President Herbst is on the march again | Page 2 | The Boneyard

President Herbst is on the march again

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charteroak4life said:
I'm sorry, but does anybody else think that this reeks of a hack job? She comes in, and all of the sudden, multiple high level officials at the university "retire" or leave, so people think she's rooting out inefficiency, but is she really? Does she really have "a plan for the future", "moving fast in the right direction", or is she just firing people to make herself look good? Obviously Hathaway had to go, but the Provost and several others? Something about all this reeks to me and I'll be interested to see if she has an long term success, instead of just "letting go" of higher-ups.
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doesn't reek of anything other than cutting people who haven't done squadoosh. if governments ran more like that, cities, states, etc. would be in much better shape.
 
While I have no idea if this is the right move or not... might she be better served by one public lynching at a time?
 
ruskin said:
I think Herbst is on the right track, but the scam in academia is these guys get promoted to dean/provost/whatever, go back to 'just' teaching, but get paid at the same rate as the dean or provost. Reason no. 9,999 why college is so expensive.
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They don't get paid the same rate. Salary drops once you leave administrative positions. That even applies for chairs of departments.

The national average for administration is 1% of the budget.
 
mattp said:
you'd seek other employment because you're thinking like someone that's not an employee in public academia.
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You think other universities are going to hire a 60 something ex-Provost to teach? Very unlikely.

If he truly wants to teach, it wouldn't happen elsewhere.

By the way, why differentiate between public academics and private academics? What's the difference?
 
upstater said:
They don't get paid the same rate. Salary drops once you leave administrative positions. That even applies for chairs of departments.

The national average for administration is 1% of the budget.
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Usually in the upstater camp but afraid we're going to agree to disagree on this issue. Anecdotally know a couple of folks who didn't get a pay cut. Overall, 839 at UConn made over $100K in 2010. No prob with coaches getting market rate (and JC is underpaid, IMO) because they bring in money. I'm sure there are a lot of talented people on this list, but this seems a bit much.

http://www.ctsunlight.org/Payroll/tabid/56/Default.aspx?BRANCHID=
 
ruskin said:
Usually in the upstater camp but afraid we're going to agree to disagree on this issue. Anecdotally know a couple of folks who didn't get a pay cut. Overall, 839 at UConn made over $100K in 2010. No prob with coaches getting market rate (and JC is underpaid, IMO) because they bring in money. I'm sure there are a lot of talented people on this list, but this seems a bit much.

http://www.ctsunlight.org/Payroll/tabid/56/Default.aspx?BRANCHID=
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This is how it worked in PA and in the NY systems. You move out of admin. and your pay goes back to the prior level. This explains why Deans and Chairs stay in their positions for so long. If it worked the other way, people would drop those positions (and their 100 hour work weeks) after 5 years.
 
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ruskin said:
Usually in the upstater camp but afraid we're going to agree to disagree on this issue. Anecdotally know a couple of folks who didn't get a pay cut. Overall, 839 at UConn made over $100K in 2010. No prob with coaches getting market rate (and JC is underpaid, IMO) because they bring in money. I'm sure there are a lot of talented people on this list, but this seems a bit much.

http://www.ctsunlight.org/Payroll/tabid/56/Default.aspx?BRANCHID=
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Also should add that UConn has 9400 academic staff total, so less than 10% make $100k. I'd bet a good chunk of those profs (many in the sciences) are getting market rate too. Many would be employed in high-tech. I'm assuming a good chunk of those 800 $100kers are responsible for bringing in UConn's annual $250 million in research funds.
 
whaler11 said:
While I have no idea if this is the right move or not... might she be better served by one public lynching at a time?
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Didn't the last one happen over six months ago?
 
upstater said:
You think other universities are going to hire a 60 something ex-Provost to teach? Very unlikely.

If he truly wants to teach, it wouldn't happen elsewhere.

By the way, why differentiate between public academics and private academics? What's the difference?
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Rutgers president McCormick resigned last year to take on a teaching job still paying 335k/year. do you think that would have happened at a private university. in the article they also mention that the former provost is currently working as a poli sci professor making $320k/year. maybe it would have but i'd assume private schools scrutinize their spending more, and i doubt they'd be paying a poli sci prof $320k unless they hired a serious political heavyweight for the position. maybe i'm just jaded because i live in NJ were public anything means the public is getting screwed in the contracts

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/rutgers_president_will_return.html
 
mattp said:
Rutgers president McCormick resigned last year to take on a teaching job still paying 335k/year. do you think that would have happened at a private university. in the article they also mention that the former provost is currently working as a poli sci professor making $320k/year. maybe it would have but i'd assume private schools scrutinize their spending more, and i doubt they'd be paying a poli sci prof $320k unless they hired a serious political heavyweight for the position. maybe i'm just jaded because i live in NJ were public anything means the public is getting screwed in the contracts

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/rutgers_president_will_return.html
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Having been inside private institutions, they work the same way. $300k is way too much but it is a drop in pay. McCormick was making $650k prior to dropping down, so that's a cut of 50%.

I should revise and say that Presidents and Provosts likely have a big incentive monetarily to take that job, because it means big paychecks forever afterward, but typically they don't leave the job willingly until they're ready to retire. Chairs and Deans do. They take the jobs, get paid pretty decent salary (at my school a chair will make $125k) but when they're done, the pay goes back to what it used to be, so there's no incentive to take the job to permanently increase salary. The incentive is the extra $25k a year for the time they are in that job.
 
Now begs the question, how many of you have ever met the Provost? My inkling says very few of you.

As someone who met Dr. Nicholls several times in person while attending the university, I can tell you that he was an asset to this community. Anyone who thinks that they can just draw some correlation between Jeff Hathaway and Dr. Nicholls simply does not know what this man means for the university!

I am glad that he is staying with the university in a teaching capacity but we will miss his leadership during a time when UConn vaulted up the rankings of public universities in the country while seeing four changes in university presidents.
 
ruskin said:
Usually in the upstater camp but afraid we're going to agree to disagree on this issue. Anecdotally know a couple of folks who didn't get a pay cut. Overall, 839 at UConn made over $100K in 2010. No prob with coaches getting market rate (and JC is underpaid, IMO) because they bring in money. I'm sure there are a lot of talented people on this list, but this seems a bit much.

http://www.ctsunlight.org/Payroll/tabid/56/Default.aspx?BRANCHID=
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A good percentage of those earning more than $100K are MD's working at the UConn Health Center.
 
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mattp said:
Rutgers president McCormick resigned last year to take on a teaching job still paying 335k/year. do you think that would have happened at a private university. in the article they also mention that the former provost is currently working as a poli sci professor making $320k/year. maybe it would have but i'd assume private schools scrutinize their spending more, and i doubt they'd be paying a poli sci prof $320k unless they hired a serious political heavyweight for the position. maybe i'm just jaded because i live in NJ were public anything means the public is getting screwed in the contracts

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/rutgers_president_will_return.html
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As always, there is no accounting for New Jersey.

Btw, 100k is not out of line for senior professional occupations. And, while I'm not in academia, I remember that tenured professors do more than teach. In fact, some barely teach and focus on research.

To say an ex-provost is returning to teaching, could mean he is picking up one or two 400 or grad level classes and focusing on research.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
While appreciating all the discussion about professorial compensation, don't lose sight of the original point. Herbst has a vision and a laser like focus to achieve it. As someone who has interacted with Pres Austin, Hogan and Herbst, it is not hyperbole for me to describe the gap between her and them as Grand Canyon like. I'll predict you won't recognize this place in 5 years and the perception of UConn in the academic and athletic arenas will look a lot more like Michigan than Maryland.
 
It is also common during organizational transitions for key personnel to stay in their current roles to keep the ship sailing smoothly, this includes putting off planned retirements, position changes, etc. Also, some may not be comfortable with the new relationships. Bottom line is I don't see anything out of the ordinary going on here, other than the Hathaway ouster. That was ugly on a number of levels.
 
Don't get me wrong, I love what Herbst is doing. She is just freaking awesome...there is absolutely no doubt about that. She has an amazing vision for the university.

Just recognize that UConn didn't fall apart, but even improved, during one of the most tumultuous times at the helm of the university, and a very big reason for that was the #2, Dr. Nicholls. I would believe that this move is more of a personal decision for Dr. Nicholls rather than Herbst trying to oust people out.
 
SubbaBub said:
Bottom line is I don't see anything out of the ordinary going on here, other than the Hathaway ouster. That was ugly on a number of levels.
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How was Hathaway's departure ugly on any level, let alone on any number of levels?
 
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NHUConnfan said:
Just recognize that UConn didn't fall apart, but even improved, during one of the most tumultuous times at the helm of the university, and a very big reason for that was the #2, Dr. Nicholls. I would believe that this move is more of a personal decision for Dr. Nicholls rather than Herbst trying to oust people out.
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I wouldn't rule that out, for sure.
 
Having to force out a long time AD, no matter how justified it was, and him putting up a public fight is ugly for the program and could hurt us down the road. The realignment mess proved how much of a closed society college athletics are.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
Excalibur said:
I wouldn't rule that out, for sure.
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But the basis of this speculation is completely unfounded. As much as people hated Hathaway, people who actually knew Nicholls really liked him. To connect the two because they came from the same university is just ludicrous.
 
NHUConnfan said:
But the basis of this speculation is completely unfounded. As much as people hated Hathaway, people who actually knew Nicholls really liked him. To connect the two because they came from the same university is just ludicrous.
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But it doesn't rule out the fact that Herbst may have not liked something that he was doing, or that they didn't see eye to eye.
 
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Excalibur said:
But it doesn't rule out the fact that Herbst may have not liked something that he was doing, or that they didn't see eye to eye.
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And that still is not reason enough to slam him like people on this board have been doing.
 
My suspicion is that their visions differed regarding his perception of a Provost's overall role vs hers. Don't be surprised if she brings in an "Ivy or near Ivy" league replacment. And don't forget that there are a lot of new Presidents who would have tinkered on the margins with Hathaway. She sized things up quickly and made the surgical move. To put it simply and metaphorically, there's a brisk wind blowing through campus and if I held a position of authority at UConn, I wouldn't be sitting back in my leather chair, I'd be in an athletic stance, focused, and flexing forward.
 
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