North Carolina State University Chancellor Marye Anne Fox was
harshly reprimanded by the NCSU faculty senate last year, but this
past conflict has not made the University of California Board of
Regents hesitant to support her as the next chancellor of UC San
Diego.
The regents are expected to confirm Fox as the new chancellor of
UC San Diego in a special meeting April 12.
When news media discovered last week that Fox would be UC
President Dynes’ nominee for the San Diego chancellorship,
her censure by the North Carolina faculty senate surfaced as a
possible demerit on her otherwise strong résumé.
But both North Carolina faculty and the UC Regents agree that
Fox learned from her mistakes and would make an excellent
chancellor for UCSD.
In 2003, Fox fired two well-respected vice provosts and her
provost resigned in protest. Soon afterward, the NCSU faculty
senate voted 29-6 to reprimand her for her actions.
According to Philip Carter, past chair of the NCSU faculty
senate, the senate’s strong action was largely a result of
the instability Fox’s actions created in the provost’s
office.
“We were looking at our seventh provost in four and a half
years,” Carter said. “The faculty was quite upset at
the lack of stability in that office, since the provost coordinates
(many) of the academic programs.”
Turmoil in the NCSU provost’s office began to build soon
after Fox took office.
When Fox became chancellor, she asked Phillip Stilles, the
provost at the time, to resign. This was not a controversial move
““ Carter said the faculty assumed she wanted one of her own
people in the office.
But concern about instability in the provost’s office grew
when the next provost, Kermin Hall, left after less than a year to
become president of another university.
Then, when Stuart Cooper ““ the sixth provost, counting
interim provosts ““ resigned after Fox fired his subordinates
against his wishes, it was “the last straw,” Carter
said.
Though her faculty criticized her actions in extremely strong
terms, faculty senators at NCSU say their relationship with the
chancellor has improved since the censure.
“Chancellor Fox has put much more effort into building
relations with the faculty this past year. She has devoted a great
deal of time to listening to faculty leaders,” said Dennis
Daley, chairman of the NCSU Faculty Senate.
“I think she has learned from the mistakes of the past and
is a better chancellor for it,” Carter said.
“Personally, I would be happy to have her stay
here,” he added.
Several of the UC Regents said they are well aware of
Fox’s past, and they expect Fox to be confirmed without
conflict.
“I do not expect any debate,” said regent Velma
Montoya, adding that Fox’s decisive action could even be a
mark in her favor.
“We are sure that she will do an excellent job at San
Diego, and that she will work … productively with the faculty
senate in San Diego,” said George Blumenthal, vice-chair of
the UC Academic Senate, and a member of the search committee for
the UCSD chancellorship.
Fox had never been a chancellor before she took the helm of
NCSU, but there is universal agreement about the strength of her
résumé.
In a letter to the UCSD community, UC President Dynes called Fox
“one of the nation’s most distinguished physical
organic chemists,” and before serving as chancellor of NCSU,
she was vice president for research at the University of Texas,
Austin.
Fox is also a member of the President’s Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology, and she has received a national
award for mentoring graduate students.
In addition, President Dynes’ recommendation is very
influential.
“As far as I understand, it is unusual to have the person
that the president recommends not selected by the regents,”
said Matt Murray, student regent for 2003-2004.