This month's focus:
UF's Interim Administration

NSF Grants QTP Project $2.2 Million
UF's Quantum Theory Project hopes to design innovative software

Josh Russell's Yellow Jack
New creative writing professor's first novel garners high praise

Provost Sees Faculty Involvement as Crucial to UF's Continued Advancement

Florida Facts

Keene-Flint Hall Groundbreaking

Dean's Musings
The Recruiting Season

Around the College
-Department News
-Statistics department holds symposium
-Romance Languages hosts 30th annual linguistics symposium
-Study abroad scholarship deadlines approach
-Five CLAS professors named Fulbright recipients
-Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research colloquium is underway
-Advising wins publication award
-Philosophy conference to be held at UF
-Women's Studies director visits White House
-UF writer's festival brings renowned authors
-McQuown Award deadline approaching

Bookbeat
Recent publications from CLAS faculty

Grants
Grant awards for December 1999 from the Division of Sponsored Research

Back Issues

CLASnotes
is published monthly by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to inform faculty and staff of current research and events.
Dean: Will Harrison
harrison@chem.ufl.edu
Editor: M. Jane Gibson
jgibson@clas.ufl.edu
Contr. Editor: John Elderkin
elderkin@clas.ufl.edu
Graphics: Jane Dominguez
jane@clas.ufl.edu
Copy Editor: Bill Hardwig

CLASnotes
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
University of Florida
2008 Turlington
P.O. Box 117300
Gainesville, FL 32611-7300
(352) 846-2032

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At the Helm: Steering Florida's Flagship
Interim president Charles Young on the future of UF

Cn: What is going to be the fate of the UF Bank now that you've had a few months to evaluate it?
CY: The Bank as a mechanism--to the extent that it was a mechanism--will not continue to be used, at least during my tenure. But much of the work that went into the development of the Bank will continue to be a part of the process.

The Bank was an approach at performance budgeting and accountability budgeting, and we plan to continue accountability and performance budgeting. The Bank utilized a lot of information and indices and comparison data and that data will continue to be used, but not in the formalistic way in which it was previously. It will be used in association with a variety of other information and data. We plan the process to be a more iterative one in which the deans are asked to present their goals and plans for their colleges...so we'll use the [traditional comparison] data with other data the deans believe is important...examine it, discuss its value, and try to reach some mutually agreeable conclusions.

I think one of the major problems [with the Bank] was that it wasn't understood. It wasn't the product of a consultative process, so people didn't feel like it was something that they were involved in.

Cn: In light of what looks to be sure policy change on racial preference in SUS admissions, how can UF prevent the draining of talented minorities from future freshman classes?
CY: I think the Board of Regents (BOR) will clearly adopt the governor's proposal, One Florida. For the universities that have been more selective, it will take a great deal of hard work and substantial resources--outreach, recruiting, financial aid, scholarship, etc.--to prevent any negative impact.

The primary concern is going to be need-based financial aid, and funds for outreach programs helping to get students prepared and focused on the possibility of attending the University of Florida.

Cn: Will One Florida affect us this fall?
CY: Yes, but not until it is officially adopted by the BOR. We will have admitted, by the time the BOR acts, a substantial portion of the class for next year under the old admissions requirements, and it will not affect admission for the summer of 2000. So our expectation is that the impact will be minimal this year. And of course One Florida doesn't apply to graduate and professional students until 2001.

Cn: You've said you feel that UF can be one of the top universities in the nation if we keep pressing forward and, among other things, continue to expand private support. Would you comment on the importance of fundraising in enhancing our reputation?
CY: Whether in endowments, operating funds, or facilities, the goal is to provide support that enables the state-funded university to achieve excellence, which would not be achievable from the funding provided by the state.

I think you've got to focus on quality. And you've got to focus on need. So you have to be able to demonstrate that you have the quality which will enable you with the resources that you are seeking to provide the enhancement required to attain the progress you're telling people you want to make and can make. There needs to be a commonality to it so people aren't seeing entirely different messages from different places [around campus].... It is an area in which success begets success. You've got to marshal the troops: alumni, friends, supporters, and people who have been associated with the university and convince them that their contributions in time and money will make a difference for the university....[You have to] get those people involved, and then follow through on your commitment to them. Florida has already made great strides in that regard, and I'm very hopeful that we can be successful in completing this campaign.

Cn: Are specific fundraising strategies more important than others?
CY: I think faculty are critical. What people are supporting, ultimately, is the work of the university--the teaching, research and service--and that work is done by faculty members. You need to involve the faculty with the people who are your targets for giving in the particular programs.

When you have a really successful relationship with a donor--major or not so major--it usually means that there is a successful relationship between that donor and a faculty member, a group of faculty members, or a department or program that they can relate to. It's not to the university as a whole. For the most part, people want to support particular programs, particular people or particular activities, and they're looking for results. So the more personal you can make that, the more likely you are to be successful.

Cn: What would you list as the most important things UF must do to become a top 10 public institution?
CY: 1) The quality of the library is a major concern. The facilities and the collections are not what you would expect to find at a university of this quality. Continued qualitative growth will be seriously hampered unless holdings are expanded. We need to place high priority on improving the physical condition of the library: more space for collections and student studying facilities, and the space we already have needs to be substantially enhanced. The library needs much more funding.
2) The strength of UF's research and research facilities should be further enhanced.
3) The number of faculty needs to be increased without increases in enrollment--the student/faculty ratio is currently too high.
4) In order to continue to recruit and retain the highest quality faculty, faculty salaries need to be increased.
5) The strength of the graduate program needs to be increased: in some areas it's not large enough and in most areas the quality of the graduate students is not at the level it can and should be. Graduate stipends are too low. The faculty resources that are available to deal with students in graduate programs are insufficient, in part because the resources required for some undergraduate programs are extremely great due to what I would think would be a larger than optimal number of undergraduate specializations.

Cn: Don't specializations better prepare graduates for jobs and graduate study?
CY: By and large a good, strong, broad liberal arts education is the best preparation for graduates. Leave the specialization for graduate school. In terms of jobs, for people who are completing their education with their undergraduate degree, professionalization at the undergraduate level may be helpful--at least for looking for the first job. Whether that is the best education for a lifetime career is another question.

Cn: What role do you think the liberal arts and sciences play in the reputation of a large state university?
CY: You cannot have a great university without a great core, and the core is arts and sciences: the traditional academic disciplines. One of the primary priorities has to be making sure that all of the disciplines of the college have achieved at a threshold level acceptable for a first rate university, and that those which are excellent or have the ability to become excellent attain the resources to enable them to do so. You clearly need to have a dozen or more such excellent departments--I don't think that's the case now, and it will take a focused effort and additional resources to allow that to happen.

Cn: What do you see as your role in helping UF attract the best permanent president? What kind of person do we need to pull in?
CY: I think it needs to be someone with substantial experience in a first-rate research-based university--probably a public university--and someone with vision and leadership skills.

I hope to be able to help create the circumstances to make it possible for someone with those talents to be able to move the university forward. Things need to be done to overcome present difficulties [Young says these include internal governance questions, external governance questions, faculty salary questions and resource issues] in order to provide the basis to move forward. I think [these difficulties] can be addressed in a short period of time.

Cn: Is it possible that the complicated relationship history among the SUS, the BOR and the legislature may be a deterrent to potential outstanding candidates?
CY: There are some concerns in that area. Operating within any system is always difficult, no matter how good the people involved are. But the BOR and BOR staff are interested in bringing about positive changes in that regard, and conversations with legislators lead me to believe they are willing to try and overcome some of the problems that may have been created by the impact of the state in that tripartite process.

Cn: On a personal note, how did your family feel about you coming out of retirement to take this position?
CY: I didn't contemplate an interim presidency when I retired, but when I was asked to consider it at UF, I came to the conclusion that it would be stimulating, interesting, and ultimately, that I could help the situation here in Florida. My wife and family said it was alright with them....They were very positive. It's been an enjoyable experience thus far, and I expect it will continue to be.

--Jane Gibson

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