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NEWS
| february 13, 2004
Administration
Spaniolo starts appointing staff
He gave permanent titles to 2
interims and plans to begin a provost search.
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| President James Spaniolo
says he will fill administrative positions and build team
over time. |
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By Kate
Bolen
The Shorthorn Staff
In his first major move as president, James Spaniolo appointed two
key administrators and announced a national search for a provost.
The president said he hopes to install a permanent provost by Fall
2005. Dana Dunn was made provost and vice president for academic
affairs for 18 months while the search is conducted.
John Hall was named vice president for administration and campus
operations and Rusty Ward will be vice president for business affairs
and controller.
“One of the most important decisions for a new university
president is to assemble a strong leadership team,” Spaniolo
wrote in a statement announcing the appointments. “My approach
will be to try to identify the best people available for key administrative
leadership positions. Some of those people will come from within
the university and some will be recruited from outside.”
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| John Hall was appointed
vice president for administration and campus operations. |
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Dr. Dunn said she will continue work on
the issues that occupied her time as interim provost including hiring
more faculty, increasing faculty pay, securing funds and adjusting
to increasing enrollment.
“These are important issues that we need to address,”
Dunn said.
In making the announcement, Spaniolo specifically invited Dunn to
apply for the permanent role. She said afterward it was too early
to say if she would.
Dunn has been interim provost since Provost George Wright resigned
in July to accept the presidency of Prairie View A&M University.
Dunn was tapped to fill the position by then-interim President Charles
Sorber. At the time, she was vice president for academic affairs
and has been an associate sociology professor.
Sorber said at the time that he felt it was not his role to make
permanent appointments.
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| Dana Dunn was named
provost and vice president for academic affairs while
a national search is conducted. |
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It is not clear why Spaniolo dropped the
qualifier ‘interim’ from Dunn’s title and at the
same time announced the search for a provost.
Spaniolo declined to be interviewed, releasing comments through
a spokesperson who reiterated the written statement released earlier.
The spokesperson said the president would not comment further.
The appointments of Hall and Ward made clear that Spaniolo intends
to make permanent a temporary administrative structure established
by Sorber. After Dan Williams resigned as vice president for finance
and administration, Sorber divided William’s duties into two
new positions.
Hall and Ward split the duties that were previously handled by Williams,
who resigned in the summer shortly after Wright asked him to take
a job as chief financial advisor at Prairie View A&M.
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Rusty Ward was named
vice president for business affairs and
controller. |
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Ward said taking the position permanently
will not change his day-to-day duties.
“I am honored to be a part of the new team,” he said.
“I wanted to do it permanently in the right situation, and
I believe UTA is the right situation.”
Hall did not return phone calls.
Student Congress President Josh Warren said the president is usually
the focus of attention, but the people he names to his team are
possibly just as important.
He applauded Spaniolo’s plan to hire administrators over an
extended period.
“You don’t want to rush in and appoint a totally new
team,” he said. “He solidified the positions that work
closest with him, and that gives him a foundation to move forward
and find people to fill the rest.”
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