On March 13, the University of Oregon selected John Karl Scholz, economist, professor and provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as its 19th president. He will begin his appointment on July 1.
The UO Board of Trustees unanimously selected Scholz after a six-month international search, which consisted of a 22-member search committee composed of trustees, students, faculty, staff and academic and administrative leaders, as well as representatives from higher education and the external community.
“The overall process was honestly really interesting,” member of the search committee and ASUO President Luda Isakharov said. “We met with different groups across campus, and we used all that information to make a position description based on what the campus wanted.”
UO’s presidential selection process is different from neighboring Oregon’s public universities. According to Oregon State University Vice President Steve Clark, UO was historically part of the Oregon University System until 2014. This system gave the decision of hiring university presidents to the State Board of Higher Education.
With the disbanding of this system, each university holds the responsibility of the processes for selecting their presidents.
“The OSU Board of Trustees announced to presidential candidates that the finalists would be named publicly,” Clark said. “They would come to our Corvallis campus and engage in both on-site and Zoom community meetings.”
According to Clark, this process was successful for OSU with the selection of their current president, Jayathi Murthy.
UO chose to have a more private presidential selection process where no finalists or candidates were named, only the selected president.
Isakharov and Clark said the reason UO’s presidential selection process was private was because other candidates were in very high positions at their current occupations, even presidents of other universities. They could potentially face backlash from their superiors if it was revealed that they were interviewing for a different position.
“It was their whole position and reputation at risk,” Isakharov said. “A lot of other university structures are a lot more political than UO, and you have to be on good terms with everybody. If the search had not been confidential, we wouldn’t have gotten some of our best candidates.”
The university’s official statement on this topic is as follows: “A confidential search resulted in a rich and diverse pool of candidates who could engage in the process without compromising their current positions. A national search firm helped reach out to top candidates across the country, some of whom joined a pool of candidates who applied on their own.”
Isakharov said Scholz had an outstanding initial interview with the search committee and Board of Trustees, with his most notable trait being he was extremely personable and excited to lead the university.
“He was warm and really bubbly,” Isakharov said. “He was almost jumping out of his seat when he was talking about certain things because he was so excited. The whole room left smiling from his good energy.”
Scholz has personal connections to UO, as his daughter is a current Ph.D. student at UO. Scholz has also previously engaged with UO for previous job offers and positions.
The Daily Emerald reached out for an interview with Scholz, but UO spokesperson Kay Jarvis said he would not be available for an interview until July. However, the Daily Emerald emailed questions for Scholz to Jarvis, who sent back answers she said were from him.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am to be here,” Scholz wrote in response to the Daily Emerald’s questions. “I came here early in my career for a job interview and just fell in love with the place. Oregon is ground zero for many things I love. The Willamette Valley, wine, recreational running, Oregon athletics, and the University of Oregon, of course.”
Scholz said the president position was appealing to him specifically because of his interest in the enterprise of higher education. Scholz said he is optimistic about his opportunity to work collectively to empower UO students, staff and faculty to make UO one of the premier public institutions of the country.
One of the criteria the search committee looked for when selecting candidates was to ensure the candidate displays a record of leadership and promotion of racial equity, inclusion and diversity among the university.
Isakharov said Scholz had acknowledged his privilege as a white man in his initial interview and how he is confident in his ability to promote racial equity, inclusion and diversity in his future.
Scholz said he is in great anticipation to listen, learn and help students, staff and faculty continue efforts for racial equality.
“I envision a university that reaches across society and provides broad access to people of different identities, backgrounds and beliefs,” Scholz wrote. “Talent exists everywhere, and it’s critical to have exposure to these differences to be a well-rounded human.”
Scholz began serving as provost of UW-Madison in August 2019. Under the provost position at UW-Madison, Scholz became the chief academic officer of the university and the second-ranking officer under the chancellor. According to UW-Madison, Scholz works closely with the deans, campus leadership and shared governance organizations in order to establish the programs, organizational structures and resources that support UW-Madison.
Prior to serving as the current provost, Scholz was UW-Madison’s Dean of the College of Letters & Science for six years. Preceding that position, Scholz served as the Nellie June Gray Professor of Economic Policy in the department of economics, which he joined in 1988. Scholz’s research consisted of household savings, earned income tax credit and low-wage labor markets, financial barriers to higher education and bankruptcy laws.
Scholz directed the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison from 2000-2004. According to UW-Madison’s IRP, its purpose is to research the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in the United States. Social scientists from across different research fields such as economics, sociology, social work and demography come together to provide an understanding on poverty issues.
Scholz was the senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors for the White House from 1990-1991 under George H.W. Bush. According to the White House website, the CEA provides the president with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues.
Following his CEA position, Scholz continued his career at the White House as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department from 1997-1998. According to the White House website, the deputy assistant secretary plays a primary role in the formulation and execution of Treasury policies and programs in all aspects of the Department’s activities.
Scholz said he is looking forward to serving the UO community, the state and the world.
“Oregon is known for creating life-changing experiences for our students, service to others, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge and enhancing understanding of what it means to be human,” Scholz wrote.
