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NEWS
| October 22, 2003
Presidential Search
Smith: UTA needs more faculty for
growth
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| The Shorthorn: Brandon Wade |
| Presidential search finalist Bob Smith
discusses issues he feels are important for UTA during
interviews Tuesday morning. |
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By Danny
Woodward
The Shorthorn staff
Bob Smith dripped Texas. It was in his speech. Pinned to his lapel.
Tied around his neck.
He isn’t Texan, mind you, though he looked the part Tuesday.
Dr. Smith is the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs
at the University of Arkansas, just one state — and to most
Texans, a world — away. He’s also one of five finalists
for the presidency here and was the first of them to visit campus
officially.
The Shorthorn asked him 20 questions.
Question: What are your impressions of UTA and Arlington
so far?
Answer: I really like what I’ve seen. Clearly the community
and the university seem to be wedded, and the city leaders I’ve
talked to, like [Chamber of Commerce President] Wes Jurey, are very
committed to moving the institution into a higher level.
Q: What about UTA is so appealing to you?
A: I have asked to put my name up for a position three or four times
a month, but I’ve really only let my name advance to a serious
level in two searches. One was Florida State, and the other was
here. I’m excited about the opportunity and the challenge
of moving the institution to a level of greatness. I had a very
positive experience at UT-Austin when I was on the faculty there
(1974-85). Plus, my wife is a Texan, so there are some personal
interests as well.
Q: In your opinion, what is UTA’s greatest asset?
A: The student-centeredness is very important here, and I’ll
be talking more about that. And there’s clearly some scholarly
strengths here. The distance education program is excellent.
Q: On the other hand, what is the university’s biggest
problem?
A: The most significant problem is the size of the faculty for the
size of the university. When I look at UTA, the number is something
around 529 [faculty members], which is a small number for an institution
this size. We have 668 tenured and tenure-track faculty members
at Arkansas, and we’re about two-thirds the size of UTA. For
research to increase, the faculty size has to increase.
Q: You’ve talked of increasing the faculty size by
at least half. How is it feasible, given the current economy in
Texas, to do that?
A: You have to do it in stages. You have to have a plan, and you
have to stick with it. You can do that by finding things that are
less important for your future and reallocating. There’s also
an opportunity through research grants. There’s a tendency
to avoid sinking salary money into research, but there’s a
bonus for faculty who do that at Arkansas. That bonus comes from
freed-up state money. If three faculty members would put a third
of their salary into their research, that would free up money for
one more faculty spot.
Q: You’ve said you want to increase the graduation
rate by improving retention. What’s your plan for that, especially
given the university’s “commuter” tag and large
population of nontraditional students?
A: You have to appeal to all categories of students. Arkansas has
a surprising number of commuter students, and we recently created
an office for commuter students and a lounge for them. They felt
like they didn’t really have a home on campus, even though
there were spending a lot of hours there. With the nontraditional
population, you’ve got to look at more nontraditional offerings
such as more Saturday and evening classes. For the residential students,
you’ve got to think of all the factors, like encouraging them
to become bonded to the university. You can do that with things
like faculty mentoring; taking courses that involve you more, like
foreign language courses; and various activities such as clubs and
associations are important.
Q: You’re a big proponent of student life, and you come from
a big athletics school. In your opinion, how important is athletics
in student life?
A: It has a role, but it doesn’t impact all students. Athletics
are king at Arkansas, but even there football and basketball games
don’t play a major role in most students’ lives. To
the students I talk to, it’s not that important to most of
them. What engages students is a relationship with their faculty
and involvement in career building through research and their scholarly
projects.
Q: The University of Arkansas recently landed the largest
single gift ever made to a university, the more than $300 million
donated by the Sam Walton family. What was your role in securing
that?
A: The basis for the Walton grant was the final report of the 2010
Commission, which the chancellor and I co-authored. As I believe
is appropriate, the chancellor made the presentations in this case,
and there were many. Large grants come about not because of a warm,
fuzzy feeling toward the university but because of a compelling
case that an institution makes to the value of higher education.
Q: Do you have experience working with state legislators?
A: I’ve made lots of presentations to state legislators, mostly
at Washington State and Arkansas. Two weeks ago, I spoke to the
[Arkansas] state legislature about diversity in the workplace. I
spoke in Washington about an advanced technology initiative that
benefited both the University of Washington and Washington State.
[Dr. Smith held multiple administrative positions at Washington
State University from 1997 to 2000].
Q: Do you maintain ties in the system from your days at
UT-Austin?
A: Oh sure. Steve Leslie [UT-Austin’s College of Pharmacy
dean] started there at the same time. In fact, Steve and I used
to carpool together. Sheldon Ekland-Olson, who’s the provost
there, is one of my references. I worked with him there, and I’ve
maintained a friendship with him.
Q: How would you foster ties between UTA and other system
institutions, particularly UT-Dallas and UT-Southwestern Medical
Center in Dallas?
A: Productive partnerships have a lot to do with finding links that
make sense. I think the system would like to see more collaboration
with the UT-Southwestern Medical Center and UT-Dallas and UT-Arlington.
For both, you’ve got to find what they can bring to the table.
It’s important that it’s not a forced collaboration
and that a synergy comes from it.
Q: How would you foster ties between UTA and the city of Arlington?
A: It’s very important for me to have regular meetings with
key community leaders to initiate talks about what’s their
view to what the president should pay attention to. I’ve found
that’s true for Fort Worth, too, which I didn’t know
until I came here.
Q: Do you have any specific plans for boosting research?
A: The key to that is getting out and talking with deans and faculty
and finding out what they need, then energizing collaborations that
break away from disciplines. You look for relationships with outstanding
people. Also, you look for opportunities such as matching grant
funds and federal initiatives for special money.
Q: As a pharmaceutical scientist, how well can you relate
to students and faculty from other disciplines?
A: When I make speeches, I often cite examples of scholarship in
various areas. Afterwards, people have said to me, “So what’s
your area of focus? History? Economics?” I have very eclectic
and broad interest. I feel that I can discuss scholarship in a variety
of areas.
Q: Would you bring in your own vice presidents and administrators?
A: No one can be appointed on that level without a national search,
and Affirmative Action partially dictates that. It gives the opportunity
to more candidates.
Q: Would you increase the academic standards here through vehicles
such as stricter admission standards or other policies?
A: There are objectives for measuring the quality of a student body,
such as the number for the top 10 percent of their high school class.
At UTA, that number is fairly low. I have found that improving the
quality of your students has a tremendously positive effect on the
whole university.
Q: It’s fairly obvious that tuition needs to increase
because of the drop in state funding. In your opinion, how much
does it need to increase?
A: You have to put it in a national perspective. States are facing
deficits all over the country — I think there were cuts in
48 of the 50 states. Arkansas had cutbacks similar to Texas. If
you want to improve quality, you have to make up for those lost
funds. You have to find that money.
Q: Where will UTA be in 10 years if you’re its president?
A: UTA can be among the top-flight ranked research institutions
in the nation, and there are about 100 to 150 of them. Clearly,
moving up in the rankings of research productivity is very important,
and so is achieving a national recognition that I don’t believe
UTA currently has. People don’t know about UTA like they ought
to. It’s of major significance to see your name in a New York
Times editorial or special story because you’re doing something
special and making it known. That’s probably already going
on here, but nobody knows about it.
Q: Why should you be UTA’s next president?
A: There are five very fine candidates. If you look at me singularly,
I have a vast array of experience. I believe that I can get the
job done, not to say that the others couldn’t.
Q: This would be your first presidency. Would it be your
last job?
A: If I came to UTA, I would hope to be here until 2010. Of course,
you serve at the pleasure of your supervisor, as you know. I’m
61 now. I’d hope to be here until 2010.
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