Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Oil Change and a Hair Cut

I had been meaning to post a comment on Dean Koker's introductory remarks last Tuesday, but I have been distracted by all of the Barrett arguments.

John Koker gave his address to COLS just over a week ago and I think that it bodes well for the next year. He used the fact that on the day that he was appointed interim Dean, he got both an oil change and a haircut. These two events served as the metaphors for his vision of leadership.

His general theme was that things are going fairly well in COLS, and he doesn't envision major changes. There needs to be routine maintenance and only cosmetic changes.

Koker's relaxed demeanor and friendly attitude should serve the college well over the next year. It is good to see that he had no grand plans for change as well.

We are getting to hire 20 more faculty members this year, so we might actually break even in terms of total numbers. He is promising another 20 next year. This is very good news.

What do readers think should happen in COLS this year? What should we be looking for in a new Dean?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what? I do agree with you! Thanks so much for your blog!
Best,
Ben.

Anonymous said...

I wish we had more political science professors because they never offer the courses that majors want just poli sci 105

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said: "I wish we had more political science professors because they never offer the courses that majors want just poli sci 105"

I do not know the details of scheduling in the Poli Sci dept. but I suspect it's a matter of resources. Most departments, faced with the current budget situation, have had to ax low enrollment courses in order to make sure the big courses are covered. I suspect the profs in poli sci would LOVE to teach upper level majors courses.

Complaining here does no good. This happens because your representatives in Madison sincerely believe that the folks who put them in office care more about low taxes than anything else. It is up to EVERYONE who cares about education to convince his or her representative that this is not the case. They must get the idea that the only way to KEEP their jobs (the only thing any of them REALLY care about), they must cease making UW System a budgetary whipping boy.

It does working people no good to save a few bucks on state taxes if they have to pay for a fifth year of tuition for their sons and daughters in college.

Lake Winneblogo said...

I wish those political science professors would stop leaving anonymous comments asking for more lines!

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