President Michael Hogan offered his resignation to UConn today. It’s not as if we had a whole lot of choice but to accept it. Hogan had already signed on to become President of the University of Illinois.
One of Connecticut’s local news stations just ran a story where a member of the UConn Board of Trustees told the camera he’d first heard about Hogan’s decision yesterday evening (in a call made from Chicago, no less) and had no idea that this change was in the works.
Not that I’m bitter, but since I thought Hogan and UConn had bonded pretty well, I sort of expected him to be around for several more years. Also, I liked him. He was respected by many of the faculty, especially in the arts and the humanities, because he knew what it meant to write books (he’s written them) and teach students (he’d taught them-lots of them) and not simply be an administrator, bean counter, or bureaucrat.
And yes, when I say “simply” I mean “simply”: I’ve always maintained that administrators should be drawn from the ranks of distinguished faculty and not from a tepid, gene-depleted pool of career bureaucrats who don’t even remember what it was like to teach or write an article.
With-of course-big, stellar exceptions, many of those who made the decision early in their careers to spend their time in offices rather than in the classroom and/or doing their own research don’t remember what it was like to roll up their sleeves and muck in with the rest of us. Either that, or they never cared very much about it in the first place.
Some people come into academia hating the noise and chaos of human interaction; some people find they can’t write, or, more terrifyingly, that they have nothing to say; some figure they’ll get the attention and recognition they deserve only if they can bully others from a position of authority.
That’s one of the reasons Hogan seemed different to me: He seemed neither like an overblown, blustering bully nor a resentful, rigid, failed scholar.
But he also seemed like somebody who would stay the course—who would lead the institution for at least as long as it takes for the typical UConn student to graduate.
Maybe I’m far more naïve than I’d like to imagine. Maybe anyone willing to accept the position of provost, president, or chancellor at a big university is by necessity a “player” (as the students would say-and as a number of them are saying about Hogan).
I’m sorry to see Michael Hogan leave UConn and I wish him much success at Illinois.
What I wish for UConn is that we find an energetic, accomplished, distinguished scholar who has, in the late-middle of his or her well-respected academic life, decided to take up the daunting responsibility and the exhilarating task of real leadership.
And I’d like our new president to make the commitment to agree, contractually, to stay at our university for seven years, or, to put it another way, for as long as it would take for him or her to get tenure.
What qualities would be most important to you in a college or university president?
14 Responses to My University’s President Is Leaving, and That Bothers Me
stinkcat - May 12, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I wonder if he is going to take that cardboard cutout of himself with him.
mlisaacs - May 13, 2010 at 8:03 am
Top administrators take the perks, salary increases and benefits and then they make their”significant changes” and tough decisions and leave, long before the consequences of theirdecisions are experienced, felt, understood or known. There is no loyalty to any institution. They are “players” and they are using each and every new position as a stepping stone to the next. They are no different than CEO’s of the major financial corporations that have failed us so miserably. Higher education has become a top down structure and is part of the corporate/political complex.
ksuenglish - May 13, 2010 at 8:37 am
Gina Barreca for President!
crankycat - May 13, 2010 at 8:59 am
A respect for education as a process rather than as an “outcome” or a commodity. A respect for faculty as engaged professionals. A respect for students as rising adults who are participants, not “customers”. The best administrators are facilitators – finding ways to match resources and mission while maintaining institutional integrity.
jffoster - May 13, 2010 at 9:13 am
3′s next cry will be “Aux Barrecades!”. Ah, ça n’ira pas!. But as one of the Illini Alumni, I thank Connecticut for having been a proving ground.
honore - May 13, 2010 at 9:39 am
Gina, my university’s chancellor is NOT leaving and that bothers me more
javelina - May 13, 2010 at 10:13 am
Gina, your idea of contractual arrangement is a good one, but contracts work two ways. As part of your new president’s contract, it should be said that the UConn board will not fire him/her and the Faculty Senate (or UConn equivalent) will not vote no-confidence in him/her. Only then should the new president agree to it. I have seen far more evidence of institutional boards and faculty groups pushing a president out — usually on a whim, IMO — than of presidents choosing to leave “early”.
stinkcat - May 13, 2010 at 10:50 am
Perhaps Mike can take Dave with him.http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/2010/05/get-carter.html
katereit - May 13, 2010 at 11:20 am
Increasingly I see the world (whether it be academia, Wall Street, or health care) being run by those in the canopy of the tropical rainforest. The creatures who live in those treetops never touch the earth. Our leaders need to be people who understand the connections and interdependency of the entire eco-system.I suspect they need to have had, at some point, their feet on the ground.
generic_handle - May 13, 2010 at 12:16 pm
My college is currently going through a presidential search, so we’ve been having to consider these very issues. Part of our problem (from my standpoint — as always, YMMV) is that our presidents are hired by the Board of Trustees/Governors/Visitors/Flagellators, very few of whom (if any) are academics (typically, they’re business folks, and thank goodness for business folks, because they employ most of us outside academia). Consequently, they’ll too often swoon over candidates who can offer a line of management self-help patter, BECAUSE THAT’S THE ONLY LANGUAGE THEY SPEAK. Folks with backgrounds in the academic trenches tend not to speak that way.The problem is that the folks who do the hiring have a hard time seeing the difference between a college and a brick factory. We need to educate those people.
dmaratto - May 13, 2010 at 7:27 pm
What I want from my college president is to not be a lying, cheating, stealing, arrogant, self-centered, incompetent, wasteful, soulless creature of profit who sucks the blood from one of the world’s greatest schools and leaves it broke, broken down, and hopeless.Can you tell I went to University of Illinois?
thornwhistle - May 13, 2010 at 7:36 pm
I agree with some the previous comments by “generic”. If an institution is going to hire the right person to be their president a few things might need to happen.1) a clear shared and compelling picture or “vision “of the future for the campus needs to be in place or created. This picture acts as a framework for hiring the new president. The search committee can then ask “What qualities and skills do we need in a new president , if we are to fulfill our shared vision ?” This framework will enable the right people to hire the right person. This picture needs to be created by relevant stakeholders who represent the rich diversity of the institution, not a small committee2) Board members need to understand the current culture, complexity and climate of the institution they help lead/manage. Many do not understand this. Some have an historical, even mythical recollection of the school, which they attended years ago. Others have a “business ” orientation, full of “value added” language with little or no knowledge of faculty or student life. They would never let board members govern their own businesses without a deep understanding of their organizations. Often, they have no reality based notion of what kind of leader the campus needs now and in the future and are easily impressed even seduced by “charasmatic” individuals. There are too many of them that look good but can not lead.3) Search consultants must also understand the campus complexity in order to help the campus select the right leader .Few do. Their rolodexes (are they around anymore?) and network connections are the pool they choose from. . It takes a lot of real work to do it right,but it’s much easier to use the information that is at our fingertips. It isn’t hard to find smart people in higher education,there are buckets of them. Finding someone intelligent, humane, visionary and results orientated, now that’s a challenge.4) Listen to campus stakeholders, they know what is needed to lead the institution. Their input and advice is what the search consultants need to understand, trustees need to honor and the selection committee need to have front and center
katiebeautifulkatie - May 14, 2010 at 8:05 am
A president must find a way to connect to the students. As much as the job is about vision, fiscal responsibilities and goals, etc, it’s also about a leader who the undergraduates can recognize as a leader.
dmaratto - May 14, 2010 at 3:07 pm
They just pick from amongst the same 5-10 people that are always up for these jobs. Even if you ruin the last school you were at, you can become the leader of the next school with a job opening. It’s just like managers in Major League Baseball, you lose with one team, you go onto the next. Good luck to U of I, but Mike Hogan doesn’t need luck. He will find a place somewhere …