What is it about this job that interests you?

My interest in the position stems from the multiple missions facing major universities. These diverse tasks are an array of challenges: providing quality undergraduate and graduate education, supporting research that meets the needs of the state and nation while enlivening the scholarly life of the faculty and the students, incorporating international components in teaching and research, identifying exceptional students as well as "at risk" students and developing programs that enhance these students' personal and public achievements, funding educational and research initiatives, funding to maintain educational facilities at a level requisite for research and teaching, retaining and recruiting diverse student and faculty colleagues, anticipating and planning for the changing demographics of faculty and students, meeting the challenges of new technological advances, and developing a community of scholars in a positive environment.

The above listing is a bare outline and is not intended to be complete or adequate. Responses to these challenges depend on the talents and resources of specific educational institutions, and, obviously, all challenges cannot be met equally well. Choices will be made and priorities established in each university, and our task is to develop an academic environment where the choices are rational, considerate of those involved, and advance education and scholarship. The major choices and priorities of each institution should come through a cooperative decision-making process involving governing boards, administrators, faculty, students, and community. The large issue is to avoid partisan heat over false issues, to attempt what is possible, and to develop the commitment and character requisite for productive lives.

What opportunities do you currently see at Ohio University?

There are numerous opportunities, both specific and general. In terms of specific opportunities, I will learn more about these as I visit the campus and talk with students, faculty, staff, and administration. In brief, as one song writer notes: "You have to know what you got before you can get what you want." My first approach will be to learn more about Ohio University.

With budget rescissions and a general economic downturn, there are challenges for every university as well as opportunities. The task will be to continue to enhance academic programs, to recruit and retain the best of faculty, students, and staff, while at the same time recognizing that the stream of support may be shifting and our strategies for growth and quality may need to change as well. The opportunities are to open the doors for additional funding streams (for research, endowments, scholarships, buildings, and more) while maintaining our current base.

Universities have a rich capacity for good, and Ohio University is exceptional in its actual and potential contributions to scholarship and society. September 11 has caused all of us to reconsider priorities, and there is much talk about returning to normal, to valuing community, family and friendship. Education plays a major role in our ability to accomplish this and to understand its potential social impact. In addition, we have the opportunity to raise the bar on our expectations: to increase our educational aims for undergraduate and graduate education, for scholarship, and for living life fully. Ohio University is remarkable in engaging students in education, and the importance of this is even greater now. Engagements in intellectual pursuits, in civic and global issues, in the applied and theoretical analyses of social and natural structures are all essential to the new environment we now live in.

What about the institution prompted you to become a candidate for this position?

Ohio University has many attractions including the quality of its undergraduate and graduate programs, its residential campus, the excellent faculty and staff, its regional campuses, and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of community that is rarely found on major university campuses. Although I have yet to spend time on the campus, the reputation of Ohio University as a community dedicated to education and committed to the success of its students and faculty is widely known and highly regarded.