Wednesday, August 25, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Law school begins search for dean after false start
By Nathan Willis
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
As the search for a new dean of the law school begins, newly appointed search committee members hope history doesn't repeat itself.
Following a failed search last spring, Provost David Shulenburger appointed a new nine-member search committee, which met for the first time Monday evening.
Mike Davis, professor of law, who was elected committee chair at the meeting, said the new committee would try to avoid repeating the results of the first.
"We'll do what we can to increase
the size of the applicant pool." Davis said.
However, he said that the committee had not yet come up with any firm plans about how to do that.
Shulenburger said that although there were two qualified applicants last year, one took a job elsewhere and the University could not reach an agreement with the other.
"A dean is an absolutely essential person in the school, and you don't really want the second-best choice in that slot," he said.
So he scrapped the search and decided to launch another this fall, even though the second search will be time-consuming and expensive, he said. In the meantime, Michael Hoeflich, current dean of law,
agreed to stay on another year while the second search progressed.
One obstacle that Shulenburger said might have had an impact on the previous search was the problem of low faculty salaries.
"Every dean candidate who's any good is going to want to know about what the faculty are paid." Shulenburger said. "They look at our faculty and wonder, 'Are we going to be able to keep those people?' A dean's job would be easier if we paid more."
Deans also hire faculty for their schools, and low salaries can hurt their recruiting efforts, he said.
As for the dean's position itself, Davis said the salary range was competitive.
"I think the University administration is willing to make a competitive offer," Davis said. "That will probably not be a barrier to our efforts."
It's impossible to say how much money the new dean will make because it is based partly on experience and qualifications, Bachman said.
Hoefflich's salary is $170,500. By comparison, the average law dean salary at the public universities of the Big 12 Conference was $173,000 last year, Shulenburger said. In the Big 10 Conference, it was $181,000.
Davis said that the failed search did not dampen committee members' hopes of finding a dean this time.
The committee plans to have a
small list of candidates to give to Shulenburger by the end of the semester, Davis said. However, the committee has not set any official deadlines yet.
For the next week or two, the committee plans to work on creating an ad for the position and deciding which publications to advertise in, as well as taking care of some initial paperwork, Davis said.
"The first focus is to put together as broad and diverse and high-quality an applicant pool as possible." he said.
From there, the committee plans to reduce the pool to six or seven applicants and invite those remaining for on-campus interviews, said Jill Bachman, Rulo, Neb., second.
year law student and committee member. Finally, the list will be narrowed to two or three candidates, from whom Shulenburger will choose the new dean, she said. But that is only if all goes as planned. The fruitless search last year proved there are no certainties.
"It think it bothers a lot of students." she said.
Meanwhile, Bachman said the extended process had hurt student morale within the law school.
"When someone resigns from a position but then decides to stay on, you wonder if their heart is really in it," she said, referring to Hoeflich.
Financial problems leave future of teaching award uncertain
—Edited by Brad Hallier
By Nathan Willis
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
The 20 professors who won William T. Kemper Teaching Excellence Awards, which were passed out from Thursday morning to Monday evening, often mention being grateful because of what the award represents teaching excellence.
teaching excellence. But buried beneath the accolades for teaching, there are down sides to the awards.
One is financial.
During each of the past four years,
$100,000 has been handed out — $5,000
to each of the 20 professors each year,
said Carol Prentice, assistant to the provost. The money awarded during
the five-year lifespan of the Kemper
awards will total $500,000.
That, of course, means the award money will run out after next year.
Plans for what will happen after that are still uncertain.
Jim Martin, president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, which sponsors half of the money for the awards, said that his organization was hopeful about continuing the award in some form.
"Without question, we hope the program can be continued on in future
Departments with the most Kemper award winners during the past four years.
Communication Studies 6
History 5
Political Science 4
Psychology 4
Sociology 4
years, and we will be making specific plans to pursue funding in the coming year," Martin said.
Prentice said that she didn't know if Chancellor Robert Hemenway was forming plans to continue the awards. Hemenway was out of town yesterday and unavailable for comment.
Another financial issue is how well the top professors are paid. Although on average, KU professors earn only 88 percent of what professors do at the University's peer institutions, the 20 faculty members honored this year earned $69,41 on average before they received the award — about the same as the average salary at a peer institution. There were, however, big differences in how much individual professors among the 20 earned — ranging from $43,542 to $118,125.
Some professors said incentives for quality teaching should be more abundant and more long-term.
"I think that in terms of teaching, awards could be more general and a bit longer-lasting," said Norm Slade, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a Kemper recipient this year.
Slade said that although he would remain at the University, some professors honored as excellent teachers might be lured away by the promise of more money elsewhere.
Prentice said that of the 48 Kemper recipients honored at the Lawrence campus in the first three years of the program, only three had left the University.
One trend in the Kemper awards has been clusters of awards in certain departments. Communication studies leads the pack across the four-year span of awards, with six professors having received an award.
Prentice said that a committee selected the award winners from about 55 applicants. For the past three years, the committee has been composed of previous years' award winners. She said that although no attempt was made to screen committee members from voting for faculty members from their departments, she didn't believe politics had come into play.
"I've never sensed that there's been bias toward a particular discipline or
department," Prentice said.
She said committee members always ranked the candidates individually before meeting.
Regardless of how they were selected professors said that they were grateful for the money. How they plan to spend that money, however, varies
"I have a 12-year-old who's sort of mentally spending it faster than it's coming in," said Arlene Barry, associate professor of teaching and leadership.
But because Barry, not her 12-year-old, will control the money, a family trip is probably in order, she said. The likely destination is France.
Trips were popular spending options for the extra cash. But not all planned trips were purely for pleasure.
Jan Kozma, professor in Italian literature, said that she was going on sabbatical in the spring semester. While on sabbatical, she'll be on a research trip in Italy brushing up on her linguistics, and the money will come in handy to help defray the costs of living in ultra-expensive Rome, she said.
"It came at a good time," Kozma said.
"With the millennium coming, all the prices in Rome have risen about 30 percent."
Edited by Brad Hallier
1999 Kemper award winners from the Lawrence campus
Teaching and Advising at the Freshman/Sophmore Level
Professor Dept. or school Salary
Victor Bailey History $54,637
Ron Francisco Political Science $65,585
David Holmes Psychology $74,339
Thomas Lewin History $57,227
Teaching and Advising in the Academic Major
Professor Dept. or school Salary
Sandra Albrecht Sociology/Women's Studies $60,188
Arlene Barry Teaching and Leadership $45,954
Allan Burt Biology $118,125
Jan Kozma French and Italian $63,658
Teaching and Advising at the Graduate Level
Professor Dept. or school Salary
Stephen McAllister Law $88,532
Warren Mews Studies $60,022
Phil Schrodt Political Science $66,008
Normale Stade Ecology & Evolution Bio. $75,608
Teaching, Advising and Service in Public Outreach
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James Shortridge
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