Provost finalist Jorge José believes his extensive experience with administering several AAU schools provides the University of Oregon the guided support it’s looking for, during his campus presentation to the university community, on Feb. 3 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Apart from taking a slower approach on making impactful decisions, José emphasized the importance of making administrative priorities and the extent of Oregon’s financial resources well-known to faculty and staff.

“We have to identify the most pressing and important changes that have to be made that are going to have a significant, transformative impact in future of the university,” José said after the presentation. “We have to plan for actions for how the university is going to look like by 2020.”

José who accepted his current position as the Indiana University systems vice president for research in August 2010, sees many similarities between IU and UO apart from both being a member of the elite American Association of Universities. The two schools, according to José’s application, emphasize in undergraduate education and research in the basic sciences and the arts and humanities. Like Oregon, IU also has a high rate of out-of-state students and has their own Board of Trustees.

“What attracts me is that it has a bright future and a number of important changes have taken place in the university … will certainly energize the university … ” José said.

Prior to his role at IU Bloomington, the candidate has held other administrative roles at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Northeastern University. The National University of Mexico graduate has also been recognized for his research in physics, classical mechanics and most recently, biology.

Among the topics discussed at the presentation was the national state of higher education, the increased movement towards online education, shared governance, the value of a liberal arts education, the UO’s benchmarks and metrics and its rankings within the AAU system.

“I thought his answers to the questions were very good, very thoughtful,” said Deborah Carver, the dean of libraries. “I think what stood out for me is how much he respects the input of the faculty in terms of determining the direction of the campus.”

José is currently vying for the position against UO interim provost Scott Coltrane.

According the Provost Search Committee chair Alec Murphy, feedback has been flowing in for the candidates and expects to see an increase now that the university is at the end of the interview. The Committee is set to meet with him this week but the ultimate decision is up to UO President Michael Gottfredson, though no timeline for a decision has been set.

“I think there has been some interesting candidates in the mix,” Murphy said. “I am optimistic that we will come out of this with a strong provost.”

The Princeton Review’s annual report of the 150 Best Value Colleges is usually followed by some sort of celebration by the schools it features. Unfortunately for Oregon’s public universities, last week’s report didn’t include any of them.

The low spending on students is partly attributed to the steady decrease of state funding to UO, which limits financial resources and bolsters the need to increase tuition or find alternative sources of funding.

U.S. News and World Report found that roughly 60 percent of UO students applied for need-based aid in 2012. An average of 46.8 percent of those students received some kind of financial need-based aid. The same report also discovered that 48 percent of 2012 graduates used loans and owed an average of $24,528 in debt at the time of their commencement ceremony.

Though the UO’s true standing in terms of efficiency and affordability for students appears ambiguous due to varied results on different rankings, Brown says that affordability at the UO is moving in a positive direction. As an example, she points out that the UO awarded $3.9 million in aid to Oregonians in this year’s freshman class — a 60 percent increase from last year.

Jorge José has been announced as the final candidate for the University of Oregon’s senior vice president and provost position.

José is currently vice president for research, a professor of physics and a professor of integrative and cellular physiology at Indiana University, according to an email from UO President Michael Gottfredson.

He will be presenting on campus Monday, Feb. 4 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s Ford Lecture Hall.

José joins interim provost Scott Coltrane as the two finalist for the position after Jane Conoley withdrew her name from consideration after accepting the position as president of California State University Long Beach. Earlier this month, another finalist also renounced their candidacy prior to their campus visit.

University of Oregon president Michael Gottfredson announced that provost finalist Jane Conoley has accepted a position as president of California State University Long Beach in an email this afternoon, Jan. 29.

The University of California, Santa Barbara professor interviewed on the UO campus earlier this month.

“We wish her well in her academic leadership position,” Gottfredson said in the email.

Current interim provost Scott Coltrane is now one of two final candidates for the position.  The other finalist has yet to be announced but will be interviewing on campus Feb. 3 and 4.

Rounding out the two-day on campus meeting, the UO Board of Trustees elected former business leader Chuck Lillis as chair and philanthropist Ginevra Ralph as vice chair.

“I am honored by the confidence my peers have in me to assume the position as the board chair,” Lillis said. “This is a critical time for the University of Oregon and we take our roles very seriously as we gather information and deepen our knowledge of the university.”

Lillis and his wife are major donors who gave $12 million towards the construction of the Lillis Business Complex, according to The Register-Guard.  He received his doctorate from the UO in 1972 from the Lundquist College of Business.  He has also served on the foundation boards at the University of Washington and University of Colorado at Boulder.

Ralph is a former UO alumna and a former faculty member.  She received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1983 and a master’s in special education in 1985.  Ralph is also the co-founder and director of education for Eugene’s John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts and is also a co-founder for the Eugene Opera and the Oregon Festival of American Music.

Ralph was a trustee member for the UO Foundation from 2006 until June 2013, and has also served the past board president of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

The Board also adopted by-laws and established three committees—the Executive and Audit Committee, Academic and Student Affairs Committee and Finance and Facilities Committee.

The new institutional body will officially assume authority July 1, 2014.

The University of Oregon is retooling its plan for the future.

Since its inception under former provost Jim Bean, the UO’s academic plan has served as a road map toward establishing and achieving the university’s goals. The draft composed in 2009 included achieving and sustaining excellence within the American Association of Universities, promoting an intellectual community primarily by increasing research efforts and to enroll a diverse community.

Five years after the initial plan was conceptualized, there was a report released in November benchmarking the UO against its peers, which reveals there is a large amount of work that has to be done in all of those categories.

In comparison to the other 33 public research institutions included in the report, UO is below average in 22 of the metrics measured from the 2010-2011 year. Those ranks include 27th for research and development expenditures for tenure-related faculty, last for percent of tenure-related faculty of color and 21st for an average number of students of color.

According to Brad Shelton, vice provost for Budget and Planning, part of this is because of the limited financial resources available to UO. The university gets less than half of the average financial resources per students than other AAU school across all categories, including state funding, tuition, housing, parking and athletics revenue, Sheldon says.

“Something it tells us is that we need to refinance ourselves. I spend a lot of time on that issue because the state has progressively withdrawn sources and unfortunately that has put a lot of pressure on our fees,” UO President Michael Gottfredson said. “We need to find ways to finance our aspirations differently.”

Apart from raising tuition (except for Oregon residents) next year, Oregon will emphasize capital fundraising through the new independent governing board.

The capital campaign is still in the planning stage as UO administration decides on what priorities the funds should focus on. However, Shelton says that construction and campus infrastructure is a main focus.

“If we can build out our infrastructure through capital fundraising, then that would allow us to serve more students, and if we serve more students then we could improve the finances of the university,” Shelton said. “But that’s something we have to do very carefully and we are doing some analysis right now.”

Three basic areas administration is planning to concentrate on are increasing access and success for students, improving quality in education and looking into the financial health of the institution. The bigger the university gets, the bigger the struggle to accomplish these goals, Shelton says.

Regardless, Shelton is willing to try.

“This is about the university really solidifying its position as a comprehensive research university,” Shelton said. “I would hope that’s why most of the students who are here, are here.”

The next academic planning discussion will be on Feb. 14 from 8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. in Gerlinger Lounge.

The UO Board of Trustees will gather in the Ford Alumni Center’s Giustina Ballroom for a two-day board meeting starting tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 23.

Board members will be approving bylaws, outlining trustee responsibilities, electing board chair and vice-chair and continuing conversations about the governance transition that will take place July 1.

“I am looking forward to getting more details and analysis on Brad Shelton’s benchmarking report, which is really a report card on a lot of the functions, metrics and different aspects of university (and) is extremely important,” said ASUO President and Board Member Sam Dotters-Katz, who will be giving a presentation at tomorrow’s meeting.

The 15-member team will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first day and from 8 a.m. to noon on the second day. The agenda and additional information on the board is available here, and on the board’s website.

Halfway through his second year as University of Oregon president, Michael Gottfredson is still a mystery to many students. Here are five tidbits about the UO president that will leave you feeling like you’re on a first name basis:

1.) He grew up spending his summers working on a cattle ranch.

“Our ranch was in the foothills of California and up in the Sierra Nevada mountains … Spending long days mending barbwire fences is hard work. It focuses your mind about maybe what some alternatives might be. I’m not sure, but I think it got me interested in going into college … It taught me a lot. I’m sure it did … Life on a cattle ranch is a hard life. You put in long days. You start early and quit late. I think it’s fair to say I still do that. I don’t know whether I learned that working in that way but there is a chance that I did.”

2) He sold his motorcycle for a European adventure.

“I rode a motorcycle when I was in high school and I sold it when I was a senior to finance a trip to Europe. After high school I graduated the next day. I went to Europe for four months and traveled along with a friend. I lost my motorcycle but it was a good exchange. We did [backpack across Europe] and drove a Volkswagen Bug, which was popular back then. We stayed in hostels and camped a lot.”

3.) He protested against the Vietnam War

“I had a great undergraduate experience. [The University of California] Davis is a great school and it was a great time [but also] a difficult time … So it was the Vietnam War and it was very controversial. It was a very difficult period to be a student and a difficult period for the country. It was a very active time for students — for me. We were not supportive of the Vietnam War and the involvement of it in that time. It’s almost difficult to explain today how active the students were, we all were. [I remember] we were in a march in San Francisco in 1971. It was in opposition to the war.”

4.) He lived in London.

“I worked for the British Home office. I had a great address. [It] was Queen Anne’s Gate because part of the home office was in St. James Parks … Working for the British government was an interesting experience. Quite different than what I was used to. It was a research post but I learned a lot about the similarities and differences between our government structures … Both of those experiences convinced me of how important it is to experience different societies and cultures, and to travel. So I am a big proponent for study abroad programs. I wish I could make that a requirement because I think it’s a good idea for lifelong learning. There is just no substitute.”

5.) He married his high school sweet heart, Karol.

“I got married in college. My wife and I got married in the beginning of our sophomore year. My wife and I went to high school together. That is my favorite experience of college.”

UO president Michael Gottfredson has announced Jane Conoley as the second candidate in the running for provost.

Conoley is dean and professor of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  According to her background information available on the UO President’s webpage, Conoley has done extensive work in psychology and educational measurement. She will be presenting on campus Tuesday, Jan. 21, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s Ford Lecture Hall.

According to an email sent from Gottfredson, one candidate has withdrawn their name for the position.

The first candidate, current interim provost Scott Coltrane presented on campus earlier this week.  The third and final candidate has yet to be announced but will be interviewing on campus Feb. 3 and 4.

Interim provost Scott Coltrane kicked off candidate presentations for provost in front of a full room that included University of Oregon administration, faculty, staff and community members on Jan. 12, 2014 in the Ford Lecture Hall at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Among the array of responsibilities, the provost acts on behalf of the president when absent and is the spokesperson of academic matters at the university. Overall, the provost acts as the chief academic officer by overseeing the quality of instruction and research.

“The main job is to implement the president’s mission,” Coltrane, who is the only internal candidate for the position, said.

Coltrane’s goals as provost are to increase financial stability, retention rates and the amount of tenured faculty, as well as expand UO’s academic brand and standardize policies across departments.

The candidate spoke of his on-going collaborations during his time as interim provost that include reorganizing the provost office, developing process and criteria for internal affairs, reconfiguring advisory committees and strategic planning.

Coltrane originally comes from the University of California school system, as does UO President Michael Gottfredson. He received his Ph.D from UC Santa Cruz focusing on sociology, specifically family issues. He resided as an associated dean at UC Riverside before coming to UO in 2008 as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In July 2013, Coltrane stepped into the role of interim provost.  

“He is a very good team player so he knows how to take into consideration of what people think, but then he is also willing to make the hard decisions and live with the consequence,” Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Barbara Altmann said. “I’ve had a wonderful time working with him and all I can say is the next three finalists are going to be very strong to stand a chance at the job.”  

Gottfredson will choose the final candidate after hearing the recommendation from the provost search committee. Chair Alec Murphy, a professor in the UO geography department, expects a decision to be made mid-February. He will not be publicly announced until a contract is finalized.  

The three remaining candidates have yet to be disclosed. The next presentation will be next Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014 in the same location.