_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina
Vol. 24, No.11
April 2012 Special Edition
Extra! Extra!
Challenge to WCU: Stop the Interim Train
By Mary Jean Ronan Herzog
Professor and MAT Coordinator
There have been plenty of jokes on campus about the number of ‘interim’ positions this year: provost, associate provost,
two, three, four deans, and at least a few department heads. But it’s really not a joke, unless WCU looking foolish is
funny. It’s time to stop the interim train and do things differently.
Long story short, WCU has plenty of smart, capable, talented men and women faculty. Promote from within. Not as
interims, but as full-fledged position holders, on a one-year contract. Evaluate them at the end of the year, and if they
haven’t done the job well, c’est la vie, back to the faculty they go. ere’s the longer story: I recently talked to an associate
professor on a dean search committee in a major northeast university. After an hour’s conversation, the comment that
stuck with me was that this was their fourth dean search, having failed three times. Three failed dean searches! Imagine
the wasted time, effort and money. Searches are very expensive, time-consuming and labor- intensive. I hypothesize that
this is repeated throughout academe nationwide.
WCU has a long history of failed searches for administrators, particularly deans, vice-chancellors and provosts.
The standard procedure when the opening occurs is this: an interim is appointed, a search committee is appointed (or
preferably elected), and a national search begins. The interim agrees to stay in limbo for a year or maybe two, until the
search is concluded and the outsider arrives on a white horse to save the dolts from their provincial ways. If the
University is planning to hire a higher up, say, a provost, the expectation is to not hire anyone until he or she arrives so as
to hire his or her own.
Now let’s look at our history with deans. We presently have interim deans in Arts & Sciences, Kimmel and Business and
soon CEAP will join the interim club. In the CEAP, we hired a dean who has been with us for only three years and has
just announced that he found a new, wonderful and irresistible opportunity in the mid-west. That’s understandable.
People find new opportunities and they leave.
But this dean was hired after two failed searches. Think of the cost in time and money. Think of the woman and man
hours the staff, faculty and administrators put into those searches.
It’s time for WCU to stop the interim train, shelve the standard procedure and do things differently. As the cliché goes,
think out of the box. Promote from within – an ethical, competent, capable, experienced faculty member who has
widespread faculty support, provide the resources (some of which were saved by virtue of the efficient and economical
search process) needed for success, and get out of the way.
____________
M
Editorial Notes
By Vera Holland Guise
Faculty Fellow, Coulter Faculty Commons
Advancement, even on an interim basis, from faculty to administration can be
seen in some circles as a real plum. In the larger world of career development,
some folks see administrative promotions as the best things since sliced bread,
while others view them as dreaded if necessary detours on the way up. Titles
don’t take away the pinch at the pump, but especially for those in early to midstage careers, when we may not be as sure about our talents and
accomplishments as later in life, they can inflate one’s sense of self and boost a
sagging morale, as well as put an individual in a position where positive light is
shed on emerging skills. A certain degree of respect does accompany titles, and
faculty members who fill these vacancies, even on an interim basis, do deserve
our special thanks. What Mary Jean Herzog is saying in her special edition
column, though, is that she thinks it has been over-done and quite frankly she
‘er,..doesn’t give a fig for this system. Devil made me say it!