Category Archives: Administration

The Times Higher Education Supplement: Struggle to fill v-c job vacancies

Changes in academe have led to a number of chiefs bowing out and a dearth of suitable candidates, reports Anna Fazackerley
Institutions are facing an uphill battle to find high-calibre vice-chancellors as university chiefs bow out ahead of a new commercial era for higher education, The Times Higher can reveal.

There has been a spate of announcements about university heads stepping down in recent months. And headhunters and senior university figures predict that at least another five departures will be announced this autumn. It is an unusually high turnover at the most senior levels of academe. Recruitment firms now fear that there may not be enough good candidates available to fill the vacancies.

The Boston Globe: Maine college president announces resignation a year into the job

Less than a year after taking the job, the president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle said Thursday that he is resigning effective Aug. 31.

The announcement by Karl Burgher comes about two months after faculty members at the school asked for his removal following a vote of no-confidence.

Burgher made no mention of the vote in a prepared statement, saying instead that a “great deal” had been accomplished in his year on the job.

“It is time to step away and allow another to carry the university forward,” Burgher said. “My family is moving back to the Missouri Ozarks to be with friends and church. I will engage with several consulting responsibilities in the near term while deciding on longer term commitments and plans.”

Burgher became UMPI president last July after being selected from among 48 candidates. He previously worked at Fairmont State University in West Virginia.

The college’s Faculty Assembly in May wrote a three-page letter to Joseph Westphal, who was then chancellor of the University of Maine System, saying Burgher had lost respect within the university and Presque Isle communities.

The Oregonian: Clark College decides to dismiss president

The Clark College board voted Wednesday to fire President R. Wayne Branch, who has held the office for three years.

The five-member board unanimously agreed to exercise the “termination for convenience” clause in Branch’s contract, which gives him 90 days’ notice of his dismissal and 12 months of salary and benefits paid at his departure. Under the clause, the board does not have to give Branch a reason for its decision.

San Francisco Chronicle: Extra pay follows top CSU brass out the door – Chancellor gives special perks to some departing executives

Millions of dollars worth of extra compensation has been handed out to California State University campus presidents and other top executives as they leave their posts — without public disclosure by the chancellor and the university’s Board of Trustees.

Of the 44,000 people employed by the CSU system, a review by The Chronicle found that a handful of past and present officials in the university’s 29 highest-paid positions benefit in part from policies designed specifically for an inner circle of top administrators.

Inside Higher Ed: Turmoil in Tallahassee

It has been a turbulent start to summer at Florida A&M University, where several personnel moves made by the interim president and the response from trustees have drawn criticism from some close to the university, including the president of the alumni association.

Eight professors received termination notices more than a month ago only to learn recently that they would remain on the payroll until further notice. A university trustee has asked Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to conduct an independent investigation into why an inspector general who monitors Florida A&M was placed on paid leave. And some continue to accuse trustees of dragging their feet on naming a permanent president.

Herald Tribune: FAMU struggles with turmoil

During the last few weeks, the state’s only historically black public university has received a critical state audit. Eight business professors were abruptly laid off. An internal auditor, who said he was investigating administration officials, was put on leave. And the head of the school’s national alumni association called on the school’s top trustee to resign.

Chicago Sun-Times: Faculty rip Triton College chief

A high-stakes war of words is brewing at a River Grove community college between the faculty and president.

The faculty association unanimously voted “no confidence” in the college president last week and called for her resignation. Faculty say President Patricia Granados shuts them out of important college decisions and regularly scapegoats administrators, including a dean who says he was recently asked to resign.

AP: HIGHER EDUCATION: Potts: Either Chapman shapes up, or I ship out

North Dakota’s university chancellor says he’ll quit unless the president of North Dakota State University acknowledges his authority as the state’s top college administrator.

Globe and Mail: First Nations U under the microscope

The national association of post-secondary institutions is taking the unprecedented step of reviewing the First Nations University of Canada’s membership in the group, putting the aboriginal university’s credibility under the microscope.

In a statement from Ottawa, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada board of directors said the Regina-based First Nations University will remain a member of the organization while the review is done.

Journal Inquirer: Dean protests ouster from UConn School of Engineering post

STORRS – Amir Faghri didn’t see

One day before the U.S. Secretary of Energy was due to visit the University of Connecticut to tour a fuel cell center – a visit Faghri had helped arrange – the dean of the School of Engineering was asked to resign.

When Faghri objected, he said Monday, he was removed from his position as dean, just hours after the energy secretary’s visit.

Kalamazoo Gazette:

Western Michigan University’s faculty union filed at least one Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents showing why university administration selected certain degrees for elimination.

“We’re just trying to get all the possible information we can for the faculty who are having to prepare their arguments for keeping programs open,” said Alan Rea, spokesman for Western’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

The union is awaiting the university’s response, Rea said.

The Athens News: Profs raise questions about negative faculty evaluation of president

The secretary of the Ohio University faculty group that gave a poor rating to top OU administrators on Friday defended the legitimacy of the group’s survey against various charges on Friday.

The OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on Wednesday announced results of the survey, which found that most respondents “disagreed” or “disagreed somewhat” with giving votes of confidence to President Roderick McDavis, Provost Kathy Krendl and Vice President for Regional Higher Education Charles Bird.

The Chronicle: A New Leader Navigates SUNY’s Stormy Seas

For a former Navy officer who commanded fleets in the Mediterranean Sea and flew reconnaissance missions over Bosnia, it may seem odd to be considered courageous for submitting a budget proposal.

But the aggressive financial plan that Vice Adm. John R. Ryan pressed this academic year, during his first six months as chancellor of the State University of New York, has earned him a reputation as a gutsy leader.

Breaking with the recent history of modest budget requests by SUNY leaders, Admiral Ryan asked the state to give the 64-campus system significant increases, including more than $156-million in new funds to hire full-time faculty members, expand honors programs, and meet other needs.

In the end, SUNY received much of what the new chancellor requested. For the system’s four-year campuses and graduate-level colleges, the final state budget included $1.36-billion, an 11.3-percent increase over the previous year and enough money for the system to add 380 full-time faculty members. “It is by far and away the best budget we’ve had in two decades,” says Thomas F. Egan, chairman of SUNY’s Board of Trustees.

The Athens News: Faculty: McDavis and provost are doing poor job

Three top Ohio University officials received failing grades according to preliminary results of a faculty survey conducted by the OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Most notably, 76 percent of respondents expressed a lack of confidence in OU President Roderick McDavis. (Some 46 percent “disagree” with giving the president a vote of confidence, while 30 percent “disagree somewhat.”)

Inside Higher Ed: Question of independence

For well over a decade now, the leaders of Wesley College’s Board of Trustees have turned to James L. Fisher whenever they needed help. The longtime college president turned higher education consultant led Wesley’s search for a new president in 1997 and has provided it with “assistance, advice and counsel with some regularity,” as one college official describes it.

So when Wesley’s president, Scott D. Miller, faced plagiarism charges this spring, for the second time in his career, the trustees — after rallying to Miller’s defense — agreed to conduct an independent review of the accusations and of the college’s overall status. They asked Fisher, their trusted adviser, to put together a review panel, and he recruited three current or former college presidents, all of whom have worked with or for Fisher on other university consulting jobs. In its report last month, the review panel concluded that plagiarism had occurred, but said it could not figure out whether Miller or someone else had committed it. Over all, the report praised Miller for essentially saving the college, saying he was “in the midst of one of the most successful college presidencies in the nation.”

Fisher’s involvement, even at some distance, in the review of Miller troubles some observers on the campus and elsewhere, given what they say are the very close ties between Fisher and the president.