SMU Provost & VP for Academic Affairs Resigns

MrMustang1965 · Post by **MrMustang1965** » Mon May 01, 2006 7:53 pm

from the Dallas Business Journal:

Southern Methodist University Provost and vice president for academic affairs Robert Blocker says he will step down at the end of the month to return to his former position at Yale University.

In his resignation letter, Blocker said his administrative passion is centered in music and the arts.

"For many years an abiding commitment to music has been a compass for my life. This is not a simple matter of performing at a high level, rather it is the essence of my soul," Blocker wrote. "However, I have found it increasingly more difficult to attain the expectations I have for myself both as your academic leader and as a pianist with international and recording engagements."

Blocker said his service to SMU would conclude May 31, and he would return to his former position at Yale as dean of the School of Music.

Blocker began work at SMU July 15 -- 10 months ago.

SMU President R. Gerald Turner said in a message to the university community that Blocker informed him that if his former position at Yale not been open, he would not have continued as provost, but would have returned to music administration and performance at either SMU or another institution.

"I truly regret his decision, since Robert and I work very closely and harmoniously together, and he has provided great vision for the academic mission of the university," Turner wrote. "However, I respect his desire to pursue his true passion and wish him and (his wife) Serena the very best as they complete the semester here and then return to Connecticut in June."

Turner said he would announce an interim provost in the near future.

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/st ... aily7.html

also: www.smu.edu

RGV Pony · Post by **RGV Pony** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:51 pm

Call it a conspiracy theory, but how possible is it that this move by the VP for academic affairs came as a result of winds of change in the athletic dept?

Things promised to Phil...then amplified and reiterated to Doherty...then VP says not for me, thanks...then gets a sweet deal to be gone, complete with an excuse.

Maybe Orsini will be on the commitee to select a replacement?

Just thoughts. No factual basis (that will get me chastized on this board, I know)...just think about it.

And I could be wrong.

MrMustang1965 · Post by **MrMustang1965** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:00 pm

...do you believe in the grassy knoll theory from the JFK assassination, too? How about the UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico?

RGV Pony · Post by **RGV Pony** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:20 pm

MrMustang1965 wrote:...do you believe in the grassy knoll theory from the JFK assassination, too? How about the UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico?

actually, hometown=Los Alamos, New Mexico. Manhattan Project. Cold War. The secret city.

Remember...I said those remarks half tongue-in-cheek. Perhaps I erred in not attaching an emoticon

to assign the proper levity to my post.

MrMustang1965 · Post by **MrMustang1965** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:34 pm

Oh, I understood the levity. I was just joshin' ya.

OC Mustang · Post by **OC Mustang** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:20 am

As a student, I sat on the committee for finding, interviewing, and recommending for hire a new Provost at SMU circa 1993 after Ruth Morgan left.

I will go on a limb and speculate, given I gave 8 months to finding one back when, and we picked a complete dud (I don't feel bad, though; she had everybody snowed).

The big kicker for Provost is typically accounting. Despite the fact that a Finance Officer exists at SMU, and by and large, the Deans of the different Colleges tend to follow their budget pretty closely, the Provost carrys a lot of weight with academic budgets. If this guy is not up to snuff on that, believe me, Turner would be wise to gracefully get everybody out of that SNAFU.

It is as possible that this guy is bad at accounting as it is that he might have lost support of the Faculty Senate. If the Senate hated this guy 'cause he was a tool, Turner might be placating them in a little diplomatic heinie-kissing before he turns the screws on their budgets courtesy of athletic priorities.

I'm not taking a position on the faculty's beefs with athletics. I had that argument many times, and regardless of whether petty or in earnest, they are as an institution immovable. The best that one can hope for is the occasional professor who gets it, that is, the cost to the university is greater without Div 1 athletics than it is with (by and large, anyway) athletics. And so on and so on....

Next.

OC Mustang · Post by **OC Mustang** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:20 am

As a student, I sat on the committee for finding, interviewing, and recommending for hire a new Provost at SMU circa 1993 after Ruth Morgan left.

I will go on a limb and speculate, given I gave 8 months to finding one back when, and we picked a complete dud (I don't feel bad, though; she had everybody snowed).

The big kicker for Provost is typically accounting. Despite the fact that a Finance Officer exists at SMU, and by and large, the Deans of the different Colleges tend to follow their budget pretty closely, the Provost carrys a lot of weight with academic budgets. If this guy is not up to snuff on that, believe me, Turner would be wise to gracefully get everybody out of that SNAFU.

It is as possible that this guy is bad at accounting as it is that he might have lost support of the Faculty Senate. If the Senate hated this guy 'cause he was a tool, Turner might be placating them in a little diplomatic heinie-kissing before he turns the screws on their budgets courtesy of athletic priorities.

I'm not taking a position on the faculty's beefs with athletics. I had that argument many times, and regardless of whether petty or in earnest, they are as an institution immovable. The best that one can hope for is the occasional professor who gets it, that is, the cost to the university is greater without Div 1 athletics than it is with (by and large, anyway) athletics. And so on and so on....

Next.

Diamond Girl · Post by **Diamond Girl** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:05 am

He was bad at accounting. He gave unauthorized raised to people using Dedman College funds. Needless to say, not too many people were happy about that.

smu diamond m · Post by **smu diamond m** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:04 pm

The conspiracy is entertaining. Bust maybe it is just one more step towards sports becoming a larger part of SMU.

SMUFan · Post by **SMUFan** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:01 pm

There's a story in the Daily Campus about it, and he said the job was interfering with the time he wanted to spend as a concert pianist. That's all good and well, but didn't he ask about time constraints during the interview process? This just smacks of burnout.

Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex · Post by **Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:10 pm

smu diamond m wrote:The conspiracy is entertaining. Bust maybe it is just one more step towards sports becoming a larger part of SMU.

Huh? What in God's Green Earth are you talking about?

smu diamond m · Post by **smu diamond m** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:08 pm

Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex wrote:
smu diamond m wrote:The conspiracy is entertaining. Bust maybe it is just one more step towards sports becoming a larger part of SMU.

Huh? What in God's Green Earth are you talking about?

RGV Pony wrote:Call it a conspiracy theory, but how possible is it that this move by the VP for academic affairs came as a result of winds of change in the athletic dept?

Things promised to Phil...then amplified and reiterated to Doherty...then VP says not for me, thanks...then gets a sweet deal to be gone, complete with an excuse.

Maybe Orsini will be on the commitee to select a replacement?

Just thoughts. No factual basis (that will get me chastized on this board, I know)...just think about it.

it was a joke. Albeit, a bad one.

Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex · Post by **Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:17 pm

smu diamond m wrote:it was a joke. Albeit, a bad one.

Got that right.