[Herky] Non Herky--U of I's new President?

Gwen McNatt gmcnhawkeye at gmail.com
Tue Sep 22 20:01:59 PDT 2015


Interesting perspective, Carol.  I looked at all of the CVs and clearly I
liked Steinmetz and Herrald. The other two had surprisingly little
leadership and their academic interests had nothing to do with running a
university. But you make some really good points that give me pause.

I am on the faculty, but live far from Iowa City (Emmetsburg).



The problem in this case is not so much that they hired someone with a
business background rather than an academic one, although that is how it is
being reported in many media outlets. The real problem is that this
particular candidate did not appear to be qualified for the position. He
misrepresented himself on his CV, he told the forum that he “researched the
University on Wikipedia” and he said he had no trouble with the new funding
formula that the Regents are planning on implementing that will take quite
a big chunk of money from the University of Iowa and give it to Iowa State
and UNI (the premise being that they want to encourage undergraduate
in-state students – the reality being that ISU and UNI don’t have a med
school, a dental school, a law school, etc. to support).



The general consensus around the state is that he was likely hand-picked by
Terry Branstad and Bruce Rastetter (Board President – big ag, big money
guy). The new president was the only candidate that had a personal phone
conversation with Terry Branstad, and he also came to Iowa City before he
applied for the job and “toured” the University of Iowa Hospitals and
Clinics. Guessing the others didn’t do that. No way of knowing, but it is
quite possible it was decided before they started the whole process. The
people I know who went to the open forums for all the candidates said his
performance was abysmal and that the others were all very good. His
“rating” by those attending was 3%, the others were all over 90%.



I’m not sure he bought the presidency; I’d be more inclined to think it was
a give-away by our elected officials and their Board. It was a unanimous
vote by the Board of Regents. He’s hired – I’ll give him the benefit of the
doubt, but I am disgusted by the process. And I’m not an Iowa City liberal.



Carol



*From:* Herky [mailto:herky-bounces at lists.herky.net] *On Behalf Of *Kay
Ramseyer
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 22, 2015 10:41 AM
*To:* herky at lists.herky.net
*Subject:* Re: [Herky] Non Herky--U of I's new President?



He only has an MBA and no teaching or administrative experience. Both the
faculty and graduate student organization voted no confidence in him. I
talked to a president of a state university with over 21,000 students and
he said the all of the other candidates were qualified to be president and
he had talked with two Iowa faculty who were very upset. Maybe the Iowa
presidency can be bought….

On Sep 22, 2015, at 9:33 AM, Keith Voigts <kvoigts at wisemanengine.com> wrote:



http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/09/university_of_iowa_names_new_president_no_experience_no_ideas_flubbed_his.html



What is this all about?





Keith L. Voigts

*Wiseman Technologies, Inc.*

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