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May 3, 2007

Shake up has UMass staff on the run

Congressman-Chancellor Marty Meehan took issue with media reports that he fired popular UMass Lowell Provost John Wooding. He said Wooding stepped down of his own volition. It came following a Meehan-Wooding phone call in which the provost was told that the chancellor-select wanted an educator with a science and research background to fill the post. Wooding’s expertise is in political science and economics.
Meehan told The Sun he asked Wooding to remain interim provost for “up to 12 months” while an official nationwide search is conducted and completed. Wooding declined, however, and sent out an email outlining his termination. Interestingly, the email barely cleared cyberspace when Wooding descended on the office of Acting Chancellor David McKenzie to begin negotiations on a deal that would return the provost to the classroom. As a tenured professor, Wooding is guaranteed a slot that could pay him up to 80 percent of his $194,000 provost’s salary - or $155,000.
Wooding’s rush to make a deal has spread like wildfire. The Sun has learned that two other top-ranking administrators have petitioned McKenzie for similar Ivory corridor-to-classroom deals.
Meehan is fuming. “I think I should be negotiating who goes back to the classroom and who doesn’t,” he said.
The bottom line? It’s apparent that Meehan’s work ethic — and what he demands from his staff - is starting to penetrate the deep UMass Lowell organizational chart. As one college employee put it, “On 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon you could shoot a cannon in the administration building and no one would be around to hear it, let alone be hit by it.”
Meehan is notorious for working his congressional staff to the limit. Most move on to excel in other quarters and have credited the congressman for their professional development.
Of course, Meehan faces a major hurdle at UMass Lowell in instituting the same determined drive. Nearly 85 percent of all faculty and staff are union members. On the other hand, congressional staffers aren’t allowed to unionize under federal law.

Posted by JimC at May 3, 2007 3:17 PM

Comments

Posted by: Gabe Kotter at May 3, 2007 4:08 PM