Interim Provost

Some very valid points about FSU's academic direction and current leadership.

Interim Provost

pauldirac
4/2/2014

"Well, I see little reason to be excited with a Provost who comes from an arts performance and education background given the problems I see with low expectations and weak management of departments on campus.  FSU suffers from a cultural problem on campus where the administration has been doing little more than encourage a thousand flowers to bloom and where subpar performance in research and scholarship is not only tolerated but is even encouraged -- especially in what should be considered the university's key engines for research funding, engineering and medicine.  McRorie may be a terrific cheerleader for faculty, and she is certain to want to encourage flowers to bloom everywhere on campus (she has celebrated faculty receiving recognition awards everywhere), but we so far I don't see Barron or any of his acolytes do anything to really move the ball forward for us on the front of research and scholarship. 

The problem is this:  FSU has a let a thousand flowers bloom problem and Barron basically pandered to the UFF and helped to fertilize it, not prune it back.  Some important strategic decisions need to be made for our FSU in areas including hiring initiatives, faculty evaluation and tenure standards, and expectations for research and scholarship.  More than anyone on campus, a provost sets and implements these standards and recruits faculty and sets expectations for them across campus.  I've been claiming for years now that grant funding is one area where FSU has not requirement any faculty, effectively, and I see little indication that this is changing.  Our requirements and expectations as a university for grant funding remain low in comparison to our peers, and it shows with out tepid growth in grants over the past decade, when other universities we consider peers have seen a doubling or tripling in grant funding.  FSU is subpar in this area in comparison to our peers and it remains the most significant barrier to any AAU invitation.  Changing it has to begin with every new faculty member we hire and how the Provost sets their career expectations and implements them in tenure review.  Does a Provost who comes from an arts performance and education background carry the weight and stature to set high standards and to implement them?  Will McRorie set high goals for grant funding and published scholarship for faculty and the institution?  We need a strong Provost in terms of academic expectations,  not a weak one.  I guess we shall see with time if Stokes or McRorie can be that person but I hold hopes that a new President will set higher standards than Barron and his acolytes have to date. "