Several upper-level University administrative positions are being temporarily re-assigned this year due to the resignation of both the president and senior vice president and provost, the University’s two highest administrative positions.
University President Dave Frohnmayer announced his plans to retire after the 2008-09 school year in late April. Less than two months later, on June 12, the then-Vice President and Provost Linda Brady surprised the administration by announcing she would leave her post at the end of the month for a position as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Brady had been participating in the confidential search for the UNC chancellor position, which is the North Carolina University System’s equivalent to a university president, since February 2008.
The dual resignation led Frohnmayer to temporarily appoint James Bean, dean of the Lundquist College of Business, to serve as provost for the next two years. Brady explained before her departure that the two-year appointment will benefit Frohnmayer’s successor in the 2009-10 year because the new president will have a year to hire a new provost of his or her choice.
“There is an advantage to having a turnover in this role now,” Brady said. “It allows the new president to make changes or restructure the position. It’s not uncommon for both these roles to turnover at the same time.”
In late July, Bean announced that the University’s marketing director, Dennis Howard, would serve as dean of the business school for the two years that Bean is away from the position.
The business school later announced that marketing faculty member David Boush has been appointed to serve as director of marketing for the same two-year stint. Because Boush is a faculty member, the University did not need to find a replacement for him.
Both Bean and Howard have said they were spending the summer getting acclimated to their new positions. Boush could not be reached for comment.
Bean said Frohnmayer did not appoint the new positions on an interim basis because he wanted the appointees to have the ability and latitude to make important decisions. Another administrative hope is that those appointees, who will have filled their positions for a year when the new president begins, will provide stability in the office during the presidential transition and provost selection.
After the two-year appointments have expired, it is unclear what will happen with any or all of these positions.
“It’s up to the new president,” Bean said, adding that it is possible the new president could choose Bean to continue on as provost, in which case the future of the other temporary appointments below him is still unclear.
It is also possible for the new appointees to return to their former positions at the conclusion of the two-year appointments, which is an outcome Howard hopes for.
Though excited for the chance to lead the business school, Howard said he is approaching the appointment as a temporary one that he will most likely leave when it concludes.
Howard said he has spent the summer studying the business school’s departments, programs and other undertakings besides the marketing department, with which he is very familiar.
“Dennis boasts a tremendous record as a scholar, researcher and leader,” Bean said of Howard in a press release. “I am confident he will continue to serve the University with excellence as dean of the LCB.”
Bean, who took over as provost July 1, said he has a lot of work to do, both continuing Brady’s old projects and tackling new University issues.
One of those new issues is the lack of state funding for the University coupled with a very large incoming freshman class. Bean said he is working to find the funds to accommodate the freshmen.
The Oregon University System hopes to select a new University president by April so the new president can spend the remainder of the spring 2009 term working with Frohnmayer to
become acquainted with the University, said OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner. The new president will assume full responsibilities in summer 2009.
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