The Board of Regents just stuck their middle finger up to Univ of Iowa faculty

[tazclone]

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.

IBM would never hire them because they are entitled and arrogant.:spinny:

 

[BCClone]

Didn't Marty J leave for BP? Some do go private later.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Well you really couldn't have hired a worse president. So they have that going for them :twitcy:

 

[tazclone]

Were any of the four finalists internal? I don't think so. On top of that, by hiring the candidate that has already received the lowest marks from the people that will be working for him, who has the least understanding of what they do and how they do it, and has already publicly stated that he will need considerable help in "learning his job"...well, I think the BoR have done all parties (UI faculty, staff & students but also Herrold) a disservice. They've foisted the least preferred candidate onto the community, and they've exposed his naiveté to a whole bunch of people that don't want him. Tough times ahead for all of them.

Or they have forced people who have done it there way and only accept people that do it their way to actually learn to work with an outside viewpoint and actually alter what they are doing for better.

 

[carvers4math]

I think the most hated on CF must be Hawk fans with PhDs (do those exist?) who are university faculty, drive minivans, have more than two kids, and ride bikes.

The generalization that all faculty are arrogant and all corporate executives are not certainly doesn't fit my personal experiences.

 

[TXCyclones]

I don't know why everybody is so shocked at this choice. The diploma-mill for-profit colleges are eating into the University of Iowa's clientele. This choice just helps them better compete with University of Phoenix, ITT, DeVry, Kaplan, and others for those same students!

 

[ImJustKCClone]

You know, I'm trying to separate my feelings for tavern hawks from my respect for Iowa as a university. There are good and bad faculty, there are good and bad administrators, and there are good and bad corporate executives.

I think some of you are so eager to blast your target of choice (be it UI, elitist educators, or whatever) that you are jumping on board with something that may look great on the surface but may prove to be a disaster in the long run. To use an analogy familiar to many of you, would you hire this man to be the general manager of a major pro football team?

I could be wrong...only time will tell...but I'm certainly not as enamored of the hire as some of you seem to be.

 

[RoseBowlBound]

I don't know why everybody is so shocked at this choice. The diploma-mill for-profit colleges are eating into the University of Iowa's clientele. This choice just helps them better compete with University of Phoenix, ITT, DeVry, Kaplan, and others for those same students!

If Iowa is fighting those schools, who exactly is Iowa State fighting? Ames High? Mind you, the admission reqs are almost equal and you have a higher (not by much) acceptance rate. You can rag on Iowa, but you know, Glass houses.

 

[RoseBowlBound]

You know, I'm trying to separate my feelings for tavern hawks from my respect for Iowa as a university. There are good and bad faculty, there are good and bad administrators, and there are good and bad corporate executives.

I think some of you are so eager to blast your target of choice (be it UI, elitist educators, or whatever) that you are jumping on board with something that may look great on the surface but may prove to be a disaster in the long run. To use an analogy familiar to many of you, would you hire this man to be the general manager of a major pro football team?

I could be wrong...only time will tell...but I'm certainly not as enamored of the hire as some of you seem to be.

If anything this hire is good for the athletic side of things, as the president has jumped right in on that. The academic side of things is yet to be seen, but i'm intrigued.

 

[Shawker]

Good lord, I couldn't finish that. The uppity arrogance and condensation in the article was awful.

Condescension...? Unless of course you meant that it was written on a cold pop can sitting out in the warm summer heat.

 

[Tre4ISU]

If Iowa is fighting those schools, who exactly is Iowa State fighting? Ames High? Mind you, the admission reqs are almost equal and you have a higher (not by much) acceptance rate. You can rag on Iowa, but you know, Glass houses.

Yeah, but we are winning by an incredible margin. We have had huge enrollment growth and, though it doesn't matter, a lot of that enrollment is staying in Iowa. If Illinois, for instance ever had a tuition adjustment, that would barely affect ISU while affecting Iowa somewhat significantly. If funding was ever considered based on in state enrollment and placement, that would be much better for ISU than Iowa. So, while I think you are correct in terms of UoP and such, I think ISU is standing on pretty solid ground.

 

[CycloneErik]

Or they have forced people who have done it there way and only accept people that do it their way to actually learn to work with an outside viewpoint and actually alter what they are doing for better.

Unfortunately, the man doesn't actually have the qualifications to lead that school, and no experience in that environment. There's little chance that he knows how to alter things for the better, just how to alter things.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

If anything this hire is good for the athletic side of things, as the president has jumped right in on that. The academic side of things is yet to be seen, but i'm intrigued.

See, that's the POV that worries me. I think his focus out of the gate should be academics. It IS a university, after all...not a pro multi-sport franchise...

 

[LutherBlue]

Unfortunately, the man doesn't actually have the qualifications to lead that school, and no experience in that environment. There's little chance that he knows how to alter things for the better, just how to alter things.

I suspect the new guy has many transferable skills. And he has the backing of the Board which Mason didn't have dating back almost to the beginning of her time. That counts for a lot, will be interesting to watch it play out.

 

[tazclone]

Unfortunately, the man doesn't actually have the qualifications to lead that school, and no experience in that environment. There's little chance that he knows how to alter things for the better, just how to alter things.

That is a pretty flawed assumption and like Mr Logsdon, is very close minded. You ***ume that he cannot gather information, take opinions of current staff, and combine them with his experience. You ***ume he is just going to go into it blindly and lay down whatever the heck he wants. That is Mr Logsdon's flaw as well. MrLogsdon has already formed and opinoon and put on his boxing gloves preparing for a fight when he may not need one.
It is a faulty assumption.

 

[tazclone]

See, that's the POV that worries me. I think his focus out of the gate should be academics. It IS a university, after all...not a pro multi-sport franchise...

Leath said the same thing. Doesn't mean he can't understand the academic side as well.

 

[CycloneErik]

That is a pretty flawed assumption and like Mr Logsdon, is very close minded. You ***ume that he cannot gather information, take opinions of current staff, and combine them with his experience. You ***ume he is just going to go into it blindly and lay down whatever the heck he wants. That is Mr Logsdon's flaw as well. MrLogsdon has already formed and opinoon and put on his boxing gloves preparing for a fight when he may not need one.
It is a faulty assumption.

I didn't read the Logsdon piece, because I make up my own mind. You're making assumptions about my evaluation that are frankly untrue.

My first belief in any of this is that a school president needs to have background in the school environment, including at least the terminal degree offered by the institution. I don't buy into people without credentials handing them out. That's partially a military thing, partially an academic thing, but speaks for me to the credibility of the person involved.

He's not my problem, but he's not a good hire, either.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Leath said the same thing. Doesn't mean he can't understand the academic side as well.

Have you seen me praising Leath? At least he has a background in academia...which puts him a step above Herrold.

 

[CloneLawman]

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.

That's a more charitable view. And perhaps you are correct. I suspected initially he might be similar to a certain Hitler-mustached president ISU once had--a guy who was chosen by the BOR to come in for a few years and do their dirty work(including calling the hit on WOI).

 

[ISUboi12]

That's a more charitable view. And perhaps you are correct. I suspected initially he might be similar to a certain Hitler-mustached president ISU once had--a guy who was chosen by the BOR to come in for a few years and do their dirty work(including calling the hit on WOI).

The question is what dirty work needs to be done? My only concern is that this change would come at the cost to the quality of care at UIHC. The university hospital has grown so much under Mason, especially with completion of the new children's hospital, any change in that trajectory would be a huge disservice to the state of Iowa.