Berdahl takes UO back to the past, starring Frohnmayer and Bean

5/24/2012: From an email sent out today by Bob Berdahl:

… As you know, my term as interim president ends September 15. I am optimistic about our search for the University of Oregon’s 17th president. I have begun preparing for the transition by convening a campus readiness team that is considering issues related to institutional boards, and by charging key members of the president’s office and Executive Leadership Team with laying groundwork for the next president. As part of the transition, I reached out to UO President Emeritus Dave Frohnmayer to ask him to serve as a part-time special assistant to the president for the summer. In this role, he will assist me with specific external relations and stewardship assignments, continuity of communications with key stakeholders and with institutional readiness issues involving the possible establishment of an institutional board. President Frohnmayer informed me that he will donate any increase in net pay for this period to fund student scholarships at the University of Oregon.

Provost Jim Bean is set to return July 1 and will transition back during June. The addition of Yvette Marie Alex-Assensoh as VP for Institutional Equity and Inclusion will occur Aug. 7. As you know, the coming school year will require us to begin the searches for new leadership at the School of Journalism & Communication and the Clark Honors College. Tim Gleason, our longest-serving dean, will step down after 16 years and return to teaching and scholarship after a sabbatical. David Frank, the first dean of the Clark Honors College, will also return to scholarship and the classroom.

We expect the campus enrollment to be approximately 25,000 for Fall 2012, reflecting an uptick in international students, stronger retention and higher overall yield rates. We still have work to do to increase our yield rate for Oregon’s best and brightest, as there is strong competition for these students in today’s market.

I will continue to apprise you of developments related to the presidential transition. As always, thank you for your efforts in advancing the university’s mission to serve students and the people of Oregon and beyond, through education and research.

Warm regards,

Bob Berdahl

Previous Frohnmayer contracts are here. The state Audits Division report on them from 7/14/2011 is here. Frohnmayer had to write UO a personal check repaying some money. Then there’s this excerpt:

After this audit the UO law school wrote him a considerably tougher TRP contract, spelling out his academic responsibilities in some detail and cutting off his summer pay. Apparently he will donate this new summer pay to scholarships. Great.

I remember back in 2009, when Frohnmayer tried to convince already underpaid faculty to accept a voluntary 5% furlough cut. He didn’t mention he wouldn’t be taking it on the half of his pay that came through the UO Foundation. And it turned out that while he was pushing faculty to go along with the OUS furlough plan, he was also negotiating his own lucrative retirement deal with Pernsteiner. Conflict of interest?

As for Provost Jim Bean: welcome back from what we hope was a productive sabbatical, the docs are here.