UVSC to host Nader and BYU alternative commencement

The past few days have not been fun for those plucky BYU students who have been trying to find a venue for their alternative commencement. But now it looks like those Cougars looking to trade in Dick Cheney for Ralph Nader will be able to have their event at "that other university" in the valley.

An unnamed source has told The Pipeline that a deposit has been made for the event at UVSC's McKay Events Center. As of Friday afternoon employees at the on-campus arena could neither confirm or deny that the event has been scheduled.

Those familiar with the school remember when Michael Moore's visit in October of 2004 sparked a controversy that eventually garnered national attention. Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity accepted an invitation to UVSC to "balance the ticket".

LDS Church owned Brigham Young University in Provo has been weathering a storm since it announced a month ago that Vice President Dick Cheney would be the speaker at the school's commencement ceremony. Students and like-minded professors almost immediately started organizing an alternative to the Cheney event.

Last week event organizers announced that former presidential candidate and vocal Bush administration critic Ralph Nader had accepted an invitation to speak...the one problem was that venue options were dropping fast.

But it now appears that Nader and the alternative commencement kids have found a place at UVSC. The interesting thing will be if UVSC's fickle donors and supporters pipe up like they did 3 years ago. We shall see...

Sederburg talks about transition, hands out sandwiches

UVSC President Bill Sederburg, master of the PowerPoint, invited the campus community to break bread and have a good ol' rap session about the school's impending move to university status. For the past few years Big Bill has used "Sandwiches with Sederburg" as a way of presenting his expectations for the following year.

And it seems next year's theme will be hiring. Sederburg laid out his plan for the new influx of cash that came with SB 70, and it looks like the biggest chunk will go to hiring 90 new employees, about 40 of which will be new full-time faculty.

Sederburg said one of the school's weaknesses when it comes to assessment has always been its dependence on adjunct faculty. He anticipates that these new hires will help those full-time to adjunct ratios and possibly reduce teaching loads across the board.

Sederburg also committed to keeping enrollment open and promised that the school "will not move away from its roots" as the transition to university is made. One must assume he was talking about the often maligned trades program that the school was original built on. The official talking points from the school have always been that trades will be around and that UVU would "continue to work with Mountainlands Apllied Technology Center" to make sure the program runs efficient.

In other words, the trades program will probably move piece by piece to MATC as UVSC matures into UVU. Particularly as Sederburg tries to reduce the dependence on adjunct faculty and tries to increase the number of faculty members with terminal degrees.

The administration may say they are committed to trades, but The Pipeline thinks that in 5 years trades will be reduced to only the most technical degrees. There is a reason some staff call it "Baloney with Bill" instead of "Sandwiches with Sederburg".

UVSC scores another supporter on Board of Regents

The Salt Lake Tribune reports today that former chair of UVSC's Board of Trustees Jack Zenger has been nominated by Gov. Jon Huntsman to the all-powerful State Board of Regents. Zenger will be replacing Michael Jensen, a lawyer from Price. His nomination will need to be confirmed by the state senate.

Zenger will join Marlon "No High School Diploma" Snow on the Board, and the two will be the only representatives from Utah County. Still, that is one more than UVSC had yesterday.

According to the Board of Regents website Snow's term is ending this June. It will be interesting to see if Huntsman replaces him with another Utah County resident. Might we recommend Jeff "Pee Wee" Alexander, who recently retired from the legislature and probably wouldn't mind working a few days a month.

Regents get paid next to nothing (a travel per diem for their monthly meetings) but they hold positions of incredible influence and are treated like kings by schools looking to curry their favor. They also get to rub shoulders with Utah's best and brightest...in other words, it's a pretty good deal.

The Board is made up of fifteen regents, each appointed by a governor to a six-year term. The Chair appoints two non-voting members to serve unspecified terms. There is also a vote for the student regent, which is chosen every year and is usually a former student body president. Historically Salt Lake City has had the most representation on the board. Currently there are eight regents from Salt Lake serving on the Board.

How much computer is too much computer

Jason Adkins over at The College Times has just written a fine editorial piece on how much UVSC administrators are spending on their laptops. Adkins used a GRAMA request to get access to purchasing records.

The article brings up a few very good points, and we will let Adkins give you those, but it also shows the need for an independent news source on campus. In the past faculty and administrators have tried to reel in the school paper, and take editorial control away from student editors.

Articles like this exemplify that a vibrant and vital newspaper can serve as a check against potential corruption. Kudos to Adkins for using GRAMA to keep 'em honest. The Pipeline hopes future student journalists will learn how to use this powerful investigative tool.

Not exactly fair and balanced, nor should it be

BYU announces Reid will speak on campus in the fall

All of Utah is in a twitter over Vice President Dick Cheney's looming visit as commencement speaker at Brigham Young University's graduation. The latest news has BYU and its owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, trumpeting their "fair and balanced" approach by announcing that Democratic Senator Harry Reid will be speaking on campus later this fall. BYU and the LDS Church are also responding to a recent editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune that says the church, despite its so-called "long standing policy of political neutrality", is really showing its biases with this invitation.

If you missed the latest articles here they are:
LDS Church and BYU officials stand by Cheney invitation (Daily Herald)
LDS Church fires back at criticism over Cheney (Deseret Morning News)
LDS Church responds to Tribune columnist (Salt Lake Tribune)

The LDS Church's full response can be found here


So what does this have to do with UVSC?"

We are glad you asked. As many of you recall a similar controversy gripped all of Utah nearly 3 years ago when UVSC announced that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore would speak on campus. Immediately there were petitions and protests calling to rescind the invitation and punish those who would dare suggest such a thing. If you need a reminder of how fun that whole thing got check out the first 40 or so minutes of the film This Divided State.

There is a scene in that movie when UVSC professor Alex Caldiero essentially grabs the camera by the lens, puts it right on his mug, and says, "There is no such thing as an objective viewpoint!" over and over.

Truer words were never spoken. There is no such thing as an objective viewpoint. Trying to balance one speaker with another, as UVSC tried to do by inviting Sean Hannity, is an exercise in futility. Public schools like UVSC better serve their communities by getting the best possible speakers to come to campus, and letting the audiences evaluate the messages.

But when we try and second guess the public, or appease the cries for balance (as if such a thing exists) we end up dumbing down the issues and further feeding the cult of personality.

Why balance is stupid

Look what BYU has done by announcing that Harry Reid will speak in the fall. This was a forum that had been planned for months, certainly before the Cheney invite. It was going to be a chance for BYU students to listen to a man, who just so happens to be of their same faith, discuss important political issues. Now it is nothing more then a half-assed attempt to quell the public outcry over the Cheney visit. Instead of listening to either of these important leaders and their messages, we will instead spend our time discussing the fact that they were invited in the first place. Both men and their words will be reduced to nothing more than another Red vs. Blue grudge match that will rile up everyone and solve nothing.

But balance should be the goal, right?

The short answer is no. An informed electorate should be the goal. But when entities try and frame the debate by "getting both sides" they end up only expressing their own biased tendencies. Here is a line from the LDS Church's official response that illustrates what we mean:

The invitation to the vice president of the United States is not a violation of that policy, any more than inviting the majority leader of the Senate would be. In fact, Senator Harry Reid — a Democrat from the opposite political pole to the vice president — has already accepted such an invitation for this fall.

So according to the LDS Church Harry Reid is the political antipode of Dick Cheney? Harry Reid? Just because he is a democrat? In order to come close to Cheney's polar opposite BYU would need to invite Hugo Chavez or raise Lenin from the dead.

The fact is that trying to achieve balance, even at a state school, is ridiculous. Now try doing it a conservative religious school and it goes from ridiculous to retarded.

We long for a day when the those in the media, and those in positions of authority, have enough confidence in human intelligence to let us evaluate messages and messengers without their silly and often meaningless labels.

We also hope that those engaged in trying to stop someone from speaking, no matter who it is, realize that their time is better spent coming up with a message of their own. Show your disagreement with more speech, better speech, not restricting the speech of others. The Michael Moore visit should have taught us at least that.

Students protest Cheney's visit to BYU

The big story at all three papers over the past week has been concerning vice-president Dick Cheney's impending visit to Brigham Young University. If you have missed the details you can read all about it at The Deseret Morning News.

Surprising many in the red-to-the-core Beehive State is news that some at BYU are none to happy about the Cheney visit and are speaking out. Stories at The Daily Herald and The Salt Lake Tribune tell the story of faculty, staff and students up in arms about the controversial and "deeply partisan" VP speaking to graduates.

A Blog was recently created that allows folks to sign a petition asking BYU to schedule another commencement speaker.

For those embroiled in this mess, The Pipeline suggests looking at the UVSC/Michael Moore uproar from 2004 for pointers on how not to act in this kind of situation. May cooler heads prevail.

UVSC shares the strategic direction for next year

An e-mail went out to employees today inviting all to a few upcoming Strategic Directions forums next week. Attached with the e-mail was a rough draft of next year's strategies, which we include here:

Strategic directions are annually refined to guide the institution through its planning and budgeting processes. The first three strategic
directions outline the dominant focus for the upcoming fiscal year. The final three strategic directions address other operational needs.


Strategic Direction One: Transition to Utah Valley University and establish long-term university goals
-Define and promote the role of a regional state university and the mission and brand of UVU
-Develop and implement master’s degrees in education, nursing, and business
-Establish academic/scholarly initiatives for collaboration with peer institutions
-Establish governmental/private sector partnerships for developing the region
-Encourage alumni participation by strengthening the unique identity of UVU
-Review and align academic policies with peer institutions


Strategic Direction Two: Provide a distinctive educational opportunity centered on students, scholarship, and regional
engagement
-Expand resources to support professional, global, ethical, and scholarly engagement among students, faculty, and staff
-Develop and maintain programs and services that demonstrate and enhance the importance of teaching, learning, and scholarship
-Solicit feedback on faculty and staff student-centeredness and effectiveness in regional outreach
-Identify, build and promote centers of excellence to encourage engaged scholarship
-Develop and utilize distance education, off-campus programs, and satellite campuses more fully

Strategic Direction Three: Provide programs and services to attract, recruit, and retain students with differing backgrounds,
interests, and preparedness levels
-Promote campus-wide initiatives that foster student success and retention
-Understand the interest in and perception of the learning experience at UVSC (UVU) among high school students
-Improve recruitment and retention of women, under-represented groups, and other non-traditional students
-Develop and market programs to attract and retain high-achieving students
-Define and promote the “opportunity mission” of UVSC (UVU)

Strategic Direction Four: Manage and expand resources to support UVSC’s (UVU’s) mission and future growth
-Continue to nurture the expanding role of community and private support
-Motivate community and alumni to provide resources to support excellence among students, faculty, and staff
-Pursue the implementation of the campus facilities and information technology master plans
-Assess student, staff, and faculty satisfaction with campus facilities and their learning/working conditions

Strategic Direction Five: Attract, retain, and develop exceptional student-centered faculty and staff consistent with UVSC’s
(UVU’s) focus on students, scholarship and regional engagement
-Continue to implement a competitive market compensation plan
-Increase staff in proportion to faculty increases to provide adequate support
-Support and encourage professional development and scholarly work
-Fortify and promote endowed chairs and other magnet scholar programs
-Enhance training programs for faculty and staff

Strategic Direction Six: Foster a culture of professionalism, collaboration, communication, and transparency
-Emphasize a commitment to professionalism, respect, and civil discourse appropriate to a public university
-Refine the PBA process to foster inter-disciplinary collaboration and improve measures of accountability and involvement
-Increase transparency in campus processes to improve understanding of decision making
-Improve external communications regarding UVSC’s (UVU’s) quality of student, faculty, staff, and systems
-Improve communication processes and systems on campus

Huntsman makes it official, college to become a university

In a longer than necessary ceremony Utah governor Jon Huntsman signed SB 70 that will give UVSC an extra $8 million in continuing funds that will transform the state college into a level II university come July of 2008.

The Pipeline won't bore you with all the pomp and circumstance, will let The Herald, Des News, and Salt Lake Trib take care of that, but we did want to share some observations that perhaps might shed some light on this very interesting time at UVSC.

All lot of folks have made a big deal about who attended Monday's celebration, but it was some notable absences that got our attention; namely faculty members. Make no mistake, this was a packed event with all the chairs full, and plenty of folks standing on the sides of the Grande Ballroom. But we didn't see a lot of faculty members. Perhaps it was because it was right in the middle of Monday classes, but it seemed strange that there were more faculty at last month's Ira Fulton celebration then at this one.

With Mormon leader Thomas Monson on hand there was plenty of references to the LDS church and its role at UVSC...one of the strangest came from UVSC president Bill Sederburg. While announcing some dignitaries he said "We have Linda Walton here and she is....what is she again? (looking to his right-hand man Cameron Martin for help with Walton's title) Oh yes, she is the campus chaplain. We also have Reverend Jackson here too...so we have balance with the LDS influence here." It was a tiny awkward moment that seemed to speak volumes about how Sederburg is always walking the fine line of the LDS community issue.

Of course no one is more awkward then "UVSC's Biggest Fan" and lone voice on the Board of Regents Marlon "No High School Diploma" Snow who at one point reduced the program to a Friar's Club Roast with a series of lame jokes, back slaps, and a demeanor that said that this whole transition was "Good Ol' Boy" approved.

Which makes one wonder how much UVSC had to give away to get so much so fast from the state legislature. One of the first speakers on the program was Rep. Dave Clark from St. George, you was one of the most vocal proponents of the bill in the House. Why on earth would a Washington County guy speak up for UVSC, when Utah County has such a tight hold on legislative leadership? Perhaps Clark sees the day when he will need to call in a favor on behalf of Dixie. Or maybe he is just a nice guy.

The Pipeline spoke to a reporter who worked on the hill during the recent legislative session, and he got the impression that UVSC had made assurances to key conservative leaders that it would not follow the liberal path of the University of Utah. It is still much too early to tell if UVSC's promotion to university status will be paid for with increased scrutiny from Utah County's powerful conservative caucus. But higher ed usually finds a way to get people like Sen. Margaret Dayton in a huff. It is only a matter of time.

UVSC adds three new bachelor degrees

Utah's Board of Regents recently approved three new degrees for UVSC's fall 2007 semester. Here is the press release that College Marketing put out:


UVSC adds Three New Bachelor Degrees
Beginning fall semester 2007, Utah Valley State College will offer three new bachelor degrees, two in the Foreign Languages Department and one in the Computer and Networking Sciences Department. The new four-year degrees include a Bachelor of Arts in American Sign Language and Deaf Education, a Bachelor of Arts in Deaf Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering. With the addition of these new degrees, UVSC now offers 54 bachelor degrees.

The American Sign Language and deaf education degree is a secondary education teaching program that will prepare graduates to teach in middle schools and high schools as well as prepare them to serve the deaf community. The deaf studies degree aims at serving the students and community and will offer an emphasis in general deaf studies and an emphasis in interpreting.

“There is a huge new surge in the market for signers because of Sorenson Communications in Salt Lake City, a service that helps the deaf use the telephone. We are responding to the need,” said Karl Worthington, interim vice president for academic affairs. “Deaf studies is a unique major and this degree proposal has been well received by other institutions and the deaf community. Many students, hearing and non hearing, will be involved in learning how to sign as well as teach.”

In addition to these two new degrees, software engineering is making the transition from an emphasis to a stand alone degree. “This will greatly assist students in the job market,” said Worthington. “Employers are specifically looking for those who have received a higher education in software engineering.”

UVSC's maturation ruffles some feathers around the state

When Gov. Jon Huntsman signs SB 70 next week and makes Utah Valley University a reality there will be a big celebration in the school's Grande Ballroom. But in other parts of the state residents won't exactly be dancing in the streets.

A recent editorial in the Ogden Standard-Examiner had some thoughts on how UVSC's progression might harm Weber State University and Utah State University:

We're also nervous about what granting "university status" to Utah Valley State College -- soon to become Utah Valley State University -- might do to funding at Utah State and Weber State universities. That initial $8 million bump to get the UVSU ball rolling has to come from somewhere, as will further allocations in future years. We can't help but suspect the Top of Utah's universities are being harmed by legislative leadership's Utah County mafia. We expect a building and development frenzy at UVSC/UVSU now, possibly at the expense of Weber and Utah State.



A Cedar City blogger expressed much of the same frustrations, as she feels then when the higher education pie gets split up the pieces will be smaller now that UVSC is at the table.

Of course people around the state said the same thing when Southern Utah State College made the jump to university not so long ago. And small players like Weber and SUU will always feel overshadowed by the bigger, more visible schools.

The thing UVSC must remember as it transforms to UVU is to be a good neighbor, especially to smaller schools like Weber and SUU. While the University of Utah and Utah State University get the lion's share of the funding (and as the state's research universities, they deserve it) UVSC often competes for scraps with SUU, Weber State. But fostering an adversarial relationship with these schools is counterproductive.

While SUU and Weber may whine about UVSC's big move now, eventually they will get over it, and it behooves all three schools to work together to show the legislature that Type II schools get the job done. UVSC could also use the support of the Regents from the Ogden and Southern Utah areas, especially when it comes time to grant new degree programs.

And that is a big issue. There is no doubt that constituents loyal to SUU and Weber were let down that UVSC's move came with virtually no opposition from the house or the senate. When it comes time to approve new degrees (especially those pesky new master's programs) it is easy to envision Regents from both areas giving the new guy some trouble. And you can count on departments and deans at both schools scrutinizing UVSC's new degree proposals with a fine-tooth comb.

If Big Bill doesn't mend some fences soon you can count on hassles down the road. UVU would also be smart to avoid overlap in master's programs currently offered at SUU and Weber. That being said there should be some wiggle room when it comes to market driven degrees like nursing, education, and business.

UVSC graduates to university status

It isn't quite official just yet but Utah Valley State College has been given the greenlight to become a university. Utah governor John Huntsman will be on the campus Monday March 19 to sign the bill that will make UVSC a level II institution effective July 1, 2008.

Along with the name change comes a commitment of $8 million more in ongoing funding, money that will be used to hire more full-time faculty (about 60) and to develop the school's first graduate programs.

UVSC president Bill Sederburg said he hopes the hires will decrease the school's dependence on adjunct faculty, increase the number of professors with terminal degrees, and reduce the average teaching load of existing profs on campus.

College administrators have made it quite clear that the first master's degree programs will be in nursing, education, and business administration. Sederburg said recently that he does not want to be flooded with degree proposals. He seems more interested in shoring up existing programs and rounding out the catalog to include a more comprehensive list of undergraduate offerings.

That $8 million is a bit short of the $10 million that the school was hoping for, and Sederburg has already told the local press that he'll be back on the hill next year to lobby for the remaining $2 million. In the meantime he will put new Vice President of Academic Affairs Liz Hitch to work when she gets to town just one year before the school switches over.

Along with overseeing all the new faculty hires (which is usually handled at the dean and department level), Hitch will need to hire a new Dean of Technology and Trades, a school that will probably feel the growing pains more than any other. Tom McFarland's replacement will have to deal with the problems associated with integrating an entrenched, and often stubburn trades program into a new university setting. And with Sederburg wanting new grad degrees that meet market needs don't be surprised if Technology isn't first in line with a new master's program (after a few years of course).

Don't be surprised either if in a few years the all-powerful school of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences doesn't come begging at the postgrad door. HASS is the biggest school on campus, and they will soon be itching to prove themselves.

Of course it is easy to get lost in all of this university hoopla and forget that there are many other things happening at UVSC. Ira Fulton has raised $10 million in the last two months (kicking in $5 million of his own). The new library is inching out of the ground and steel work will begin this month.

And while ther are many good things it also worth noting that UVSC has its share of problems. The faculty is underfunded when compared to professors at other colleges. Athletics is running out of time on their provisional NCAA Division I status, and seems no closer to finding a conference. Utah's warm economy is keeping many students in the workforce. Infrastructure woes like registration and advising still cause a lot of student frustration.

Sederburg still has a lot of work to do before UVSC can become UVU.

How will changes at BYU shape valley?

Last week you might have caught the story in the Herald about BYU blocking You Tube. This action might have students up in arms, but it was another story that should have got their attention.

The Deseret News's Tad Walch, the valley's resident reporter on town and gown issues, wrote an article on BYU's student housing plans. While the South Campus Area Master Plan has been around for awhile, it looks like BYU will be enforcing these boundaries come April, and possibly constricting them further.

This has to make Provo city happy as they have made it known that they see student housing as the city's greatest burden. If the school is going to create a smaller box for the all-important BYU-approved housing, then Provo will be happy as clams.

But there are a few unknowns that should be considered by all sides. First BYU might find itself in a bind in 5 or ten years when this limited space has been carved up and additional capacity becomes an issue. Traffic is this part of Provo is already bad...imagine when every single BYU student has to live there.

Provo city should also keep in mind who will be taking the places of students at outlying apartment complexes. Without BYU students keeping prices inflated on the outskirts of SCAMP it is probable that a very different demographic will move in. Good, bad, or whatever...there will be a very different culture in these complexes in a very short amount of time.

But the reason why The Pipeline is even bringing this up is how it will effect UVSC students. As demand increases in the limited space around BYU you will see UVSC kids being forced out of "Approved" housing. This is not a minor issue...UVSC kids make up a strong contingent amongst BYU approved apartment complexes. With no where else to put BYU students UVSC students will continue migrating to Orem. And currently Orem has a moratorium on new "student" housing around UVSC. With Parkway Crossing no longer adding phases, and an expected surge in students as the school becomes a university, will there be adequate, affordable housing for UVSC students? How about in the next few years as local high schools graduate record numbers of students? The baby boom that educators have been warning us about for years will soon be knocking on UVSC's open-enrollment door.

Dean Tom McFarland leaves UVSC

School of Technology and Computing dean Tom McFarland has announced that he will be leaving UVSC at the end of February. Here is acting VPAA Karl Worthington's awkwardly worded e-mail, that was forwarded to all school employees school by president Bill Sederburg:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "President Sederburg"
To:
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:32:02 -0700
Subject: T&C Dean Announcement

This is the official "Thank You!" and "Best Wishes!" to Dean Tom McFarland who has resigned the position of Dean of the School or Technology and Computing. Dean McFarland's last day will be February 28, 2007. Tom is moving to New Mexico for family reasons and we wish him the very best as we also express appreciation for his unique and valuable service to UVSC. A reception will be held to honor Tom's service and to meet with him on Monday, February 26, 2007 in Center Stage.

Dr. Ernest Carey has accepted our request that he serve as the interim dean of the school. We are grateful to Ernie for his willingness to serve where he is needed for as long as he is needed-up to a point! Ernie's long service as a faculty member, including service as President of the Faculty Senate, as a department chair, and as an associate dean is a fine record and Dean McFarland has included Ernie in a lot of his activities the last while to prepare him to assume this role well. I urge all of us, and particularly the faculty and staff of the School of Technology and Computing, to give a little extra in support of Dr. Carey as he directs and moves forward the initiatives underway and planned for in the school.

A search and screening committee will be put together soon to begin the process of searching for a new dean. It certainly is conceivable that this dean selection may be one of the first new personnel decisions of the new VPAA.

J. Karl Worthington
Interim VPAA

The move seems quite sudden, as it is midway through semester. Worthington's e-mail says the move was prompted by "family reasons". The Pipeline has heard that McFarland has family that lives in the area, and also that the move was in conjunction of a potential job there. The Pipepline will keep you updated if more reasons are given by the involved parties.

In the meantime Dr. Ernest Carey will be standing in as interim dean until a search committee can come up with some candidates for new VPAA Liz Hitch to look over.

Sederburg names new VPAA

This morning Utah Valley State president Bill Sederburg announced his pick for the vacant VPAA position. Here is the e-mail he sent out to employees this morning:

I am pleased to announce my selection of Dr. Elizabeth J. Hitch as the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Hitch joins UVSC from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse where she currently is serving as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. For your reference, a copy of the press release with additional information about Dr. Hitch and UW-LaCrosse is attached.

As I reviewed the finalists, I decided that Dr. Hitch provides us with the experience needed to move the institution to the next level. She is the academic leader of one of the most respected regional universities in America. She oversees a school of 20 graduate programs, with impressive graduate programs in education, science and health, and business. She has experience as an academic administrator with having served for seven years as a Dean and five years as a Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Finally, I felt that I and our leadership team would enjoy working with her and gaining from her experience, enthusiasm and leadership.

Dr. Hitch will assume this assignment July 1, 2007; however, she will be on-campus several times between now and then. Plans for a reception late afternoon of Friday, March 9 are underway; more information on this will be forthcoming.

I greatly appreciate the fine work of the search committee lead by Dr. Numsiri Kunakemakorn and Dr. Ian Wilson. I encourage all members of the UVSC community to join with me in warmly welcoming Dr. Hitch to campus and offering her your enthusiastic support. I am confident she will provide outstanding support and leadership to Academic Affairs and Utah Valley State College.

Of course this announcement will no doubt launch a thousand e-mails, with a very vocal majority of faculty having been such staunch supporters of in-house candidate Bill Evenson. You can count on some backlash.

The Pipeline has heard that at a recent Dean's council meeting the deans expressed their unanimous support for Evenson. At the end Sederburg stood up and said something to the effect of "well it sounds like you all agree that all three candidates are qualified, so it doesn't matter who I choose."

It is The Pipeline's humble opinion that Sederburg had to hire a woman for this job. When he came in three years ago he received flack for "re-assigning" female VPs and since then hiring white males for top positions. This perception that Big Bill took care of the boys no doubt rubbed plenty of faculty the wrong way. The fact that so many faculty members backed Evenson indicates that he was supremely qualified, so much so that professors who might normally have preferred to see a woman in this post chose Evenson over Hitch. This probably also speaks to how unimpressed many professors felt during last week's meet-and-greets with Hitch.

Hitch had been recently censured by her own faculty senate at her current position at University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. To her credit Hitch was quite up front about the incident, which she said came about because of a botched hiring process that hadn't followed school procedure. She told professors to feel free to call the faculty senate president at UW-L and ask about the censure.

What has to be in the back of most professors' minds is how Hitch will handle the often sticky issue of academic freedom, particularly in an environment that has had its share of town-and-gown issues. It is clear from the e-mails that have been circulating around that the faculty at UVSC are wary of someone who appears to be more of an administrator and less of a scholar. Will she fight for academic freedom or will she bend to pressure from donors, community members, and legislators? We will have to see.

It will be interesting to see if a real fuss is made over the issue before Hitch steps up in July. Sederburg has made it clear that he wants the troops to rally behind his choice. Who will stick their neck out?

UVSC faculty voice their opinion on VP hire

E-mails are piling up in UVSC faculty inboxes lately, and they aren't forwarding the latest funny movie on YouTube. Instead faculty are buzzing over President Bill Sederburg's upcoming hiring
of a new VP of Academic Affairs. Here is the one e-mail that is getting the most attention:

Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:56:21 -0700
Subject: Re: VPAA Search, serious concerns about the process and criteria
Dear President Sederberg,

Yesterday I sent you my email comment about Bill Evenson as the most qualified candidate, in my opinion, for the position.

Your message this morning laying out the criteria you intend to employ as you make the final decision leaves me wondering about the criteria I had in mind as I read the vitae of the candidates and listened to their presentations.

You noted the following: "The first is the candidate's concurrence with the mutually-developed institutional mission and vision identified through the Strategic Planning Process, PBA process, master plans, and institutional work plans. The second is the candidate's compatibility and partnership with our institutional leadership team. Finally, given the scope and amount of work facing UVSC and Academic Affairs, the candidate's ability to provide the dynamic, energetic leadership required."

As a faculty member for whom this appointment is crucial (as I teach and do research and build academic programs through curriculum and hiring -- all directly affected by this Vice President), I have a few thoughts that I hope will expand your set of criteria:

1. What is the candidate's experience with academic freedom? Does the candidate have a record of dealing with difficult academic freedom issues? Can the candidate speak with depth and insight about academic freedom? In terms of two of the candidates rather tepid responses to questions about academic freedom, and in light of Bill Evenson's robust discussion of the issue and his experience with and active membership in the AAUP, he is the clear choice by this criterium.

2. Is the candidate a scholar engaged in research in his or her discipline? Was the Ph.D. a means to a scholarly or to an administrative end? Does he or she understand what it is faculty members do? What is the scholarly record? Is the candidate equally interested in working as a professor in a discipline and in working in administration? Did the candidate emphasize this kind of academic work in his or her
presentation? Bill Evenson is far above the other two candidates in this area.

3. Can the candidate relate well with fellow faculty members (I'm phrasing this differently from your "dynamic, energetic leadership" on purpose, to indicate that university faculty see this issue through a very different lens.) Another way of asking this is whether the candidate has the academic/scholarly experience to lead a faculty of increasing intellectual ability or whether the candidate will be at a
lower academic level than the faculty he or she is required to lead and thus always at a disadvantage. Does the candidate read widely inside and outside his or her discipline (and I'm not talking about books about leadership). Again, no question but that Bill Evenson is the better candidate.

4. Does your sense for the "candidate's compatibility and partnership with our institutional leadership team" take into account the Deans of HASS, Science and Health, General Academics, Business, etc. -- the Academic Deans? Does it take into account the Chairs of all the academic departments? If you were to ask these Deans and Department Chairs (and they are certainly critical parts of the "institutional leadership team") which of the three candidates was most compatible with them, you
would find overwhelming support for Bill Evenson.

5. Will the candidate bring skills into the administration that are different from the ones already present? Will he or she broaden the scope of the administration or simply add more of what we already have? It seems to me that our current strengths are in reaching out to our legislators and to the public. Will the new VPAA be able to complement that with outreach to other academic vice presidents at the U of U and
USU, to the strictly academic constituency that responds best to the speech and arguments and demeanor of a fellow scholar and teacher? Candidates Hitch and Hanks have good skill, but they seem to overlap largely with those already present on campus. Bill Evenson has many of those skills himself, and also the important academic skills that will represent us well in the company of other academic vice presidents.

Thank you for considering these thoughts. I'm sending them also to many of our colleagues across campus, hoping there will be the kind of continuing discussion that will bring us the best possible VPAA.

all the best,
Scott Abbott

Clearly Big Bill's e-mail from earlier in the day struck a chord with Abbott and other faculty members...and perhaps it was a line like this "When the decision is announced, I ask everyone to rally around whomever I select." that rubbed them the wrong way.

This is where it gets surreal. Monday morning on nearly every bulletin board on campus you could find a cartoon featuring Sederburg in a track suit with the message "Follow Your Leader". There are some different versions of this poster...all with VPs like Cory Duckworth, Val Peterson, and Val Hale....all with the same "Follow Your Leader" message.

If you get a little Orwellian shudder going up and down your spine, that is totally normal. Just take another swig of Victory Vodka and throw Brad Cook's legacy down the memory hole.

The life of UVSC faculty

Over the weekend there were two rather interesting articles that look at UVSC faculty. One was an opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune and said that university professors are under-worked and over-paid. It is a response to UVSC's own David Keller, who wrote an editorial in last week's Trib calling for funding to match the school's new mission.

Obviously the author hasn't been around UVSC much (he says that it is located in Provo not Orem...a small mistake to be sure, but telling). He talks about his own experience as a professor at a research university, noting that his work day was over by noon, allowing him to enjoy free swimming and cheap golf. A tour of UVSC's, shall we say, spartan facilities would have been helpful before writing such an article.

There is no doubt that some professors, and let's go ahead and say some UVSC professors, take advantage of the unstructured culture common among colleges and universities. You won't find professors punching time clocks, or doing much heavy lifting. But I would say that the vast majority of professors at any college work hard and earn their salaries and any extra accouterments that get thrown their way.

The other article worth mentioning comes from the College Times and deals with the subject of tenure. This isn't a groundbreaking article, but is nice to let students in on an important part of college life. And you can gaurntee that as the school progresses to university status, the issue of tenure will become more heated.

So far so good

As the short legislative session rolls along it appears UVSC's push for university status is gathering momentum. On Friday the senate voted 29-0 in favor of SB 70 which paves the way for UVSC to upgrade to a level II institution. The bill will get one last floor read before heading to the house, where it might facing some tougher challenges.

The Pipeline caught up with Bill Sederburg on Thursday morning and he gave every indication that he was confident of the senate vote, and optimistic about the house. His righthand man Jared Sumsion said that they are begining the process of identifying their proponents, marking these legislators with a UV pin if they have their vote.

Of course all of this activity is happening right in the middle of a crucial hire for the college, as Sederburg looks to fill Brad Cook's Academic VP position. This will most likely be the biggest personel decision of his tenure, and will greatly shape the future of the institution as it progresses into a new role within the state.

Friday morning Big Bill sent out this e-mail to employees.

Updated information on Search for Vice President for Academic Affairs



I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the search for Vice President for Academic Affairs . The search committee under the excellent leadership of Numsiri Kunakemakorn and Ian Wilson have provided three excellent candidates for final consideration. I have been very impressed with each person.



Yesterday, I met with the search committee, the vice presidents, the deans, and the Board of Trustees; reviewed the written comments from the open forums; and responded to many e-mails. Additionally, I have reviewed the candidates' qualifications with a variety of people and have done extensive reference checking. I am continuing to talk with others throughout the state and nation who know the candidates and can provide additional input.



You should know that three variables will drive my final decision. The first is the candidate's concurrence with the mutually-developed institutional mission and vision identified through the Strategic Planning Process, PBA process, master plans, and institutional work plans. The second is the candidate's compatibility and partnership with our institutional leadership team. Finally, given the scope and amount of work facing UVSC and Academic Affairs, the candidate's ability to provide the dynamic, energetic leadership required.



I will be out of town making a presentation and will not return until mid next week. Thus, I may not have my final decision ready for announcement until late next week. As this is an important decision, I appreciate your patience during this review and decision-making process.



When the decision is announced, I ask everyone to rally around whomever I select. The committee has presented us with three excellent candidates; it is a fun decision to make.