It’s going to be a happy crowd down at the faculty club tonight. One faculty member noted “He made no visible relationships with anyone while he was here. It was obvious from the start he would not be here long.”
Whoever wrote the provost’s letter got unnecessarily gushy considering the damage Lindner managed to do, but it’s very encouraging to hear that Provost Banavar is reaching out to the college before making an interim appointment. Let the healing begin. Provost Banavar’s letter:
Dear Colleagues,
As you may have heard this morning, Christoph Lindner, dean of the College of Design, has accepted a position as dean of the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. He will remain at the University of Oregon through August.
[UOM: at his $265K Dean’s salary, or his $162K faculty pay with a few classes to teach?]
While I am disappointed that the UO will lose Christoph’s leadership, vision, and passion, I hope you will join me in wishing him and his family all of the best with this next chapter. It is an extraordinary opportunity. University College London’s gain is certainly our loss.
I am grateful for all Christoph has done during his time as dean of the College of Design, including his leadership in transforming the School of Architecture and Allied Arts into the College of Design, which comprises the School of Architecture & Environment, the School of Art + Design, and the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
Christoph’s vision has helped enhance the prominence of all disciplines within the college. He has been a strong advocate for the enhancement of diversity in design, including the new Design for Spatial Justice initiative in the School of Architecture & Environment and the new Access and Equity research group in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
I applaud the work that he and others have done to elevate the College of Design’s portfolio, creating new synergies among UO departments, working with partner institutions, and looking to 21st century opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students—all while maintaining a focus on the College of Design’s core and historical strengths.
I am grateful that Christoph will remain at the UO through August, which leaves ample time to prepare for a transition. An important next step for me as provost is to name an interim dean, and I intend to do so by the end of next week. First, though, I want to take the next several days to consult with department heads, school heads, and others in the college. If you have recommendations for the interim role, please email me at [email protected]. I will take all of the feedback and information I receive into account, but I must receive it by no later than noon Monday, March 18.
There will no doubt be questions about the process for filling the permanent dean position. My office will coordinate this effort and I will provide more information soon. Please rest assured knowing that the search will follow standard practices, including a review of the position profile, putting together a diverse hiring committee, and hosting public presentations and interview opportunities for finalists.
For the next several weeks, our focus will be on the institutional efforts to balance our budget and identify expenditure reductions. While Christoph’s departure leaves a hole to fill, we will not have any announcements on the search in the next few weeks.
Again, let me reiterate my best wishes to Christoph, his wife, Rebecca, who is associate dean for undergraduate studies in the Clark Honors College, and their two children. It has been a pleasure having them as part of the UO community and I am grateful for all they have both done.
Sincerely,
Jayanth Banavar, Provost and Senior Vice President
Lindner’s email:
Dear College of Design Faculty and Staff:
I am writing to share with you that I have accepted the position of Dean of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London beginning Fall 2019.
It has been an honor to serve as Dean of the College of Design for the past three years. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your work in making the college what it is today. I am especially grateful to our talented faculty and staff, who are a vital source of the college’s success. My thanks as well to our school heads, department heads, and associate deans for their dedication in leading the College of Design, as well as our Dean’s Advancement Council for their ever-present advocacy, advice, and enthusiasm.
I look forward to finishing the academic year with you, and continuing to work with everyone to advance our academic priorities. During the coming months, I will also be working closely with the Office of the Provost to ensure that the many important programmatic and hiring initiatives in the School of Architecture & Environment, School of Art + Design, School of Planning, Public Policy and Management, and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture continue to move forward smoothly during the leadership transition. The provost will be sharing more about that transition plan shortly.
Sincerely,
Christoph Lindner
Dean and Professor
Let it be noted that, though the Provost credits Lindner with the “new Design for Spatial Justice initiative,” this was actually an initiative of Erin Moore, head of the School of Architecture & Environment.”
Likewise, the “new Access and Equity research group in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management” was an initiative underway before Lindner arrived at Oregon.
To Lindner’s credit, he did not crush or starve these initiatives, but it would be incorrect to suggest that he is responsible for them.
No one appointed by this discredited individual should even be considered as his replacement. They would have absolutely no trust from the get go, and the problems at that college would be guaranteed to continue long after the original cause has left.
It’s an elitist, path dependent, completely untested shibboleth to assume there’s any advantage to retaining these upper administrative positions: from deans to the president.
Do we have a sum for all the salaries in Johnson Hall + the deans? We need to make a case for democracy in our public institutions. One of the first principles should be financial prudence.
Gee whiz, one of our own goes on to lead the world’s number one architecture school and all y’all can offer is some impotent simpering. Sour grapes much? Delicious, and kudos to Linder!
from what I hear, everyone at the college is really, really happy.
it must be that they’re all so proud of “one of their own” … yeah, that must be it.
“The world’s number one architecture school.” That sounds like someone who knows very little about the world of architecture, much like Christoph Lindner.
Sorry you didn’t make the list: https://www.archdaily.com/889883/the-top-200-universities-in-the-world-for-architecture-2018
If you actually know anything about architecture (and you seem to have acquired all your knowledge from clickbait, fanboy websites), this is quite a weird list. I guess you have to understand the distinction between “studying architecture” and “learning to be an architect”. I don’t know many of the foreign schools, but right off the bat I can spot several of these highly-ranked schools – Stanford, NYU, University of Copenhagen, Duke – that don’t actually have architecture departments! Which makes me think that many of the ones with which I’m unfamiliar don’t have them either.
I guess you can “study” architecture there (just as you could “study” architecture with Dean Christoph Lindner), but you wouldn’t be in an accredited professional program, and couldn’t progress towards a professional degree, or licensure, or registration. Legally, you wouldn’t be an architect, and couldn’t call yourself one. Which is the usual goal of “studying” architecture.
And since, unlike you, I have no desire to defame schools that have many good aspects, I won’t point out the many schools on this list that are not at all known for the quality of their design programs. Many of the ones I recognize are known for building science research (much more like engineering), which leads me to conclude that this shadowy ranking organization just looked at research dollars and journal citations. Which sounds all too familiar in our brave new world of AAU-pleasing metrics.
I don’t know what’s motivating you in your snotty, ignorant comments, but it’s really unattractive, and I wish you had enough courage to sign your name, so we could make fun of your department too.
Correct! I know nothing about architecture and just Googled “top international architecture schools”. Bartlett was up there on every clickbait site but alas your school was absent. That must mean yours is better in every way! Sorry to pee in your porridge, Pete.
In lieu of any consideration of the actual substance of my post, a revelation of the depth of your research and a clear acknowledgement of your complete ignorance of the subject do suffice, thank you!
Of course, I must point out that the exceedingly favorable judgement you come to about our program mostly demonstrates your inability to draw a logical conclusion from the facts presented. Nice alliteration though!
Please please tell us what damage he managed to do UOM.
not sure about UOM, but we could start with potentially $4.3 million “damage” to the Universityof Oregon in an on-going lawsuit by three “of his own” professors.
oh, and the really terrific public relations for the U of O among its donors surrounding Lindner’s “appropriation” of the Marion Ross Gift against the expressed wishes of his executors
… can’t buy that kind of publicity!
oh, and how about the illegal photographing of faculty at a union meeting by one of his staff … the late Patrick MCcusker … also now bolted ….