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Applicant says name was not to be released
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by Amelia Vorpahl
Monday, April 28, 2008
Nine names of the 55 candidates for the new chancellor of the University of Wisconsin were released Friday, though at least one said the university violated the terms of his application in doing so.
In an e-mail to The Badger Herald this weekend, Jorge José, vice president for research at the University at Buffalo, said he was “stunned” that his name was released, and that confidentiality is an essential requirement for anyone to be considered for this kind of job.
“I made my request for confidentiality VERY clear to the search firm I was in touch with and that is helping the university to conduct its Chancellor search,” José wrote, adding that he also “clearly stated” his preference for confidentiality in his application’s cover letter.
“In my view this event taints the search process,” he said. “[It] takes away its seriousness and the lack of regard for the well being of some of the candidates being considered.”
UW grants confidentiality to all applicants who request it. Only upon being named a finalist must candidates withdraw their request for confidentiality if they still want to be considered for the position.
David Musolf, spokesperson for the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee, said UW released the names only of the nine applicants who did not request confidentiality. Marsha Seltzer, Chancellor Search and Screen Committee chair, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment late Sunday night.
Two of the other names released, Ahmed Abdelal, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern University, and Jay Grimes, professor at the Gulf Coast Research Lab, are already out of the running because they have accepted positions elsewhere.
Vincent Pellegrino, member of the Higher Learning Commission and consultant-evaluator of the Program to Evaluate and Advance Quality at Southwest Minnesota State University, was also one of the nine named applying for the chancellor position.
Pellegrino said he started his career helping Latina and black women gain access to college, and added he believes his strong civil rights background would be a great asset if he were selected as chancellor.
When speaking about the opportunity to apply to the UW chancellor position, Pellegrino said it was as if “destiny reached out to me.”
“I’m an honest, hard-working, good, civil-rights person,” he said. “I’m rising to the opportunity, that’s all I can say.”
Musolf said the committee plans to have the candidates narrowed down to five names soon, so students would have the opportunity to meet the applicants before the end of the spring semester. He added the committee is looking for someone with clear vision and inspirational leadership, and is not placing any special emphasis on candidates who might already be working for UW.
“I think that the committee is looking for the best people that they can possibly find, regardless of whether they’re internal or external,” Musolf said. “The committee is trying very hard to evaluate everyone on his or her own merits.”
Other applicants include David Bejou, dean of the School of Business at Virginia State University; Demetrios Kazakos, dean of the College of Science and Technology at Texas Southern University; Albert Wiley Jr., current director of the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and former professor in the UW department of human oncology and radiology; Ben Pourbabai, executive vice president and chief information officer at Automatica Inc.; and Nabih Manih Ramadan, a physician at Diamond Headache Clinic and senior associate staff in the department of neurology at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 7:00am):
I'm sorry, but just being a 'civil rights person' doesn't qualify you to be president, although it's nice. What are your academic qualifications, sir?
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 11:13am):
Is it just me, or do none of those credentials seem good enough?
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 12:25pm):
Isn't that how UW lost Bobby Knight, and thus spent decades in the cellar of men's BB?
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 3:37pm):
I see a lawsuit coming down from Mr. Jose, don't you?
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 4:19pm):
I don't trust anyone with two first names anyway.
Anonymous (April 28, 2008 @ 8:14pm):
These are not the finalists, just those
who did not request confidentiality.
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