Tess9 a.m.: When I arrive at University President Jehuda Reinharz's office, his assistant, Joanna Gould, has just brought him coffee. He tells me I can call him by his first name.

"I'm not very formal," Reinharz says. He says that this is because he finds that meeting in a less-formal setting is better for work and helps him form closer bonds with students, administration and faculty.

During his early-morning office hours, the day feels as if it will be sleepy. The president's desk is covered with large neon-colored notecards, each a note of one of his many daily tasks.

"It's a very effective system for me," he says.

However, the president's day started long before my arrival.

"My day starts every day at 5, meaning everyday that I'm in town. From 5 to 7 [a.m.] I write," Reinharz says, as he points at his numerous published books on the shelf behind his desk. "See all these books? All these books are my books."

Before heading to campus, in addition to writing, he also exercises and reads The New York Times daily.

Even though he has a desktop's worth of colored task reminder notes and has already accomplished more in his day at this point than most students here, he is interested in my life; He asks what my major is, what my family's background is and what languages I speak. He informs me that he speaks French, German, Hebrew, Yiddish and English.

Our conversations are broken up by Gould coming in and out of the office exchanging file folders with the president, phone calls from members of the Board of Trustees and the president's requests for various lists and itineraries. One of his requests is for a list of names of alumni who are going with him to Vietnam on a trip for the next 2 weeks. He takes a group of alumni and donors once a year on trips outside the country.

"The purpose of the trip is to really cement relations with them and the University. It's an opportunity for me to get to know them," Reinharz says.

9:30 a.m.: John Hose, executive assistant to the president and assistant secretary of the corporation, comes in briefly to discuss a letter Hose is writing. Reinharz's meetings are casual and brief to make tasks run smoothly.

On this dreary Monday, no students have come to office hours, but the president says that this is common in the midst of midterms.

10 a.m.: Reinharz answers phones about every 10 to 15 minutes while simultaneously signing documents and working at his computer.

"Most of what I do here in the office is [make] phone calls. People call, I call to get things done, and I make some calls to donors," he explains.

At one point in a break from phone calls, he asks if I need a nap. Apparently, one year, a student won the chance to spend the day with the president. Around 2 p.m., the student asked if he could take a nap. Because of this, the president believed all students needed midday naps. He, on the contrary, never naps on a workday.

10:30 a.m.: After having been sitting for a while, Reinharz gets up for a break and invites me to do the same. The art on his walls is very diverse. To the left of his door, he has an enormous sketch of a landscape overlooking apartment buildings and clotheslines. A former Brandeis student whom the president mentored drew the work overlooking his neighborhood where he grew up in Israel. After explaining this, Reinharz directs me to another work in the room: a photograph of a sunset over an iceberg. Another student had taken the photo and given it to him.

Among all his art displayed in the spacious office, the president values these works the most.

"These are the more meaningful things for me. ... Part of it is gratitude, and part of it is relationships with students," he says.

11 a.m.: Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe comes in to discuss administrative problems and graduate program rankings. As Jaffe explains his research, Reinharz asks about the significance of figures and discusses how the University can improve the weaker programs. Jaffe leaves almost as abruptly as he arrives. On his way out, he tells me what he thinks of administrative jobs.

"It's a lot of meetings."

12 p.m.: The humorous Mark Collins, senior vice president for administration, is the last person the president meets with during my morning and says he is there to discuss all the things students complain about. After joking around for a bit, the two discuss problems in public safety and seem to always bring up what would be best for the students first.

Collins explains that he always had known that Reinharz was the one for the job of university president because of Reinharz's guiding principle that students come first.

"It's a very simple philosophy. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for [the students]," Reinharz says.

Rebecca

3:00 p.m.: When I walk into the president's office, he is in the middle of a meeting with Provost Marty Krauss. Krauss explains to me that the two of them often meet to discuss various things and says jokingly that their meetings are Reinharz's favorite part of his day. Over the course of their meeting, they discuss finding more office space for faculty and the upcoming faculty meeting.

Krauss and Reinharz's meeting is cordial, although it retains a strong focus and Krauss takes notes throughout. It is clear that Krauss and Reinharz have been working closely together for years. They appear to have a strong understanding of each other in every matter they discuss-the type of mutual understanding that is only possible with time.

Krauss and Reinharz ask me several questions when I arrive. They are interested in my academic experience, and my involvement with the Justice. Their friendly demeanors relax me into what I expected to be a particularly intimidating afternoon.

3:40 p.m.: When Krauss leaves, Reinharz has a break until 4:15, when he has a meeting with Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition in the Israeli Knesset. He takes this time to check his e-mail, eat a snack and speak to Gould, as well as several other members of his staff who shuffle in and out of his office.

This break gives me and Reinharz some time to speak. I ask him about his work with donors and what it was like becoming so involved with development after a lifetime in academia. On this subject, Reinharz is beaming with pride. During his 16 years as president, he has expanded the University's donor base tremendously and successfully raised billions of dollars. He says he enjoys fundraising because of its challenging and goal-oriented nature.

I also ask Reinharz about what he sees as his greatest accomplishment as president. He says the only way to explain what he has accomplished is to see how different the University was when he became president in 1994. Since that time, he says, there has been a raise in the University's "stature and in morale."

4:15 p.m.: Livni arrives in President Reinharz's office with Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS), the Stoll family chair in Israel Studies and director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, followed by a slew of security. While initially Reinharz and Livni speak to each other in Hebrew, they switch to English once they realize that I cannot understand what they're saying. Livni is tall and blonde, and because of her direct way of speaking, she appears instinctively confident. During all of Reinharz's interactions, his demeanor does not shift, whether he is communicating with his staff or, in this case, Livni. I find it interesting to see when his constant demeanor does not shift when meeting with another important public figure such as her. He responds to Livni's lack of guile with comparable frankness.

Reinharz and Livni talk about her goal to create a more open dialogue on the subject of Israel, her hopes for a successful peace process and her concerns about the "delegitimization" of Israel among the international community and especially among America's Jewish youth. The two Israelis voice their concerns about their homeland's future, and at one point, Reinharz points with delight to a map of Haifa-the city in Israel where he was born-that is hanging on his wall.

The pair speak until 5 p.m., when they shuffle up to Hassenfeld Conference Center, where Livni is speaking in front of a crowd of hundreds.

Tess and Rebecca

7 p.m.: We arrive at Reinharz's house in Newton to have dinner with Livni; Reinharz's wife, Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC); President-elect Frederick Lawrence, Editor in Chief of the New Republic Marty Peretz '59; several faculty members, including Shai Feldman (POL); members of the administration including senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship; and various prominent Jewish leaders of the community. We are the first to arrive and are immediately greeted by Shula Reinharz, who shuffles us into the living room to munch on appetizers while we wait for the others to arrive. As the guests come and congregate in the living room, a discussion on the ways in which Jewish youth are connecting themselves to Israel immediately ensues. We laugh to ourselves, realizing that instead of asking us about young peoples connection to Israel, the other guest's instead discuss abstract empirical studies. We feel overlooked as a pair of students among a crowd of academics.

Over dinner, which is catered and feeds approximately 20 people, Reinharz mediates a discussion among the guests and Livni. After several courses, and heated-but thought-provoking-discourse, Reinharz calls an end to dinner and his long day. Tonight he is sleeping in Boston, but tomorrow night he will be sleeping in Los Angeles before starting off on his 2-week trip to Vietnam.