When he arrived in Cambridge five years ago as the 26th president of Harvard University, Neil L. Rudenstine was enthusiastically welcomed by all: professors cheered the appointment of an academic; Overseers rejoiced the coming of a master fundraiser; students spelled out "We love Rudy" in pizza boxes.

But honeymoons always end. The early enthusiasm would give way to exhaustion and, like any vision, his would prove hard to implement.

Rudenstine's tenure has certainly been eventful. He has launched the largest fundraising drive in the history of higher education, recruited numerous luminaries as faculty members, attempted to increase the coordination of the units of the University and fought to retain funding for higher education.

But he has also been faced with crises he never could have envisioned--including a faculty outraged over benefits cuts, top aides resigning out of frustration and students furious over his handling of the Reserve Officer Training Corps. At the same time, Harvard has been in the news like never before--for Gina Grant, the Dunster murder-suicide, the Unabomber and Rudenstine's own battle with exhaustion.

On this day, Rudenstine sits on a small hard-backed chair tilted dangerously on its two back legs and props his feet on the armchair in front of him. Putting aside a crystal tray holding the half-eaten fruit salad he has ordered for lunch, he sips a Diet Coke and fidgets slightly while his eyes roam from the ceiling to the reporters to the elegant furniture in his spacious Mass. Hall office.

"I'm not used to talking about myself," he explains.

After five years as president, Rudenstine seems to have become used to talking about one thing--Harvard. Those who work with the president say his greatest talents lie in his ability to spread his enthusiasm about Harvard to anyone willing to listen: donors, prospective faculty, administrators or lawmakers.

Deans and professors marvel at his ability to find superstar academics and persuade them that Harvard should be their home. Fundraising staff say they have never seen someone more talented at personally soliciting donations.

Having previously served as provost of Princeton, a more centralized university than Harvard, Rudenstine hoped upon his arrival at Harvard to foster more inter-faculty coordination, cross-school initiatives and a greater role for the central administration in fostering this interaction.

As one administrator put it, Rudenstine wanted "to put the 'uni' back in 'university.'"

The talents Rudenstine possesses are not coincidental. Much as Derek C. Bok was named president 25 years ago with the hope that he could defuse the crises rocking the University, Rudenstine was undoubtedly chosen with the University's pending $2.1 billion capital campaign in mind.

Bok was skilled at sitting above the fray and pulling the strings attached to all parts of the University. Rudenstine, however, subscribes to a very different leadership philosophy, emphasizing the personal over the institutional.

"Bok and Rudenstine lead in very different ways," one administrator says. "Rudenstine works in a much more hands-on, personal way."

This style, which contributes to Rudenstine's preference for behind-the-scenes leadership, makes him a natural for fundraising.

But the years have clearly shown the limitations of this style.