By Stephen George And Stephanie Smith
Garrison leaving?
The equilibrium of the University of Louisville’s administration could again be altered since Carol Garrison, former provost who became acting president after the recent departure of John Shumaker, headed south yesterday to meet with students, faculty and staff about the presidency at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Garrison, who became acting president on June 15, initially declined UAB’s offer for its top position, focusing instead on the U of L presidency. But UAB officials were “persistent and persuasive,” Garrison wrote in a statement to the university community, ” literally not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
Garrison is currently the solo finalist for the presidency at UAB, from which she has a master’s degree in nursing. Two other finalists for the position have since dropped out.
Upon her arrival to Alabama on Sunday, Garrison, according to Kellee Reinhart, spokeswoman for Chancellor Portera and the Board of Trustees, became reacquainted with the city in which she began her faculty career in the late 1970’s.
Yesterday at 3:30, she was featured in a public forum at the UAB Public Arts Center where she made remarks, answered questions, and later spoke one on one with people at a public reception held in her honor.
Following the reception, Garrison spoke at a series of back-to-back meetings with a variety of Birmingham groups ranging from academic deans, promotion directors, students, and members of the UAB community and the medical school faculty.
UAB is one-third of the University of Alabama system, which is comprised of two other campuses, each with their own president who reports to the system chancellor. One board of trustees governs the three campuses.
There are currently 15,676 students at UAB and the campus is based on a $1.35 billion dollar budget compared to U of L’s 17,463 students and $551 million dollar budget. Chancellor Malcolm Portera, upon hearing feedback from many of the people who met with Garrison, formulated his decision and met with the board of trustees, who is charged with the election of a campus president.
“If the board of trustees meets tomorrow {Tuesday}, it will be at 9:30 a.m. Central time. The board would take that vote in public tomorrow morning if the tentative schedule continues as it is going right now,” said Reinhart.
“Planning for the search began in early November, immediately following Porter’s election as Chancellor of the three-campus UA system,” said committee chairman John Russell Thomas.
Garrison, who regards the University of Louisville as “an exceptional institution with great strengths and outstanding faculty, staff and supporters”, has been viewed as a strong contender to replace Shumaker, according to Junior Bridgeman, a U of L trustee who is co-chairman of the school’s presidential search committee.
In a letter addressed to the public, Garrison said, “Making the decision to explore this opportunity has been extremely difficult for me due to my attachments to U of L and the Louisville community,” — a community that she has worked with since 1997.
With the possibility of Garrison’s departure, the question of who will assume the presidential responsibilities for the University of Louisville remains.
Although Garrison was provost when she was nominated to be acting president, it was not merely her office that earned her the position.
According to Janet Batik, Associate to the Provost, Garrison was asked by the Board to accept the role of leadership based on her own merit.
The new Provost, Shirley Willihnganz, will not be automatically placed into the position of acting president. The new leader will be chosen by the board of trustees.
Although the Presidential Search Committee had not met this July, they do plan to meet on August 19-20 to develop screening criteria for discussion with the advisory committees and to accelerate the pace of the search process so that a candidate can be considered in early fall. According to a recent press release, the Los Angeles-based search firm Korn-Ferry, which was chosen by the board last spring to assist the search, “will send out over the next three weeks letters to more than 500 people announcing the vacancy and asking them to nominate candidates or consider submitting an application.”
The press release also stated that Bill Funk, Korn-Ferry’s consultant, will attend the national meeting of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, as the guest of Association President Dino Curris, and “use this opportunity to expand the pool of potential candidates for the U of L presidency.”
