If not Perry, who?

Earlier, Vision1920 wondered whether Eastern Illinois president Bill Perry was the other candidate for the TAMU presidency. We now hear through our grapevine that sources are denying that it was him, which leads to the question: Were we seriously considering someone from Eastern Illinois who was not even the sitting president?

Was Perry (not that one) the other finalist?

Shortly before Bowen Loftin was named the sole finalist for president of Texas A&M, it was reported that there were only two finalists in the search after a third candidate dropped out. The BoR did a pretty good job of maintaining secrecy regarding the identities of the candidates, but it looks like there's a leak. In the comments on his post about Gen. Van Alstyne's wife, Burka writes:

My agenda with regard to Texas A&M is that it should achieve its potential as a tier one university and should not be held hostage to political influence. A&M set out to choose a successor to Bob Gates in a national-level search. They ended up choosing between the former president of A&M-Galveston and someone from Eastern Illinois, I think it was. A&M deserves a national quality leader, and it will not get one as long as political influence determines who is in charge.

Eastern Illinois University is not exactly comparable to the institutions where the rumored finalists from the last search were at the time. But EIU's President, William Perry, knows A&M very well, having worked here for many years. Perry rose to Vice Provost and chair of the Council on the Built Environment under Bob Gates before leaving for EIU.

How we see ourselves at Texas A&M

Quod erat demonstrandum.

It's Loftin

yawn.

Aren't you glad we hired a high-priced search firm?

Decision day gets closer

The Houston Chronicle:

Dr. Richard Box, a member of the A&M board of regents and chairman of the presidential search committee, said his group will present a list of finalists when the full board meets in College Station Thursday.
There currently are two names — a third candidate dropped out

Vision 1920 recalls that the last time a search committee presented two candidates, the Regents said that wasn't a real choice.

More Loftin trial balloons floated

The Eagle reports:

"Get two or more faculty together, and they're going to talk about the administration," said Slack, who admittedly has done a lot of the complaining in the past. "But the general feeling was people were positive about [Texas A&M Interim President R. Bowen] Loftin."

He continued: "He's taken a big bathtub splashing back and forth and just calmed it. He had the right personality and demeanor to keep the [A&M] System officials from the necks of the faculty and the faculty from the necks of the System officials."

Some at the CPI might disagree with the part about keeping System officials from the necks of the faculty. However, Vision 1920's faculty contacts have nothing but praise for President Loftin. The most common refrain: it could be a lot worse.

That's the standard around here these days.

Will Loftin lose the interim tag?

The Eagle updates the search news:

Texas A&M Interim President R. Bowen Loftin appears to be one of about four candidates still in the running for the university's presidency.

"As far as I can tell, I am still being considered," Loftin said during an interview in his office Thursday. "I can't tell you anything more than that."

The advisory committee is expected to forward three or four names to the Board of Regents, the Texas A&M System's nine-member governing authority, at the regents meeting scheduled for Jan. 22, Box said.

Aggies won't know who the new president is until regents decide on a sole finalist. The search is in an "opaque" period in which secrecy is key to protecting the reputations of the candidates, said Box, who also is a regent and a former campaign treasurer for Gov. Rick Perry.

Vision 1920 wonders whether we have ever been in a nonopaque period for this search. However, Regent Box's concern about the reputations of the candidates is valid. Who would want to risk being known as the kind of quisling who would be willing to work here, unless they were assured of the payoff of a contract?

Search an academic exercise?

The same piece in the Eagle updates the status of the Presidential search

Richard Box, chair of the search committee looking for Texas A&M's next president, said that the process is on schedule and he plans to forward three or four names to regents next month.

Box, who also is a regent, said there were now fewer than eight candidates but declined to give a more precise number, saying the number would fluctuate. The remaining candidates all are from academia, he said.

"We're in a period that I call the opaque period -- we can't be very transparent in what we do. Confidentiality is of major importance," said Box, who asked each member of his 16-person committee to sign an agreement stating they won't reveal candidate names.

Fluctuate is not the adjective Vision 1920 would normally associate with narrowing the field. But it covers the possibility of adding new candidates, given that the remaining ones don't include the nonacademics mentioned in earlier releases.

Vision 1920 points out to members of the search committee that they would not be violating a promise to not reveal candidate names by leaving information about their current positions in the comments.

Phil Gramm knows how to say no without saying no

Former Senator Phil Gramm was a faculty member at Texas A&M before he got into elected to the House of Representatives. As a former faculty member at A&M, Gramm probably knows that it's a terrible job. But as a prominent possible choice, how do you make sure you don't get stuck with it? You can't actually say you don't want the job, especially when you've previously said it's your dream job.

Gramm had to face this dilemma in 2002, when he was being touted as a stealth candidate. The George W. Bush appointees stuck with Gates while the Perry appointees (plus Erle Nye) wanted Gramm. But Gramm made sure that he would lose support from the Ag constituency by voting against the 2002 Farm Bill.

Now, out of the Senate, with another search for an A&M president ongoing, how can Gramm make sure he's not asked to fill the job? Like this:

Gov. Rick Perry backed Phil Gramm's stealth 2002 candidacy for Texas A&M president, but the former U.S. senator isn't returning the favor in the governor's re-election bid.

The 67-year-old was one of more than 60 Aggies or those with ties to the university who pledged support earlier this month to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry's rival in the March Republican primary.

Elite 8

The Eagle reports

At least eight candidates remain in the running for Texas A&M's presidency, officials said Thursday.

They include both men and women, but an exact breakdown wasn't immediately available, said Richard Box, chair of the 16-person search committee looking for the university's next leader.

Box said that there also were two "alternates" and that, though the soft deadline for applications passed last month, he hadn't "completely closed the door" to exceptional candidates who hadn't yet applied.

The committee met on campus Oct. 30 for about two hours and whittled the pool of about 50 applicants down to the current list, Box said.

"It was a process of elimination," said Box, an Austin dentist who once served as treasurer to the governor's campaign fund, Texans for Rick Perry. "The members of the committee had a very active and deliberate manner in which they went about it."

The candidates come from academia, government, the military and the business world, Box said. He declined to elaborate further.

Vision 1920 wonders if the finalists have been sent copies of Chancellor McKinney's Inside Higher Ed interview, so they know what our expectations are around here.

30 rocks

In Friday's Eagle:

Texas A&M has more than 30 candidates for the university's presidency, including nationally recognized names and individuals who have been "highly placed" in federal government, officials said Thursday.

Not on the list are Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a former Aggie yell leader, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a former Texas A&M president, said Richard Box, chair of the 16-person search committee looking for the leader.

Thursday was the soft deadline for applications, though Box said "great candidates" would still be considered if they applied.

The candidates are from academia, business and government, though a breakdown wasn't immediately available, Box said. He disclosed no other details, including where in federal government they may have served.

"If I did that, I'd almost be telling you who they were," said Box, an Austin dentist.

Vision 1920 is tingling with speculation about who the "nationally recognized names and individuals who have been "highly placed" in federal government" might be.

Search committee open forum

The Eagle reports on yesterday's open forum with the search committee:

"How are we going to make sure this is an independent search?" asked Daniel Dick, a senior political science major, adding later that he worried that "influence from Austin" would have a negative impact on the quality of candidates who apply.

"The next president of Texas A&M will have to go through this committee," responded Richard Box, committee chairman and former treasurer of Texans for Rick Perry, the governor's campaign fund. "The work that we do will put that question to rest."

Vision 1920 is has no question about whether this is an independent search. No influence from Austin will be applied or needed.

Is this a virus or something?

The Eagle reports:

Texas A&M Student Body President Eric Beckham resigned his posted Tuesday, according to an e-mail he sent to students.

Kolin Loveless, who was elected as speaker of the student senate in April, will take over Beckham’s duties. Such action is outlined in the Student Government Association’s constitution, officials said.

The e-mail offered no specific explanation for the resignation, saying only that Beckham had done so “after a great deal of reflection and thought” for “a variety of personal reasons.”

There certainly have been plenty of role models for Mr. Beckham of late. Unlike the others at TAMU, Mr. Beckham doesn't get to go back to a tenured faculty position.

KBTX points out that Beckham was the student representative on the Presidential Search Committee, and wonders if he will continue in that position or be replaced.

Head hunters

The System announced today that the search committee will have some help

The 15-member search committee to select the next president of Texas A&M University announced at its initial meeting today that it has retained the consulting firm Academic Search, Inc. to assist the committee in finding and recruiting the best and most qualified presidential candidates. One of the firm’s senior consultants, Dr. Robert W. Lawless, a former president of the University of Tulsa, former president of Texas Tech University, and former CEO of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, will be the principal consultant.

A list of presidential searches handled by Academic Search is on their website. Florida State is also using the company for their current search. Lawless has connections to A&M

A native Texan, Dr. Lawless holds three degrees: an Associate Science in Chemistry, Lee College; a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, University of Houston; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Operations Research and Statistics, Texas A&M University.

He was also on the faculty here in Industrial Engineering. Importantly for the future of Texas A&M, Lawless has extensive experience with the NCAA.

[monkeyboy commented on this post here]

3 Committees

	2001	2007	2009
Chair	Junkins (Faculty)	Slack (Faculty)	Box (Regent)
Faculty (non-administrators)	10	4	3
Faculty (administrators)	3	2	2
Students	Student body president	Student body president Grad student body president	Student body president Vet student assoc president
Texas A&M University Association of Professional Support Staff	president	president	none
12th Man Foundation	Board member	-	-
Assoc former students	president	president	chair
Regents	none	2	3
System	1 ex-officio	1 ex-officio	1
Other notable	Perry Adkisson, distinguished professor emeritus and chancellor emeritus	president/CEO of the Bryan/College Station Chamber of Commerce	Member, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Vision 1920 suspects a trend.

The Searchers

The Regents announced the search committee for the next President of Texas A&M University.

Committee Chair:

• Chair: Regent Richard Box, A&M System Board of Regents

Committee Members:

• Regent Ida Clement Steen, A&M System Board of Regents
• Regent Lupe Fraga, A&M System Board of Regents
• Dr. John Junkins, Distinguished Professor; Regents Professor; Director, Center for Mechanics and Control, Department of Aerospace Engineering
• Dr. Tim Hall, Distinguished Professor; Director, Institute of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Department of Biology
• Dr. Robert Bednarz, Speaker, Faculty Senate; Professor, Department of Geography
• Dr. Mark Hussey, Vice Chancellor and Dean of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Former Head of Soil & Crop Sciences Department
• Dr. Antonio Cepeda-Benito, Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost
• Mr. Eric Beckham, Student Body President
• Ms. Meredith Maloney, President, Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medicine Assn.
• Ms. Shelley Potter, Chair of the Board, The Association of Former Students
• Mr. Thomas Saylak, Chairman of Board of Trustees, Texas A&M Foundation
• Mr. Neal Adams, Attorney; Former Vice Chair and Member, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
• Dr. David Parrott, Executive Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life
• Dr. Frank Ashley, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, A&M System

The Houston Chronicle points out that Regent Box is also Gov Perry's treasurer for his reelection campaign. But this is balanced by at least one member being a contributor to Hutchinson. Vision 1920 does not know if there are any Friedman supporters on the committee, however.

Regent Fraga was also on the 2007 search committee, which failed to offer the Regents a real choice. Vision 1920 speculates that the full Board is giving Fraga a second chance to show he won't fall for the faculty's Jedi mind tricks again.