEMBER SINCE APRIL 1996, WILL BE NEW PRESIDENT.

Pat Robertson turned from an irreverent film professor to a former Army general to lead Regent University, announcing Friday that President Terry Lindvall will step down in November.

Replacing him is retired Lt. Gen. Paul G. Cerjan, 59, the former president of the National Defense University and the Army War College. Cerjan has been on Regent's board since April 1996.

Lindvall, 49, will take a newly created position at Regent, the Distinguished Chair of Visual Communication.

``It's either a high chair or a La-Z-Boy, I don't know which,'' Lindvall said.

The change appeared to be mutually agreed on by Lindvall, Robertson and the Christian-oriented school's leadership. Lindvall, an unexpected but popular choice when he became president in July 1993, has always made it clear that teaching was his first love and that he would be willing to return to it at any time.

As usual, he had a wisecrack ready Friday.

``I'm promoted out of the presidency!'' he said, chuckling. ``I am liberated. I am free at last. I think they discovered it was a prank.''

Seriously - as serious as he gets - Lindvall said of his tenure: ``It was a wonderful ride. It was fun. I had a wonderful team to work with.''

Students who heard the news Friday afternoon were uniformly upbeat about the change.

Lindvall ``always takes the time to sit and talk with you,'' said John Swanston, a second-year law student from Chesapeake. ``He's very approachable. He'll be good for the communications school.''

``It think it's outstanding,'' said Steven Wingate of Tacoma, Wash., who's studying business. ``A man, a person, is stepping down to do what his heart says.''

Wingate also said he saw the wisdom in Cerjan's appointment, given the development possibilities provided by the money from the sale of The Family Channel.

``You almost need a person like they hired,'' Wingate said. ``He's done it.''

During Lindvall's administration, the university's enrollment rose by 72 percent to 1,800 students, Regent officials said. In the school of government, the university landed its first African-American dean, Kay Coles James, a former White House official and former member of Gov. George F. Allen's Cabinet.

Lindvall's tenure, however, also saw a major battle erupt between Robertson and Regent law professors. Three former Regent law professors are suing Robertson for defamation over a scathing letter he wrote about them in 1994. One case is scheduled for trial in April in Virginia Beach. The other two are pending in Norfolk's federal court, with no trial date yet.

In June, the sale of International Family Entertainment to Rupert Murdoch's Fox network boosted Regent's endowment to $276.5 million, putting it among the 100 richest universities in the nation.

That windfall, and Robertson's considerable ambitions for the university's growth, appear to have prompted him and the board to turn to someone with more experience and interest in administration than Lindvall.

Ironically, Lindvall's exit was prematurely rumored in April when Ralph Reed stepped down from the Christian Coalition. Reed, some newspapers said, was offered the top job at Regent.

It was all a mistake. Lindvall said then he intended to stay on.

Asked how long, he cracked: ``What time is it?''

However, he said Friday, ``I felt my time was about up. We had known it for a little while. Paul Cerjan is a builder, a doer. I'm more of an academic.

``This will be a season of building the campus.''

In a news release, Robertson said, ``It is my personal dream that under General Cerjan's leadership, Regent University will become a major international center of learning with a strong residency program and an extended campus of 250,000 students in the United States and abroad.''

Cerjan, who lives in Northern Virginia, was not available for comment. In a faxed statement, he said, ``Regent University meets a dramatic need in both higher education and in culture at large. Through students and alumni we are providing Christian leadership to transform society.

``I am humbled by the honor.''

As president of the National Defense University and the Army War College, Cerjan managed a faculty and staff of more than 500, a student enrollment of about 4,000, and an operating budget of $24.5 million.

Lindvall was on Regent's original faculty when the school opened in 1978. He helped build an award-winning film school at Regent, which produces an annual film festival at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk. His students' films have been shown on HBO, Fox and PBS. One of them, ``Bird in a Cage,'' won an Oscar in 1986.

He said he is looking forward to returning to some personal projects.

``One selfish thing is, I have a manuscript on silent film and religion that's been languishing for the last five years,'' he said. ``It's time to get back to that.

``And finally I get to go back to the movies. I haven't seen a movie in the theater in a year. Well, I did see `George of the Jungle,' if that counts.''

Lindvall's colleagues welcomed him back into their ranks.

``I think I speak for most people, certainly for myself, that we are delighted to have him back in communications,'' said John Lawing, a professor of journalism. ``I asked him, `What's under the authority of that new chair?' He said, `I guess whatever I decide.' ''

Considering that Lindvall, among other things, had once lobbed a snowball through a dean's window, his appointment in 1993 was taken as a sign that Robertson wanted to move the university farther into the academic mainstream.

Shortly after his appointment, Lindvall said, ``I believe God has called me to be the president of Regent University for a season. Whether that season is one year or well into the 21st century is out of my hands.'' MEMO: Staff writer Matt Bowers contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Former film Professor Terry Lindvall, 49, accepts a

newly created position of Distinguished Chair of Visual

Communication.

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