11/4/2011: Last spring the faculty pushed for an honest and thorough review of the performance of our VP for Academic Affairs. Your voice got heard, and the administration is now searching for a replacement:
Colleagues
I am pleased to announce the internal posting to recruit the Senior Vice Provost for the Office of Academic Affairs. I recently communicated to the campus of Russ Tomlin’s decision to step aside as Senior Vice Provost effective June 30, 2012.
The Senior Vice Provost is a key member of the University’s leadership team, and has a portfolio containing a diverse set of reporting units including the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Academic Extension, Labor Education and Resource Center and the Morse Center for Law and Politics. Additionally, the Office of Academic Affairs provides service and academic oversight across several central academic areas including faculty personnel issues and curriculum coordination, assessment, and program review.
This opportunity is open to Full Professors who are interested in working at the central administrative level on academic affairs related issues. Nominations (including self-nominations), inquiries and applications (including a letter of interest, current curriculum vitae, and contact information for three professional references) should be directed electronically no later than December 1, 2011 to Beverlee Stilwell, [email protected].
A more in-depth description of the position and the application requirements can be accessed on the UO Jobs page at: http://archive.hr.uoregon.edu/jobs/unclassified.php?id=3672
I strongly encourage nominations (including self-nominations) and applications for this key leadership position.
Lorraine G. Davis
Acting Senior Vice President and Provost
Lorraine doesn’t mention salary, but presumably the $270,000 that our new CFO Jamie Moffitt bargained for is now the normal starting salary for UO administrators with no experience in the job. Minimum requirements?
Must be a tenured full professor with at least 5 years experience at the University of Oregon.
Must have held a leadership position (dean, department head, center or institute director, or other similar administrative position) for at least three years.
There are lots of qualified, inspiring faculty who would meet the bill. Are any of them willing to take this job on? Will the administration be willing to appoint someone who will shake things up?
They are not off to a promising start. The search committee was, of course, appointed without consulting faculty leadership. It consists of Chair Jon Erlandson, Brad Foley, Warren Ginsberg, Renee Irvin, Wendy Larson, and Mia Tuan. The responsibilities listed in the ad mostly include implementing the tired agenda left over from Russ Tomlin, which has a heavy emphasis on diversity:
In the AY2012 through the AY2015 period, the emphasis will be on setting strategic priorities for the Office of Academic Affairs; continuing progress on the faculty policy review and codification project; furthering the re-organization and repurposing efforts of Academic Extension; working collaboratively on curriculum process improvements; addressing the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty; and preparing all faculty to work effectively with diverse faculty, staff and students.
What, nothing on sustainability? Nothing on Gabon? Hey, what about Bean’s 5 big dumb ideas? The mediocre warmed over pet projects our administrators have been pushing are not going to keep us in the AAU. You can’t just tap the reset button, President Lariviere. You need to hold it down firmly until the red indicator light begins to blink rapidly.
What do you expect? As much as I like and respect Lorraine Davis, she is after all a temporary retread. (Sorry, Lorraine.) Nothing in her background would suggest any kind of vision of academic excellence or even just taking a step forward.
The job description is in line with the increasing bureaucratization of faculty life, and also the fetish of diversity (with plenty of support, I might add, from much of the faculty and also from Lariviere).
I wonder if Bob Berdahl is saying anything useful to Lariviere?
Berdahl’s first job is to pump out the Johnson Hall septic system. We’ll know soon if he’s got the stomach for this sort of work.