The Board of Regents just stuck their middle finger up to Univ of Iowa faculty
- Thread starter cyclonestate
- Start date
If you are interested in reading about this from a news source focused on higher ed, here's the story from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Maybe rastetter believes that his funding models and what haves you will be implemented by this guy.
When you are trying to make changes, you sometimes bring in a person who will be there for two to three years and shake the place up. I was this guy in a couple jobs. Businesses needed a new culture, I stepped in and made the drastic changes. People didn't care for me much but when I left the place had been streamlined and attitudes flipped. Next guys didn't have a snake pit to deal with.
Besides, theor name even has business in it, American Institute of Business.
When you are trying to make changes, you sometimes bring in a person who will be there for two to three years and shake the place up. I was this guy in a couple jobs. Businesses needed a new culture, I stepped in and made the drastic changes. People didn't care for me much but when I left the place had been streamlined and attitudes flipped. Next guys didn't have a snake pit to deal with.
Besides, theor name even has business in it, American Institute of Business.
Good lord, I couldn't finish that. The uppity arrogance and condensation in the article was awful.
This is exactly what I thought when I heard about the hire...
"Some faculty members and others raised fears that Mr. Harreld would simply be an ally of the board, by agreeing to such cuts in the name of efficiency, effectiveness, and transformation."
"...And they wonder what kind of changes a specialist in corporate turnarounds may try to force on an academic community.
Mr. Harreld "was installed in his position for a particular purpose," Mr. McLeod said, "and that is to ‘turn the university around.’"
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Controversial-Search-Ends/232861/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The times they are a changin'.
"Some faculty members and others raised fears that Mr. Harreld would simply be an ally of the board, by agreeing to such cuts in the name of efficiency, effectiveness, and transformation."
"...And they wonder what kind of changes a specialist in corporate turnarounds may try to force on an academic community.
Mr. Harreld "was installed in his position for a particular purpose," Mr. McLeod said, "and that is to ‘turn the university around.’"
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Controversial-Search-Ends/232861/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The times they are a changin'.
I think you're spot on with this. He's there to shake things up and move on in a couple years, leaving a more functional university for the next president.
Exactly, that short article was so full of fail I couldn't even try to surpass it if I wanted. I love how the end basically admits that all of the grad students do most of the work and the professors are just highly paid figure heads. Just a bunch of entitled and arrogant people.
I think what is clear is that the regents now view the UofI as a research and teaching hospital with an undergraduate college attached. The hospital and business of health care is what drove this decision.
I feel like this attitude has led us to the place where someone with zero experience in academic administration is given the chance to lead a major research university. There is a group of people who loathe academics and that group is becoming more influential. IBM would never hire Steve Leath or Greg Geoffroy as its president, but the reverse is okay with Harreld to UI because we have a subculture in which academia is not a useful pursuit and you are apparently "entitled and arrogant" if you choose to spend your career in that field.
- Jun 20, 2006
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I mentioned this in the other thread.... but not exactly how you put it... I agree, his experience in the corporate world in regards to reductions in force and trimming fat are needed for the short term. AKA lopsided funding.
Iowa streamlined academics by merging and cutting entire departments just two or three years ago. A year ago, Deloitte and Touche was hired (paid millions) to study streamlining the university, and their recommendations are currently being implemented. Iowa has the lowest tuition and fees in the Big Ten, and the lowest housing costs in the Big Ten.
Just how much streamlining does the BOR think is possible?
Just how much streamlining does the BOR think is possible?
As far as an operations standpoint, how exactly is UIowa dysfunctional? Mason did a hell of a job for the university, as leader, during a **** economy.
I thought he looked relatively old and the article said 64. Probably why he was working for himself instead of a real company, was easing into retirement. He is there to change the place and then retire. Hope he is too busy with the academics to fire the AD. Also this is probably revenge of Branstad and the Rat on the "liberal" faculty.
Follow the money and that's probably what it looks like. Having worked closely with professors at R1 institutions, it's really the grant money and publications that are the barriers to tenure, not teaching evals.
