Seventy-two percent of the faculty at the University of North Texas expressed "no confidence" in Howard Johnson, one of the three finalist to become the 10th president of FAMU.Mr. Johnson serves as UNT Provost. The vote of "no confidence", which was cast by 63% of the University's faculty in December 2005, did not require Jackson to resign or be fired. The "no confidence" vote simply expressed the faculty's confidence in Mr. Johnson's ability, as Provost, to lead the university as the chief academic officer.
Wow!!!
ReplyDeleteWith all of the turmoil the faculty and staff have recently experienced under this administration, would it be wise to bring in another individual that seems to have not been able to build a consensus among the faculty? This person has been accused of not listening, doing it my way, not respecting the tenure process, which only leads me to believe that he does not hold shared governance in high esteem? After the SBI 8, several board meetings Castell Vaughn Bryant still did not respect the direction from the board to undo what she had done.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need a male version of Cast-Hell.
ReplyDeleteDid they just recently give him this vote of no-con. I mean, why kick him in the butt if he is already applying for another job? Could it be that UNT faculty want to warn FAMU about this guy, or they are purposefully sabotaging his career just as he was trying to move up? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteThis occurred in 2005.
ReplyDeleteRN. If you are going to report the news and tell a story and pretend at journalism tell the whole story. Stop trying to spin information. Yes there was a vote of no confidence. I suggest RN that you also publish Dr. Johnson's response to that vote---His summary report of his first two years on campus. There are two sides to every story. This link will take you to his response and analysis of the situation.
ReplyDeletehttp://inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=276
We need to understand that every one has an agenda, even faculty. Just because faculty took a vote of no confidence does not mean the person is horrible. Many faculty members are resisting some of the changes that are being required of them---comfortable, resisting technology in instruction, want compensation for mimimal activity, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteInteresting we are mentioning the vote of no confidence, but not the debacle that occured at NCCU which occured with Dr. Ammons and Dr. Lucy Reubens who was their provost. RN, please research and publish on that situation for fair balance of all candidates, their strengths and weaknesses.
Anonymous 3:05 p.m...I don't want fair and balance reporting I want Ammons. If you want fair and balanced reporting go watch FOX news...or do your own darn research.
ReplyDelete^^^LOL!
ReplyDeleteTo: Anon 3:17 PM, ignorance like that is why FAMU is in the shape which it is in right now.
ReplyDeleteJohnson appears to be a stand up guy. He carefully explains his positions and reaches out to University stakeholders. Seems like he would be a refreshing change of course for FAMU.
ReplyDeleteJOHNSON 4 President!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThis occurred in 2005.
1/03/2007 1:02 PM
This occurred in DEC 2005, effectively Jan. '06 for all practicle purposes.
Anonymous said...Johnson appears to be a stand up guy. He carefully explains his positions and reaches out to University stakeholders. Seems like he would be a refreshing change of course for FAMU. 1/03/2007 3:34 PM
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
After the fact. This is the type of self inflicted pain we do not need. Had he carefully explained his position before the crap hit the fan and reached out to the stakeholders before the Super board reversed 12 out of 13 of his decisions I would agree. However, like Casthell he just jumped in there and effed up the whole process.
No need to explain after the fact, the crap was done.
Let me see, they have 793 faculty; 491 showed up to a meeting to vote; and 356 voted "No Confidence." That's a helluva lot of angry pissed off faculty members that he did not communicate with. Don't you think?
in the NCCU case, it is my understanding that to avoid a vote of no confidence against him ( Ammons) the blame was placed on Dr. Reuben.
ReplyDeleteIn both cases, the individuals ( provosts) were trying to improve and increase the level of scholarship and research on the respective institutions... for the many faculty members who were under the impression the merely being employed by an institution merits tenure, denial was quite a shock.
furthermore, one should acknowledge that in the politics of academia, the provost can be a convenient pawn of the president or chancellor.
it is interesting to note that
1) the selection committee is not populated with many individuals with experience in higher education (how many of them have even gone through the tenure process?)
2)The Humphries administration has been demonized in the past but all of a sudden people have conveniently forgotten that Ammons was part of that administration
3)What is the big deal about hiring a FAMU grad when we see how unsuccessful this strategy has been in the past (see Gainous and Cast hell). why not try something novel like picking the best person for the job based on a well articulated vision for the university.
maybe we should start over- beginning with a competent selection committee!
exactly what happened at NCCU? does anyone know?
ReplyDeleteHump took a lot of flak for trying to increase research profile of the school. He only wanted PhDs to get tenure. The same thing happens at many schools that switch from teaching to research. It's a hard pill to swallow for the faculty, b/c most faculty that want to do hardcore research are ALREADY at research schools. You only go to purer teaching schools if you want to keep your research to a minimum.
ReplyDelete^^^^^
ReplyDeleteas I read echoed on this board many a moons ago...FAMU being the doyen of research and study on the Black experience and finding ways to counteract the the problems that plague us as a people, among other things...I looked forward to Dr. Ammons return.
Well if we really want FAMU to be a research oriented school, Dr. Johnson may be the better pick. He has spent his whole career at research intensive schools and UNT has many more Masters and PhD level programs than the other two.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the vote of no confidence, I appreciate the person bringing the info forward regarding Dr. Ammons. The point is, this is happening at many schools as the administration tries to change the environment and culture of the university. Unfortunately, many faculty are interested in maintaining the status quo and not trying to work harder, smarter, and more innovative to propel their institutions forward.
Excuse me poster @ 1/04/2007 9:34 AM:
ReplyDeleteDr. Howard Johnson spent his WHOLE career at Syracruse University. Where is the diversity?
I don't know why people look at Ammons as inferior because of his degree. Johnson may have research credentials, but has he raised funds outside of research, has he managed an entire institution?
ReplyDeleteWell Ammons has.
Have any of you realized that FAMU has more research dollars than North Texas...have you realized that FAMU has a higher endowment than North Texas...Johnson was assistant vice provost at Syracuse and only his provost position is at a research/endowment smaller school. Nonetheless, I do like him better than Thompson but he is certainly is not as qualified, experienced and proven to come in the FAMU fold as Ammons is.
NCCU receives more sponsored research grants than North Texas. So does FAMU. In fact, during the Humphries-Ammons years, FAMU reached the #3 spot in sponsored research among Florida's public universities. North Texas just has more doctoral programs.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was FAMU's provost, Dr. Ammons laid the groundwork for FAMU to have a long line of new doctoral programs that will soon help us catch up with most big research universities. If he comes back, then this become a reality.
Dr. Ammons is by far the best candidate for making FAMU a premier research university.