The College of William and Mary ended its informal search for a new president yesterday, naming interim leader W. Taylor Reveley III as its full-time chief.

The 65-year-old dean of the law school had been interim president since February, when Gene Nichol abruptly resigned after learning his contract would not be renewed.

Reveley, the college's 27th president, immediately begins what is expected to be a three-year term with a full agenda he said he wants to pursue.

"I have not been merely a caretaker during my time as interim president," he told a standing-room-only crowd gathered in the Great Hall of the Wren Building. "Neither will I be a transitional president."

He said three areas would take precedence: rebuilding relationships damaged during Nichol's occasionally stormy tenure; creating the college's first strategic plan in 14 years; and helping put the college on better financial footing.

Selecting Reveley rather than conducting a national search allows the college to "get back to work," said Rector Michael Powell, the head of the Board of Visitors.

"Taylor is not a machine-gun toting, moose-riding, hockey-mom barracuda with a bite," he said in reference to a recent national political nomination, "but I think this choice in appointment has been no less eagerly awaited."

Powell said that by hiring Reveley, William and Mary can, hopefully, end a nearly seven-year-long distraction in administrative affairs.

"We can't continue to sit here and swirl," he said shortly after Reveley was sworn in. "Critical things haven't happened" since former president Timothy Sullivan gave two-year notice he was leaving.

Of most importance, he and Reveley said, was creating strategic and financial plans.

"There's a lot to be worked on," he said. "Our ambitions are way higher than our financial resources."

Reveley was one of three finalists for president in 2005, but Nichol was the unanimous choice of the board.

When he accepted the interim appointment in February, Reveley said he wasn't interested in keeping the job full-time. His goal, he said at the time, was to help the college recover from the "culture wars" and position itself to be able to attract viable candidates.

The formal search, though, never got under way.

While the board initially indicated it would conduct the standard national search for candidates, that was put on hold.

Reveley, meanwhile, changed his mind about keeping the job.

"It evolved from being a grueling civic duty to being a job that actually had some fun," he said. "It got to me."

It got to Nichol, as well, but in a wholly different manner. His stormy two-and-a-half-year tenure included controversies of philosophy and flesh.

His decision to remove a cross from a campus chapel caused a national uproar. The intent, he said, was to make Wren Chapel more inviting to non-Christians, but some Christians objected. The cross was ultimately returned.

His decision to allow a traveling troupe of current and former sex industry workers to stage a vaudeville-style show on campus sparked an outrage off campus.

The show, Nichol said, was booked and staged by students in accordance with campus policy and, as such, he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Nichol has returned to the University of North Carolina, where he is on the law school faculty.

Reveley said the issues that dogged William and Mary during Nichol's tenure should stay in the past.

"We are out of the culture wars," he said. "We had gotten caught up in them, but we're out. I hope very much we can stay out."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.