A VISIONARY FOR RPI PRESIDENT SHIRLEY JACKSON IS CHARGING HARD--AND FIELDING FLAK-- AS SHE PURSUES AN AMBITIOUS AGENDA FOR THE SCHOOL.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: PAUL GRONDAHL STAFF WRITER

A woman stands in the center of a stage at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Houston Field House. She wears a red raincoat over a green suit. A half-dozen building crew supervisors, all men, cluster around in dripping yellow slickers and sodden boots.

They are waiting for the woman to make a decision.

It's 6:45 a.m. Saturday, May 18, and RPI's 196th commencement is to begin in less than four hours. A frigid slop covers the bleachers, chairs and outdoor stage on adjacent Harkness Field.

After minimal consultation and seemingly no hesitation, RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson decides to move the commencement indoors. She tosses out orders to the guys in slickers, who disperse at a fast trot.

The ceremony will be delayed. Each graduating student will have to cut their number of guests. Students will be given a plastic poncho as they line up outside.

``They'll be fine. I like this. We can handle adversity. And we will finish in three hours,'' Jackson declares.

A female aide, who's been fretting at the periphery of Jackson's huddle, sighs and whispers: ``I'm so glad she's here. I feel much more confident now.''

Jackson adjusts her cap and gown moments before leading the academic procession into the crammed fieldhouse.

``If it flops, it'll be Shirley's folly. A day that lives in infamy,'' she says.

``Oh, don't be so paranoid,'' says Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University and an honorary degree recipient.

Later, though, Jackson endures the second-guessing and complaints from relatives shut out from the ceremony.

She is no stranger to the fallout that comes with making bold, forceful decisions. Yet, despite her formidable presence, she remains highly sensitive to criticism.

``I'm a strong personality and everybody doesn't have to love me,'' Jackson says. ``Am I focused, hard-driving and impatient? Absolutely. Do I mistreat people? No. Do I go after people because they talk about me? No. Do people wish I was more accessible? Yes.''

A dizzying pace

Jackson has heard the rising static of discontent among some faculty and has, for now, outrun it. In just three years as RPI's 18th president, her pace is dizzying. Her initiatives are more sweeping than any in recent memory at the nation's oldest technological university.

``Some people feel it's a breathless pace, but I tend to be very …