Here's a good reason Tom Crady is being moved along

[statler & waldorf]

On his watch, UM had a 30 percent drop in enrollment. This "outgoing vice president of enrollment" should have been "outgoing" long ago. :roll
Can't put all the blame on him. Engstrom started this snowball down the hill and did nothing to correct the problem. Stearns? Ditto. Think of UM as the human body, with a cumulative blood loss of 30 percent. What shape would that body be in today?

 

[PlayerRep]

On his watch, UM had a 30 percent drop in enrollment. This "outgoing vice president of enrollment" should have been "outgoing" long ago. :roll:

Crady was only brought him a few years ago, well into the decline.

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

Our past regime had offers of free help and assistance by the Messina Group to dial in recruiting and improve that area....the idiots turned it down and continued to let the ship sink.

Bodnar takes a massive step in the right direction and takes the Messina Group up in its offer of help....very smart IMO.

Bodnar's wife becomes the middle party connecting the two when university folks sit on their hands and provide no assistance to the Messina Group. This Group needs relevant data to do their thing and do it well and Bodnar's wife was only trying to speed that process up and move it along. I appreciate her passion and appreciate the fact this president and leaders are sick of watching the UM flounder.

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

Agreed. My other retort to "why didn't Bodnar just appoint someone at the U" is - well - the people who were already supposed to be doing that didn't do a damned thing.

 

[PlayerRep]

Our past regime had offers of free help and assistance by the Messina Group to dial in recruiting and improve that area....the idiots turned it down and continued to let the ship sink.

Bodnar takes a massive step in the right direction and takes the Messina Group up in its offer of help....very smart IMO.

Bodnar's wife becomes the middle party connecting the two when university folks sit on their hands and provide no assistance to the Messina Group. This Group needs relevant data to do their thing and do it well and Bodnar's wife was only trying to speed that process up and move it along. I appreciate her passion and appreciate the fact this president and leaders are sick of watching the UM flounder.

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

This blurb from the Missouian article shows why Bodnar got involved. Because Crady and his people did not nothing and dropped the ball after the initial meeting. Weeks went by without Crady or his people following up with Messina group.

"In an April 2 email to the Missoulian about her work with The Messina Group, Elander explained how she became the liaison with the firm. In January, Elander, Bodnar, Crady and Messina met to discuss the alum's offer to help UM with enrollment.

Elander said after she and several other people from admissions and alumni organizations realized no one had followed up with The Messina Group weeks after the initial meeting, she helped link the appropriate people from UM and the firm. She said if UM moves forward with The Messina Group, a UM employee would become the liaison."

 

[statler & waldorf]

Thank for the update PR. Crady, and any others responsible for enrollment were ineffective.

 

[BadlandsGrizFan]

Someone is working for free and putting forward an effort to improve the university where its needed most...and volunteering their time to do it?????

OHHHH NOOOOO CALL THE FUCKING MISSOULIAN!!!

 

[grzz]

Our past regime had offers of free help and assistance by the Messina Group to dial in recruiting and improve that area....the idiots turned it down and continued to let the ship sink.

Bodnar takes a massive step in the right direction and takes the Messina Group up in its offer of help....very smart IMO.

Bodnar's wife becomes the middle party connecting the two when university folks sit on their hands and provide no assistance to the Messina Group. This Group needs relevant data to do their thing and do it well and Bodnar's wife was only trying to speed that process up and move it along. I appreciate her passion and appreciate the fact this president and leaders are sick of watching the UM flounder.

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

Agreed. My other retort to "why didn't Bodnar just appoint someone at the U" is - well - the people who were already supposed to be doing that didn't do a damned thing.

Argh, I worked on a college campus and I am very familiar with student record and privacy laws. I also respect that faculty often get a bad rep on message boards. That all being said, if Crady or admissions had really wanted to cooperate with something the University President already agreed to do, wouldn't the proper response from Crady to her request have been something like: "Great, let's work with legal counsel to make sure that we don't violate any student privacy laws and appoint the Messina Group a liaison so we only pass confidential information through a UM employee?"

It just seems like over and over again the academic response at UM is to bristle at any outsider or outside idea and protect the status quo. It seems more often than not that it is an easy way to ignore otherwise good ideas from those outside the academic world because they "just don't understand." She literally said "Whatever is permissible" in her request...there is no nefarious intent here. Rather than working with her to find a solution that fits within the constraints of the University, the response is to run to tattle to the Missoulian. Mind you NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN SHARED AND BOTH UM AND THE MESSINA GROUP SAY AS MUCH. But lets get a scandalous headline going. (The Missoulian is a whole different issue, my god).

Is it weird that his wife is undertaking initiatives to help the University? Maybe, but then again not really. You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

 

[PlayerRep]

Meanwhile, the draft report on UM reorganization and cuts is out, at least at UM, and the Missoulian online continues to lead with the wife story.

 

[HookedonGriz]

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

Agreed. My other retort to "why didn't Bodnar just appoint someone at the U" is - well - the people who were already supposed to be doing that didn't do a damned thing.

Argh, I worked on a college campus and I am very familiar with student record and privacy laws. I also respect that faculty often get a bad rep on message boards. That all being said, if Crady or admissions had really wanted to cooperate with something the University President already agreed to do, wouldn't the proper response from Crady to her request have been something like: "Great, let's work with legal counsel to make sure that we don't violate any student privacy laws and appoint the Messina Group a liaison so we only pass confidential information through a UM employee?"

It just seems like over and over again the academic response at UM is to bristle at any outsider or outside idea and protect the status quo. It seems more often than not that it is an easy way to ignore otherwise good ideas from those outside the academic world because they "just don't understand." She literally said "Whatever is permissible" in her request...there is no nefarious intent here. Rather than working with her to find a solution that fits within the constraints of the University, the response is to run to tattle to the Missoulian. Mind you NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN SHARED AND BOTH UM AND THE MESSINA GROUP SAY AS MUCH. But lets get a scandalous headline going. (The Missoulian is a whole different issue, my god).

Is it weird that his wife is undertaking initiatives to help the University? Maybe, but then again not really. You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

Game.....set......match! Grzz just went yard!

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

Agreed. My other retort to "why didn't Bodnar just appoint someone at the U" is - well - the people who were already supposed to be doing that didn't do a damned thing.

Argh, I worked on a college campus and I am very familiar with student record and privacy laws. I also respect that faculty often get a bad rep on message boards. That all being said, if Crady or admissions had really wanted to cooperate with something the University President already agreed to do, wouldn't the proper response from Crady to her request have been something like: "Great, let's work with legal counsel to make sure that we don't violate any student privacy laws and appoint the Messina Group a liaison so we only pass confidential information through a UM employee?"

It just seems like over and over again the academic response at UM is to bristle at any outsider or outside idea and protect the status quo. It seems more often than not that it is an easy way to ignore otherwise good ideas from those outside the academic world because they "just don't understand." She literally said "Whatever is permissible" in her request...there is no nefarious intent here. Rather than working with her to find a solution that fits within the constraints of the University, the response is to run to tattle to the Missoulian. Mind you NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN SHARED AND BOTH UM AND THE MESSINA GROUP SAY AS MUCH. But lets get a scandalous headline going. (The Missoulian is a whole different issue, my god).

Is it weird that his wife is undertaking initiatives to help the University? Maybe, but then again not really. You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

Game.....set......match! Grzz just went yard!

 

[grizpsych]

Jeez, how dumb and petty is this guy?

http://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-president-s-wife-seeks-extremely-confidential-info/article_e5c72ed2-1fc7-51ef-973d-db4ddaa28ec5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Looks like nepotism is starting earlier than I expected.

 

[IdaGriz01]

... You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

I spent around 30 years as a college faculty member (most of it part-time, admittedly), so I know a bit about the academic world. This point should be reinforced: Perhaps it's not as common as it once was, but the notion that the school agrees to hire the spouse is, quite literally, sometimes a part of the hiring agreement, especially for a really big name/$$$ professor. It was quite awhile ago, but I recall one case where the uni actually created a position for the wife ... that was how bad they wanted the husband, who was reportedly nominated later for a Nobel Prize.

 

[astutegriz]

Jeez, how dumb and petty is this guy?

http://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-president-s-wife-seeks-extremely-confidential-info/article_e5c72ed2-1fc7-51ef-973d-db4ddaa28ec5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Looks like nepotism is starting earlier than I expected.

Actually, they take all kinds of volunteers, not just spouses. It was just embarrassing when the volunteer turned out more competent than the VP. It is often lost that sometimes thank you is the proper response to someone volunteering.

 

[PlayerRep]

Jeez, how dumb and petty is this guy?

http://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-president-s-wife-seeks-extremely-confidential-info/article_e5c72ed2-1fc7-51ef-973d-db4ddaa28ec5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Looks like nepotism is starting earlier than I expected.

Nepotism? Huh, you must not know what it is. Nepotism required favoritism. What is his wife getting for doing this, other than unfair criticism and press and headaches? Bodnar asking his wife to help coordinate something is hardly nepotism.

What is astounding to me is to see how dumb, in some respects, college professors like yourself and argh are. No wonder so much of the Missoula community, and the even the board of regents, were excited to hire a competent non-academic to lead Montana.

With people like Engstrom, Crady, you and argh, no wonder so many academic institutions are struggling.

 

[argh!]

Our past regime had offers of free help and assistance by the Messina Group to dial in recruiting and improve that area....the idiots turned it down and continued to let the ship sink.

Bodnar takes a massive step in the right direction and takes the Messina Group up in its offer of help....very smart IMO.

Bodnar's wife becomes the middle party connecting the two when university folks sit on their hands and provide no assistance to the Messina Group. This Group needs relevant data to do their thing and do it well and Bodnar's wife was only trying to speed that process up and move it along. I appreciate her passion and appreciate the fact this president and leaders are sick of watching the UM flounder.

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

where did i say form a committee(bqm) i know you pout when i point out alternative viewpoints, and you are making stuff up again, greenie. you've been doing that a lot lately. i said appoint someone. like maybe someone from the grossly overstaffed president's office that you mentioned (weak leaders like engstrom do tend to bloat the 'top' administrative levels).

also, are you going to address the scenario where the wife of your boss starts snooping around client info, despite not being qualified(bqm)

 

[argh!]

Jeez, how dumb and petty is this guy?

http://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-president-s-wife-seeks-extremely-confidential-info/article_e5c72ed2-1fc7-51ef-973d-db4ddaa28ec5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Looks like nepotism is starting earlier than I expected.

Nepotism? Huh, you must not know what it is. Nepotism required favoritism. What is his wife getting for doing this, other than unfair criticism and press and headaches? Bodnar asking his wife to help coordinate something is hardly nepotism.

it is when she isn't qualified and conducts university business without being vetted first. nepotism is actually rampant in academia. it really sucks, because if the spouse of, say, a university president does something that might be inappropriate, nobody wants to report it or stop her or anything for fear of catching the ire of their boss. unless, i guess, if the person is on their way out, anyway.

you don't understand much about nepotism, greenie.

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

Our past regime had offers of free help and assistance by the Messina Group to dial in recruiting and improve that area....the idiots turned it down and continued to let the ship sink.

Bodnar takes a massive step in the right direction and takes the Messina Group up in its offer of help....very smart IMO.

Bodnar's wife becomes the middle party connecting the two when university folks sit on their hands and provide no assistance to the Messina Group. This Group needs relevant data to do their thing and do it well and Bodnar's wife was only trying to speed that process up and move it along. I appreciate her passion and appreciate the fact this president and leaders are sick of watching the UM flounder.

why didn't bodnar just appoint a university employee to be the liason? that would be the smart thing to do. instead, it sounds to me like his wife deemed herself fit for the job and just inserted herself in the mix.

as a comparison, how do you feel about jared and ivanka's positions in the government? were they qualified?

Is this a typical academic and bureaucratic response? Let's form a committee to study whether and how to request information to be readied for a new consultant that the university is looking to engage (at no cost). Let's consult all unions working on campus too. Let's set up a long timetable and complicated procedure to ensure that nothing gets done on a timely basis.

where did i say form a committee(bqm) i know you pout when i point out alternative viewpoints, and you are making stuff up again, greenie. you've been doing that a lot lately. i said appoint someone. like maybe someone from the grossly overstaffed president's office that you mentioned (weak leaders like engstrom do tend to bloat the 'top' administrative levels).

also, are you going to address the scenario where the wife of your boss starts snooping around client info, despite not being qualified(bqm)

I'm not really sure I can take anybody seriously who is too damn cheap to buy a $10 keyboard where all the buttons work. Also - from what I can tell - all this "snooping" was done to co-ordinate to get the data needed.

 

[argh!]

Is it weird that his wife is undertaking initiatives to help the University? Maybe, but then again not really. You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

i have said many times in other posts that one of the worst things about academia is nepotism, i.e. spousal accommodation. i made the point in another response, but it is very difficult for people to stand up to nepotism, because they'll attract the ire of their boss. maybe that is why crady didn't go to him(bqm)

i've seen lots of nepotism in academia, with spouses being appointed to jobs they aren't qualified for, etc... do you not think that having the spouse of your boss sitting next to you isn't going to have the potential to alter the way you respond to questions, etc, out of fear of saying something that will be reported back to the 'boss' as negative(bqm)

otherwise i agree with a lot of what you wrote. academia is in trouble for a lot of reasons, and 'shared governance', i.e. faculty bureaucracy, often causes more problems than it helps. i've written on here many times of the problems with it, with tenure, and with other faculty-related issues, but everybody wants to jump on me because i'm not blindly rah-rah-ing bodnar until he actually does something to deserve it. so far i've seen a lot of rookie mistakes. given his lack of experience in academia, some of that is to be expected, but hopefully he'll learn sooner than later. also, people here bitch about faculty all the time, but they are the ones delivering the product for the university, and if bodnar alienates them, um ain't getting better any time soon.

 

[argh!]

... You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

I spent around 30 years as a college faculty member (most of it part-time, admittedly), so I know a bit about the academic world. This point should be reinforced: Perhaps it's not as common as it once was, but the notion that the school agrees to hire the spouse is, quite literally, sometimes a part of the hiring agreement, especially for a really big name/$$$ professor. It was quite awhile ago, but I recall one case where the uni actually created a position for the wife ... that was how bad they wanted the husband, who was reportedly nominated later for a Nobel Prize.

yeah, i've seen lots of positions created for spouses - and not for spouses of nobel prize winners, just average professors. i don't think that happens much in the 'real world', and wish it didn't in academia, especially given that tax payer dollars are involved.

 

[SoldierGriz]

Is it weird that his wife is undertaking initiatives to help the University? Maybe, but then again not really. You use the Nepotism statement, but many higher ed institutions, including UM, have spousal accommodation where they will find the spouse a job on campus if they are hiring the other one. I can think of three or four couples where this occurred at UM, and a different department hired the spouse of a candidate without much of a real search. Hell, Engstrom's wife was one I am fairly certain. So don't act like it is entirely uncommon for a spouse to get a job. Should Bodnar identify what she does in her volunteer capacity and put the proper protocol in place so employees know what is ok to share with her? Sure, but that is an easy correction, and ALSO A SUGGESTION CRADY COULD HAVE BROUGHT TO BODNAR.

i have said many times in other posts that one of the worst things about academia is nepotism, i.e. spousal accommodation. i made the point in another response, but it is very difficult for people to stand up to nepotism, because they'll attract the ire of their boss. maybe that is why crady didn't go to him(bqm)

i've seen lots of nepotism in academia, with spouses being appointed to jobs they aren't qualified for, etc... do you not think that having the spouse of your boss sitting next to you isn't going to have the potential to alter the way you respond to questions, etc, out of fear of saying something that will be reported back to the 'boss' as negative(bqm)

otherwise i agree with a lot of what you wrote. academia is in trouble for a lot of reasons, and 'shared governance', i.e. faculty bureaucracy, often causes more problems than it helps. i've written on here many times of the problems with it, with tenure, and with other faculty-related issues, but everybody wants to jump on me because i'm not blindly rah-rah-ing bodnar until he actually does something to deserve it. so far i've seen a lot of rookie mistakes. given his lack of experience in academia, some of that is to be expected, but hopefully he'll learn sooner than later. also, people here bitch about faculty all the time, but they are the ones delivering the product for the university, and if bodnar alienates them, um ain't getting better any time soon.

Good post. My guess is Bodnar agrees with you regarding results. If you asked him how he is doing to date - he'd probably say he is gaining clarity across the spectrum of issues. He'd probably tell you the problem set is cumbersome, nuanced, and full of bureaucratic obstacles. Perhaps he would tell you it is harder than he imagined. He'd probably give himself an incomplete, and tell you he is now working to establish the frameworks required to address them.

My guess is he will center his priorities around both the students and the faculty. He needs more students to choose UM, and he needs the best of the faculty to help him do so. He will work hard to prevent alienation.

But, given the changes coming and cuts or consolidation to programs - some faculty will certainly feel alienated. He'll need to lead effectively to navigate these realities.

Thankfully, leading is where his credentials are extraordinary.