Category: Administrative Hiring
September 21, 2010, 10:00 AM ET
Diversity in Iowa, Revisited
Last November I wrote about some discussions I had with my
fellow chief academic officers at Iowa private colleges and
universities at our annual meeting about how to
increase the diversity of faculty and staff members at our
respective institutions. The discussion that followed this meeting,
both in public and private responses to my post and among my
colleagues here in Iowa, was extremely interesting and productive.
In fact, we attracted a job application in one of our searches as a
direct result of that discussion, and I am happy and grateful that
we had that outcome.
The CAO's just met again last week and returned to the question of
how to recruit a more diverse faculty and staff to our campuses.
This will surely be a durable issue because we face structural and
cultural challenges that make rapid progress in this area
unlikely.
However, we did generate some interesting ideas that I...
September 9, 2010, 03:44 PM ET
Which Foot Shall I Shoot Next?
A campus was suffering through a significant economic struggle,
which included a midyear budget cut. At a meeting with the
university's leaders, who were growing impatient with the process
of the cuts and with the lack of clear information about the
situation, the institution's president declared, "No one should
discuss these things off campus. If there is one thing that neither
donors nor prospective students want to hear, it's that there are
financial problems here. Donors won't give to problems, and
prospective students are afraid of them. If we lose either of those
groups, our problem will only grow worse."
That conversation happened over a decade ago, before everyone
figured out that information can find new and expansive homes on
the Internet. It is almost impossible now to create an information
lockdown, especially with the easy availability of Web sites where
information,...
July 9, 2010, 05:57 PM ET
Hiring Bytes
• The president of Tennessee State University, Melvin Johnson, announced yesterday that he would retire in January, the Nashville Post reports.
• Via The Ticker comes word that Frederick M. Lawrence, law dean at George Washington University, has been picked to lead Brandeis University.
• Roy J. Nirschel, president of Roger Williams University, has resigned, says The Boston Globe.
• Times are good for university presidents in the Washington area, the Washington Examiner says. The newspaper notes that several DC-area chiefs took home fatter paychecks last year: Georgetown University's John DeGioia, for example, took home $911,613 in total compensation—42 percent more than in the previous year. Patricia McGuire, of Trinity University, got a 14.3-percent pay bump. And at George Mason University, Alan Merton's pay raise was 10.5 percent, thanks to deferred benefits.
• Meanwhile, 10 top a...
Read MoreJune 14, 2010, 11:24 AM ET
Why Job Candidates Say 'No'
One of the most frustrating parts of job searches is the "Thanks
but no thanks" reply from a candidate. By the time an offer has
been made, many hurdles have been overcome. The department has
formed a coalition with the administration to make the offer.
Credentials have been reviewed and distilled into a proposed rank
and salary. A name has been penciled onto the schedule. Sometimes
even students are filled with anticipation for the new arrival.
When the candidate says "No," more than a few parties are
frustrated.
My fellow blogger David
Evans recently noted how frequently candidates ask, "Why didn't
I get the job?" I thought I would extend that discussion in the
other direction. Many times I wish, as a dean, that I could phone a
candidate and ask, "Why didn't you take the job?" I know the
primary answers (location, spousal opportunities, desire to be at a
research institution, etc.),...
May 28, 2010, 12:49 PM ET
On the Front Lines
About a month ago, I wrote about our intention to undertake a
late
search for a position in management after our earlier search
had fallen through. We're in the process of setting up on-campus
interviews for the finalists, who on paper and in preliminary phone
interviews look promising.
As we set up these interviews, I'm reminded again how important it
is to have a competent and good-spirited person managing the
arrangements. In our case, the administrative assistant to the
associate dean of the faculty, in my office, handles the
arrangements. She is good at it, dealing well with juggled
schedules, flight arrangements, lodging, and all the other
logistics that go into a successful campus-interview process.
Any regular reader of the Chronicle
Forums has read horror stories about botched on-campus
interviews—candidates have experienced late notice, unclear
instructions, and poor...
April 28, 2010, 12:53 PM ET
Poison Pills
During an on-campus interview, I was once asked, "Outside of
your specific specialty area, which two classes would you most like
to teach?" At the time, I thought it was a question that sought to
see how well I knew the department's cataloged offerings. I
joyfully chimed in with two courses that I would have loved to
teach, ones where I knew the material and had taken comprehensive
examinations in the minor areas of my doctorate.
When I didn't get the job, I talked at length with one of my
mentors, and when I mentioned this question, he said, "Ooh, you
didn't catch that it was a poison-pill question. They wanted to see
if you were going to be a threat to anyone's territory. Let me
guess: The courses you cited were ones currently taught by senior
members of the department, right?"
I shook my head affirmatively.
"You took the poison, then. Next time just say 'Anything the
department needs!'...
April 14, 2010, 10:00 AM ET
Appointment News
• The longtime chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Superior, Julius E. Erlenbach, has announced that he intends to retire on August 1, the Duluth News Tribune reports. Christopher Markwood, the university's provost, is expected to take over as interim chancellor when Mr. Erlenbach steps down.
• John Burness, a former senior vice president for academic affairs at Duke University, will assume the post of interim president of Franklin & Marshall College this summer, The Ticker reports. He'll replace president John A. Fry, who is leaving for the top job at Drexel University.
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has picked Francisco González-Scarano, chair of the department of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, to become dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs on August 1. See a university press...
Read MoreFebruary 3, 2010, 04:00 PM ET
Hiring the President's Spouse
Idaho's State Board of Education is trying to reverse an antinepotism law that bars the state's public universities from hiring presidential spouses, the Associated Press reports. Board members worry that the law will make it tougher for Idaho's public universities to recruit and retain top leaders, many of whom have spouses in academe.
A case in point: Laura Vailas, a Ph.D. nutritionist married to the president of Idaho State University, Arthur Vailas, recently had to forgo applying for an $85,000 post at the university, lest she find herself in violation of the law, Mark Browning, a spokesman for the board, told Idaho lawmakers. Browning also pointed out that academic job opportunities for presidential spouses at nearby institutions are pretty scant thanks to the remote location of Idaho's public four-year universities. And according to the AP, the Idaho law is stricter than similar...
Read MoreJanuary 21, 2010, 09:00 AM ET
The Cape of False Hope
A search-committee chair handed her dean the list of finalists for a national search. The dean asked, "Did Dr. Matters not make the list?"
The chair said, "No. He met the minimum requirements but compared with the others, he was clearly in the second tier."
The dean looked down and then said, "I need to let you know at this point that Dr. Matters is well-connected with several influential board members, including at least one substantial donor to your home department."
"Does this mean that we have to interview him?"
"Well, he's local and it wouldn't cost anything, so I would encourage you to invite him to a courtesy interview. You won't have to offer him the job, but it would score points with some VIP's if we could at least say, 'He was one of our finalists.'"
This scenario repeats itself all over the country at this time of year. Sometimes it's a well-connected applicant....
Read MoreNovember 9, 2009, 10:00 AM ET
Diversity Officer's Ouster Sparks Student Protest at College Park
Hundreds of students at the University of Maryland at College Park marched on the administration building last Thursday to protest the dismissal of Cordell Black, a popular diversity officer who has occupied his post for 18 years, The Washington Post reports.
Mr. Black will be let go as associate provost for equity and diversity at the end of the year as part of a university effort to cut costs. The university plans to fill the position with a part-time administrator. However, Mr. Black, as a tenured professor, may remain on the faculty, the newspaper reports.
The Post described the demonstration as "one of the largest demonstrations at the College Park campus since the Vietnam War era." According to the newspaper ...
The mood during the demonstration suggested that many students fear that the school is quietly retreating from its commitment to racial and cultural diversity in a...Read More
On Hiring is The Chronicle's blog about the ins and outs of college hiring, with articles and advice from around the Web.