tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502187932910780823.post4700837180253263535..comments2024-03-06T12:16:49.012-05:00Comments on Fire on the Mountain: Victory at the University of Tennessee!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502187932910780823.post-47708208199829766912009-08-02T13:56:48.871-04:002009-08-02T13:56:48.871-04:00I would like to thank Dr. John Petersen for extend...I would like to thank Dr. John Petersen for extending to the Seymour Herald the first opportunity to reflect on his five years as President of the University of Tennessee up through his resignation, and comment on higher education in the State of Tennessee.<br /> <br />This interview is not intended to tell both sides of the story; I did not wish to seek opposing views or detractor comments, as these have been amply covered by other news media. Dr. Petersen would not address rumors, statements, and innuendo from any source, as to do so would only result in further controversy and would not undo any harm inaccuracies might have caused. This is an interview with an individual that this reporter considers to be honest, intelligent, and a credit to the University of Tennessee, and academia as a whole. <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br />When he accepted the job as university president he was offered no specific mandate. In his words, “One can move slowly and deliberately forward and maintain most of the status quo, or one can set aggressive and far-reaching goals to improve the system. I chose the latter, however it does not come without a toll. Most are not aware there are 6 organizational entities and many stakeholders involved in the UT system’s decision making process. If you make 20 decisions it is likely that many of the decisions will not be acceptable to one or more of the entities…now multiply that by thousands over four and a half years.”<br />.<br />His goals as president were to increase student access, graduation , research and economic development especially with private industry, and finally, to consolidate direction and decision making to fewer individuals to make faster and more sound decisions for the educational system.<br /> <br />Unfortunately, a university president’s accomplishment are not measured as easily as a football coach. There are no clear win-loss records. A measuring tool does exist, but not all facets of the position are accounted for. For example, approximately 25% of his time was spent raising public and private dollars for all 4 of the campuses and institutes. Dr Petersen’s administration doubled the amount of private dollars raised compared to his last two predecessors.<br /> <br /> <br />Dr. Petersen was born and raised in Los Angeles, and was the first family member to attend college. After high school attended the local state college, California State University-Los Angeles, for his BS degree, then enrolled and graduated from the University of California- Santa Barbara with his doctorate in chemistry.<br /> <br />Dr Petersen was hired by Kansas State, where he served as a faculty member. He spent almost 15 years at Clemson University as a faculty member, Associate Dean of Research and Department Head of Chemistry in the College of Science. From there he spent time as Dean of Science at Wayne State University, and Chancellor/ Provost at the University of Connecticut before moving to UT.<br /> <br />The Future Plans of Dr. John Petersen?<br /> <br />Ideally, he would like to find a position in which he can further contribute to higher education in a leadership capacity. He is also interested private sector research project…but for now he calls himself a “program builder in waiting.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502187932910780823.post-90990728838496904572009-02-20T11:09:00.000-05:002009-02-20T11:09:00.000-05:00Solidarity forever!!Solidarity forever!!bendygirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00354763484076446134noreply@blogger.com