While Juneau got rain, the mountains got powdered.
And today, the snow level was down to our level. Though it's pretty much all melted.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Working at Home Watching the Snow Melt
I'm working on a couple of projects that have been delayed by blogging. Also trying to get some video edited from last night's introduction of the University of Alaska President Candidates here in Juneau.
We had serious rain yesterday. My raincoat worked great except where it dripped onto the front of my pants. But I did find a new use for my laptop - pants drier. The heat of the battery on my pants did the trick.
While Juneau got rain, the mountains got powdered.
And today, the snow level was down to our level. Though it's pretty much all melted.
While Juneau got rain, the mountains got powdered.
And today, the snow level was down to our level. Though it's pretty much all melted.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Black Bugs - Google Searches for Jan/Feb 2010
My notes for this bi-monthly post mostly got wiped out because blogspot saves changes almost instantly. I hit something accidentally and everything disappeared. I hit Control Z (Undo) but it didn't come back. Blogspot instantly saved my changes and so wiped out everything I had saved for five weeks, but not posted. It was gone forever.
So, necessity being the mother of invention, I'm looking at this regular google search post from a different angle this month. It seems a lot of people have little black bugs. So, for the last three weeks of February, these are some of the ways people got to my post
Tiny Black Bugs - Fruit Fly or Fungus Gnat?
black bugs flying around house plants - New York
black gnats in house - from somewhere in Eastern time zone.
black tiny non-fruit flies - Louth, Lincolnshire, UK
"fruit flies" "house plants" "fungus gnats" - Palisades Park, New Jersey
fungi gnats - London
fungus gnat - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
fungus gnats picture - Quebec
fungus gnats versus fruit fly
gnats black - San Mateo, California
gnats bugs - from Friendswood, Texas.
fungus gnats bananas - San Antonio, Texas
fungus gnat larvae -Odessa, Texas
house gnats - Pacific Coast Time
how to eliminate tiny fruit fly -US eastern standard time
insects homes colorado tin - Littleton, Colorado
little flies in houseplants - Brggen, Germany
little tiny black bugs that skip and fly and infest my house - Orlando, Florida
photos of small black flying gnats - St. Louis, Missouri
pics, gnats in my plants that bite - Houma, Louisiana [extension service said they don't bite]
pictures of gnats and fruit flies - Vienna, Virginia
picture of soil gnats - Seattle
show me pictures of all gnats - Houston, Texas
small black bugs in house - central Canada
mall black bugs that look like fruit flies - Newport Beach, California
small black flies related to fruit flies - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
small black insect fruit - from Nerang, Queensland, Australia
small dark flies in my hous - Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada
small flying black bugs in kitchen picture - Hawaii time zone
small gnats february seattle wa - Boise, Idaho
tiny black aphids on houseplants - Champlin, Minnesota
tiny black flies in offic
tiny black flies in seattle - Lynnwood, Washington
tiny black flies on car - Bellingham, WA
tiny black gnats - Liverpool, New York<
tiny black insects in house thailand - Thailand
tiny flies in houseplants? - US Central Time
tiny fruit flies - mountain time
tiny fruit flies - This one was from the US Dept. of Agriculture in Livonia, New York
what are small black flying gnat like bugs in winter time - Kansas City, Missouri
what are small black insects on my houseplant - Eastern Standard Time
winter gnat -
And a few of the other terms that were interesting to me:
kiwi oatmeal - Got to my low calorie oatmeal post. There's a regular trickle of people searching for low calorie oatmeal, but this is the first one I've seen that included kiwi in the search. Good to know I'm not the only one who sees the potential of cooking kiwi in oatmeal. (The fruit, not the bird.)
pantsof Korean - got to a picture of the Pope
what ethical obligations do you personally feel towards wolves and whales? - Got to one of the Google Search posts and then went to "To Live and Die in Wales, Alaska"
what to do with tight stomach on botton left side and retum feel funny to can't move my bowels what to do - This one from Surprise, Arizona got to the main page.
stink pen with an ordinary matches - got to the picture (left) of S holding his bottle of homemade pig stink mitigator
pictures of elephants in the hospital having a baby - and I do have pictures of an elephant hospital in the Thai elephant conservation center post. But not having a baby.
Yahoo v. Google
This first one below is a Yahoo search with what the person got from the Yahoo search page. I don't see any of the words they were searching for (except 'a' and 'the' and 'to'.) I probably have some of those words on my blog, but you'd think they would highlight them in the search findings. i am a pharmacist in vietnam,when i live in the u.s.a do i have to study from the beginning pharmacy degree -
Here's a google search that also isn't really related to anything on my blog, but at least all six words - even if not in order - were on the page they found:
hercules caucus who ate cows -
The genus is named for Hercules, who is reputed to have used these plants for medicine. Early in each year, Native Americans peeled and ate the young sweet, .... University Caucus Formation Love Fest · Alaska Community Services Lobbying ...
whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2007/07/cow-parsnip-heracleum.html - Cached -
For people who are wondering how I know about these searches and where they come from, I use Sitemeter. You can go to the sitemeter button on the right hand column and see what information is available by clicking on the number which is around 176,000 now. Here's a picture of what it looks like. This is an image (not actual text) so the link there doesn't work. Actually, I could link it, but then you wouldn't find again, so go look. While Sitemeter gives the choice to have the data private, I leave it open so people can see what kind of data are collected.
So, necessity being the mother of invention, I'm looking at this regular google search post from a different angle this month. It seems a lot of people have little black bugs. So, for the last three weeks of February, these are some of the ways people got to my post
Tiny Black Bugs - Fruit Fly or Fungus Gnat?
black bugs flying around house plants - New York
black gnats in house - from somewhere in Eastern time zone.
black tiny non-fruit flies - Louth, Lincolnshire, UK
"fruit flies" "house plants" "fungus gnats" - Palisades Park, New Jersey
fungi gnats - London
fungus gnat - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
fungus gnats picture - Quebec
fungus gnats versus fruit fly
gnats black - San Mateo, California
gnats bugs - from Friendswood, Texas.
fungus gnats bananas - San Antonio, Texas
fungus gnat larvae -Odessa, Texas
house gnats - Pacific Coast Time
how to eliminate tiny fruit fly -US eastern standard time
insects homes colorado tin - Littleton, Colorado
little flies in houseplants - Brggen, Germany
little tiny black bugs that skip and fly and infest my house - Orlando, Florida
photos of small black flying gnats - St. Louis, Missouri
pics, gnats in my plants that bite - Houma, Louisiana [extension service said they don't bite]
pictures of gnats and fruit flies - Vienna, Virginia
picture of soil gnats - Seattle
show me pictures of all gnats - Houston, Texas
small black bugs in house - central Canada
mall black bugs that look like fruit flies - Newport Beach, California
small black flies related to fruit flies - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
small black insect fruit - from Nerang, Queensland, Australia
small dark flies in my hous - Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada
small flying black bugs in kitchen picture - Hawaii time zone
small gnats february seattle wa - Boise, Idaho
tiny black aphids on houseplants - Champlin, Minnesota
tiny black flies in offic
tiny black flies in seattle - Lynnwood, Washington
tiny black flies on car - Bellingham, WA
tiny black gnats - Liverpool, New York<
tiny black insects in house thailand - Thailand
tiny flies in houseplants? - US Central Time
tiny fruit flies - mountain time
tiny fruit flies - This one was from the US Dept. of Agriculture in Livonia, New York
what are small black flying gnat like bugs in winter time - Kansas City, Missouri
what are small black insects on my houseplant - Eastern Standard Time
winter gnat -
And a few of the other terms that were interesting to me:
kiwi oatmeal - Got to my low calorie oatmeal post. There's a regular trickle of people searching for low calorie oatmeal, but this is the first one I've seen that included kiwi in the search. Good to know I'm not the only one who sees the potential of cooking kiwi in oatmeal. (The fruit, not the bird.)
pantsof Korean - got to a picture of the Pope
what ethical obligations do you personally feel towards wolves and whales? - Got to one of the Google Search posts and then went to "To Live and Die in Wales, Alaska"
what to do with tight stomach on botton left side and retum feel funny to can't move my bowels what to do - This one from Surprise, Arizona got to the main page.
stink pen with an ordinary matches - got to the picture (left) of S holding his bottle of homemade pig stink mitigator
pictures of elephants in the hospital having a baby - and I do have pictures of an elephant hospital in the Thai elephant conservation center post. But not having a baby.
Yahoo v. Google
This first one below is a Yahoo search with what the person got from the Yahoo search page. I don't see any of the words they were searching for (except 'a' and 'the' and 'to'.) I probably have some of those words on my blog, but you'd think they would highlight them in the search findings. i am a pharmacist in vietnam,when i live in the u.s.a do i have to study from the beginning pharmacy degree -
Here's a google search that also isn't really related to anything on my blog, but at least all six words - even if not in order - were on the page they found:
hercules caucus who ate cows -
What Do I know?: Cow Parsnip - Heracleum
The genus is named for Hercules, who is reputed to have used these plants for medicine. Early in each year, Native Americans peeled and ate the young sweet, .... University Caucus Formation Love Fest · Alaska Community Services Lobbying ...
whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2007/07/cow-parsnip-heracleum.html - Cached -
For people who are wondering how I know about these searches and where they come from, I use Sitemeter. You can go to the sitemeter button on the right hand column and see what information is available by clicking on the number which is around 176,000 now. Here's a picture of what it looks like. This is an image (not actual text) so the link there doesn't work. Actually, I could link it, but then you wouldn't find again, so go look. While Sitemeter gives the choice to have the data private, I leave it open so people can see what kind of data are collected.
Rep. Harry Crawford Wants To Buy Steel
Rep. Harry Crawford was sitting on a bench in the Capitol as I was walking by, so after a brief exchange of pleasantries, I asked what his current hot issue was. In the video below, he explains HB 8 which would have the State buy 100 million tons of steel while the price is low to have ready for building the gas pipeline.
I really don't know anything about buying and storing steel. I did look for five year steel prices on line and found these charts from metalprices.com.
I hadn't looked at anything like this before the 'interview,' so I didn't ask Crawford about the fact that while it is true that prices are low now after a recent spike, that spike appears to be an anomaly, at least over the last five years. According to the chart, the end of January 2010 was relatively high not counting the spike.
Or is the spike the future that was simply interrupted by the current economic downturn?
There are a lot of questions I didn't ask and this was a pretty impromptu encounter where Crawford, understandably, kept to an overview.
Below is the heart of HB 8. I don't see any instructions about price ranges. Would the State be obligated to buy the steel even if the price were no longer 'low?'
In any case, Crawford is showing original thinking and is willing to take a risk. Assuming that he's already looked into all the unasked questions and found answers that confirm this proposal, it probably deserves some serious attention. If not, it only proves that he's thinking in broader terms than most, but whether it's a good idea is yet to be demonstrated.
From HB 8:
PIPE FOR A NATURAL GAS PIPELINE.
a) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall, under AS 36.30, enter into a contract for the purchase of pipe suitable for a natural gas pipeline project under AS 43.90(Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) in a quantity sufficient for the portion of the pipeline to be constructed within the state. The department shall store the pipe until it is delivered to a licensee in accord with an agreement entered into under (b) of this
(b) After a license is issued under AS 43.90.190(b), the Department of Revenue shall enter into negotiations for the purchase by the licensee of pipe acquired by the state under (a) 14 of this section. The terms of the purchase may include an exchange by the state of some or all of the pipe for a state interest in the natural gas pipeline to be constructed by the licensee and any other terms that the department considers necessary to protect the interests of the state. The Department of Revenue may enter into an agreement negotiated under this subsection and arrange for the delivery of the pipe to the licensee under that agreement.
Here's another source which shows a peak in mid 2008 and then quickly back to normal ranges. As I say, this is not an area of expertise for me at all. I'm just raising questions.
I really don't know anything about buying and storing steel. I did look for five year steel prices on line and found these charts from metalprices.com.
I hadn't looked at anything like this before the 'interview,' so I didn't ask Crawford about the fact that while it is true that prices are low now after a recent spike, that spike appears to be an anomaly, at least over the last five years. According to the chart, the end of January 2010 was relatively high not counting the spike.
Or is the spike the future that was simply interrupted by the current economic downturn?
There are a lot of questions I didn't ask and this was a pretty impromptu encounter where Crawford, understandably, kept to an overview.
Below is the heart of HB 8. I don't see any instructions about price ranges. Would the State be obligated to buy the steel even if the price were no longer 'low?'
In any case, Crawford is showing original thinking and is willing to take a risk. Assuming that he's already looked into all the unasked questions and found answers that confirm this proposal, it probably deserves some serious attention. If not, it only proves that he's thinking in broader terms than most, but whether it's a good idea is yet to be demonstrated.
From HB 8:
PIPE FOR A NATURAL GAS PIPELINE.
a) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall, under AS 36.30, enter into a contract for the purchase of pipe suitable for a natural gas pipeline project under AS 43.90(Alaska Gasline Inducement Act) in a quantity sufficient for the portion of the pipeline to be constructed within the state. The department shall store the pipe until it is delivered to a licensee in accord with an agreement entered into under (b) of this
(b) After a license is issued under AS 43.90.190(b), the Department of Revenue shall enter into negotiations for the purchase by the licensee of pipe acquired by the state under (a) 14 of this section. The terms of the purchase may include an exchange by the state of some or all of the pipe for a state interest in the natural gas pipeline to be constructed by the licensee and any other terms that the department considers necessary to protect the interests of the state. The Department of Revenue may enter into an agreement negotiated under this subsection and arrange for the delivery of the pipe to the licensee under that agreement.
Here's another source which shows a peak in mid 2008 and then quickly back to normal ranges. As I say, this is not an area of expertise for me at all. I'm just raising questions.
Steelmaking Raw Material and Input Costs
| Year/ Month | Thermal Coal $/tonne | Coking Coal $/ton | Iron Ore C/dmtu | Natural Gas $/1000m3 | Steel Scrap $/tonne | Electric C/KwH |
| 2007 M1 | 55.0 | 94.3 | 84.7 | 302.0 | 264-270 | 6.09 |
| 2007 M2 | 56.7 | 84.7 | 302.0 | 280-285 | 6.18 | |
| 2007 M3 | 59.3 | 84.7 | 302.0 | 295-310 | 6.16 | |
| 2007 M4 | 60.1 | 94.6 | 84.7 | 281.9 | 315-320 | 6.19 |
| 2007 M5 | 60.0 | 84.7 | 281.9 | 295-305 | 6.20 | |
| 2007 M6 | 66.0 | 84.7 | 281.9 | 295-300 | 6.51 | |
| 2007 M7 | 72.1 | 95.1 | 84.7 | 280.4 | 280-290 | 6.61 |
| 2007 M8 | 74.3 | 84.7 | 280.4 | 275-285 | 6.83 | |
| 2007 M9 | 73.3 | 84.7 | 280.4 | 280-290 | 6.55 | |
| 2007 M10 | 80.2 | 97.8 | 84.7 | 308.2 | 275-280 | 6.44 |
| 2007 M11 | 90.6 | 84.7 | 308.2 | 280-290 | 6.22 | |
| 2007 M12 | 97.5 | 84.7 | 308.2 | 295-310 | 6.25 | |
| 2008 M1 | 98.3 | 106.1 | 140.6 | 369.7 | 385-400 | 6.39 |
| 2008 M2 | 141.4 | 140.6 | 369.7 | 390-405 | 6.38 | |
| 2008 M3 | 126.7 | 140.6 | 369.7 | 490-510 | 6.54 | |
| 2008 M4 | 131.8 | 113.9 | 140.6 | 428.4 | 510-530 | 6.64 |
| 2008 M5 | 142.7 | 140.6 | 428.4 | 570-580 | 6.80 | |
| 2008 M6 | 171.2 | 140.6 | 428.4 | 635-660 | 7.40 | |
| 2008 M7 | 192.9 | 122.0 | 140.6 | 517.0 | 630-640 | 7.78 |
| 2008 M8 | 169.7 | 140.6 | 517.0 | 385-390 | 7.63 | |
| 2008 M9 | 160.7 | 140.6 | 517.0 | 240-245 | 7.35 | |
| 2008 M10 | 115.7 | 129.1 | 140.6 | 576.7 | 220-225 | 7.23 |
| 2008 M11 | 98.8 | 140.6 | 576.7 | 205-210 | 7.04 | |
| 2008 M12 | 84.3 | 140.6 | 576.7 | 230-235 | 6.88 | |
| 2009 M1 | 85.7 | 137.1 | 101.0 | 576.7 | 270-275 | 6.90 |
| 2009 M2 | 80.8 | 101.0 | 520.9 | 200-205 | 6.98 | |
| 2009 M3 | 65.4 | 101.0 | 412.9 | 195-200 | 6.84 | |
| 2009 M4 | 68.1 | 143.4 | 101.0 | 309.6 | 220-230 | 6.78 |
| 2009 M5 | 69.1 | 101.0 | 309.6 | 220-225 | 6.89 | |
| 2009 M6 | 76.5 | 101.0 | 309.6 | 230-235 | 7.18 | |
| 2009 M7 | 79.1 | 151.2 | 101.0 | 244.4 | 245-250 | 7.11 |
| 2009 M8 | 77.7 | 101.0 | 222.5 | 320-325 | 7.17 | |
| 2009 M9 | 72.5 | 101.0 | 222.5 | 285-290 | 6.99 | |
| 2009 M10 | 76.1 | n/a | 101.0 | 232.2 | 260-265 | 6.68 |
| 2009 M11 | 84.4 | 101.0 | 232.2 | 290-300 | n/a | |
| 2009 M12 | 87.9 | 101.0 | 232.2 | 310-320 | n/a |
"Seeds of Change" Local Food, Alternative Energy, Foster Care Transition
[Update, July 25: While the legislature appropriated money for this, I heard that Governor Parnell vetoed the appropriation for this project.]
I bumped into longtime friend, Eleanor Andrews (Probably half the state would say they're longtime friends of Eleanor) on the fourth floor of the Capitol Building Monday. She was there with Dr. Mike Sobocinski - he and I took a while to figure out when we met before - to talk to legislators, and to raise a significant chunk of money to build a greenhouse near the Anchorage power plant where they would use the steam from the plant to heat the greenhouse. They are planning a commercial quality greenhouse that would grow vegetables that would sold to local markets and restaurants. Plus they would also make it as part of a program for kids in foster care or institutionalized as they transition out into life on their own. [As I reread this, I realize my description doesn't convey the amount of research that's gone into the business plan for this.[
Eleanor has had a long career that has included working at Mclaughlin Youth Center, being a union organizer, Director of Personnel at the Municipality of Anchorage, Commissioner of Administration for the State, and for many years now, the CEO and President of the Andrews Group. She's working on this project as a member of the board of the Anchorage Urban League. Mike is a psychologist who has worked with residential kids in public programs and now is an assistant professor at UAA.
So as they were going in to pitch their program to Rep. Berta Gardner I asked if I could come along. The video shows the kind of thing that happens a hundred times a day in Juneau as someone visits law makers to discuss a program they are working on.
You can listen to the whole presentation to the Senate Health and Social Services Committee Monday March 1, 2010. First the committee hears a bill from Sen. Kookesh.
I bumped into longtime friend, Eleanor Andrews (Probably half the state would say they're longtime friends of Eleanor) on the fourth floor of the Capitol Building Monday. She was there with Dr. Mike Sobocinski - he and I took a while to figure out when we met before - to talk to legislators, and to raise a significant chunk of money to build a greenhouse near the Anchorage power plant where they would use the steam from the plant to heat the greenhouse. They are planning a commercial quality greenhouse that would grow vegetables that would sold to local markets and restaurants. Plus they would also make it as part of a program for kids in foster care or institutionalized as they transition out into life on their own. [As I reread this, I realize my description doesn't convey the amount of research that's gone into the business plan for this.[
Eleanor has had a long career that has included working at Mclaughlin Youth Center, being a union organizer, Director of Personnel at the Municipality of Anchorage, Commissioner of Administration for the State, and for many years now, the CEO and President of the Andrews Group. She's working on this project as a member of the board of the Anchorage Urban League. Mike is a psychologist who has worked with residential kids in public programs and now is an assistant professor at UAA.
So as they were going in to pitch their program to Rep. Berta Gardner I asked if I could come along. The video shows the kind of thing that happens a hundred times a day in Juneau as someone visits law makers to discuss a program they are working on.
You can listen to the whole presentation to the Senate Health and Social Services Committee Monday March 1, 2010. First the committee hears a bill from Sen. Kookesh.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Mexican and Thai Food Day
Today was a great food day.
There were pans and pans of 'Marilyn's Enchaladas' in Rep. David Gutenberg's office around noon today.
And the other end of the fourth floor had a full blown Mexican lunch hosted by various staffers in the neighborhood. I think they said Mary in Sen. Wagoner's office was the energy behind this, but I didn't write it down. So not all the food in the capitol is brought by people trying to get legislators' attention so they can make their pitch.
And then when J returned from Anchorage today, she pulled out some eggplant tofu and stir fried green beans from the Thai Kitchen. All is well.
There were pans and pans of 'Marilyn's Enchaladas' in Rep. David Gutenberg's office around noon today.
Public Testimony on Operating Budget as Legislators Leave Town
Today at 1pm public testimony begins on the operating budget and it closes tomorrow. This schedule is probably up somewhere, I got mine from a legislative staffer. The best thing to do is check with the Legislative Information Office.
Some legislators I talked to were upset that the notice only came yesterday and people didn't have much time to prepare.
Some other legislators say that this is on the Finance Committee's calendar in addition to the email notice that came out yesterday. They also said generally people who are following specific bills keep track of these things and are prepared to testify. Basically, that means, I would guess, the people who specific funding at stake in the budget and their lobbyists.
I tend to think that even with a month's notice, the average person wouldn't be prepared to testify. First of all, they only closed out the budgets last week. Though the governor's proposed budget has been out a while. The legislature's "LAYMAN’S GUIDE TO THE BUDGET PROCESS" says:
Moving on. I have some videos to edit and post - one on the Seeds for Change program and another of Rep. Crawford on his bill to have the state buy steel today while the price is low and have it ready for the gas pipeline which will need to use a lot of steel.
I also got interviewed by one of the legislative interns who has a paper due soon on the role of the media. She's very sharp and it should be an excellent paper.
So this is just an interim post while I get my stuff together.
And after three days of steady drizzle to light rain, it's merely cloudy and the sun has made shadows if not completely emerged from the clouds.
Oh yes, leaving town. The Energy Council meeting is this week. Here's what the AK Republican Website said about this in 2002:
While this just talks about House Republicans, there are more than several legislators going because things are pretty much shutting down for the rest of the week. Lisa Demer at the Anchorage Daily News writes:
Two days. Four hours and 45 minutes today, and three and a half hours tomorrow. Not much time to comment on a multi-billion dollar budget.
Public testimony for the House Finance CS of the Operating Budget is scheduled as follows:Today1:30 – 2:30 Juneau2:45 – 3:45 Bethel, Kotzebue, Barrow, Nome, Delta Junction, Offnets4:00 – 5:15 AnchorageWednesday, March 31:30 – 2:45 Fairbanks3:00 – 4:00 Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Dillingham, Cordova4:15 – 5:00 Homer, Kenai, Valdez, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Seward, Mat-Su, Glenallen, Tok
Some legislators I talked to were upset that the notice only came yesterday and people didn't have much time to prepare.
Some other legislators say that this is on the Finance Committee's calendar in addition to the email notice that came out yesterday. They also said generally people who are following specific bills keep track of these things and are prepared to testify. Basically, that means, I would guess, the people who specific funding at stake in the budget and their lobbyists.
I tend to think that even with a month's notice, the average person wouldn't be prepared to testify. First of all, they only closed out the budgets last week. Though the governor's proposed budget has been out a while. The legislature's "LAYMAN’S GUIDE TO THE BUDGET PROCESS" says:
Even for people who have fully understand [sic] the legislative process, the budget often remains the mystery of mysteries. The appropriation process is difficult to track. Appropriations bills are lengthy and complex composed of hundreds of “line items” which must be negotiated one by one. House and Senate Finance subcommittees work out many of the details. (Ask for the list of Members of the Finance Subcommittees -- lobbying these key people can be important.) Although the subcommittees do hold public hearings, they are usually only for testimony from departmental experts. Late in the session, the subcommittee recommendations are submitted to the full House and Senate Finance Committee and the public. There is often one round of public testimony by teleconference. Generally a Joint House-Senate Conference Committee finalizes the budget late in the session. [emphasis added]
Moving on. I have some videos to edit and post - one on the Seeds for Change program and another of Rep. Crawford on his bill to have the state buy steel today while the price is low and have it ready for the gas pipeline which will need to use a lot of steel.
I also got interviewed by one of the legislative interns who has a paper due soon on the role of the media. She's very sharp and it should be an excellent paper.
So this is just an interim post while I get my stuff together.
And after three days of steady drizzle to light rain, it's merely cloudy and the sun has made shadows if not completely emerged from the clouds.
Oh yes, leaving town. The Energy Council meeting is this week. Here's what the AK Republican Website said about this in 2002:
Several members of the House Republican Majority will travel to Washington, D.C. this weekend to represent the state's interests as a major oil and gas producer at the annual spring meeting of the Energy Council, and to help support oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"The Energy Council has always been an important forum for Alaska to represent our interests as one of the nation's top energy producing states," said Rep. Joe Green (R-Anchorage) head of the state's delegation, and a member of the Energy Council's executive committee. "With Congress debating a national energy policy that directly impacts the future of our oil and natural gas industries, it is critical for the Legislature to have a place at the table at this conference."
The Energy Council is a legislative organization of ten energy-producing states ranging from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The member states produce more than 80 per cent of United States oil and gas and include leading coal, uranium and renewable energy-producing states. Associate members include Venezuela and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Newfoundland/Labrador.
Other members of the House Majority attending the Energy Council meeting include: Rep. Scott Ogan (R-Palmer), chair of the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas and a member of the Energy Council executive committee; Rep. John Harris (R-Valdez), member of the House Finance Committee; and Rep. Hugh Fate (R-Fairbanks) vice-chair of the House Resources Committee. Other legislators, including Rep Eldon Mulder (R-Anchorage), co-chair of the House Finance Committee, will accompany the Energy Council delegation with plans to visit members of the U.S. Senate to encourage them to support pending legislation to authorize oil exploration in ANWR.
"There is so much happening regarding energy right now that it's really in the best interest of the state to make our case clearly to any U.S. senators who still haven't seen the light on the importance of Alaska's energy to the nation's future," Green said.
The Energy Council's 2002 "Federal Energy and Environmental Matters Conference" starts Saturday and will continue through Tuesday. Among the items on the agenda are: increasing investment in the U.S. energy infrastructure; a status report on national energy legislation; forums on the impact of the national energy bill to the states; a roundtable on how the congressional committee process affects energy and environmental policy; and reviews of federal energy regulations and legislation.
State legislative sessions ordinarily scheduled for Friday and Monday will not be held, so some legislators may attend events in Washington, D.C., and other legislators may travel home to meet with constituents.
While this just talks about House Republicans, there are more than several legislators going because things are pretty much shutting down for the rest of the week. Lisa Demer at the Anchorage Daily News writes:
JUNEAU -- Twenty-one Alaska lawmakers, including half the state Senate, are heading to Washington, D.C., this week for an energy conference that some go to year after year.Let's see, things are shutting down midday Wednesday and the second half of the public testimony on the budget starts Wednesday at 1:30pm. Well, according to the ADN article, about half the legislators will still be in town. Probably members of the minority who don't have much say on the budget anyway.
Nearly all are traveling at state expense.
The Legislature is essentially shutting down midday Wednesday. By the time lawmakers return on Monday, March 8, the 90-day legislative session that many complain is too short will have reached its 49th day . . .
Monday, March 01, 2010
Rossbacher Background and Other UA Presidential Search Notes
We only got the names late Sunday afternoon and I don't have time to do this justice, but since Dr. Rossbacher is the 'Outsider' whom
Alaskans know the least about, here's a little I've found to get a sense about her.
[Photo from Southern Polytechnic - President's Page.]
There's an audio interview from last August with Dr. Rossbacher at tagtvonline.
According to this audio, Dr. Rossbacher is the first woman geologist to be a college president in the United States.
Enrollment this fall is a record high of over 5,000 students.
She's the President at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia. Their website shows a school with a heavy emphasis on engineering and technology - befitting a Polytechnic. The five schools include:
What I notice about the University website is its transparency regarding how the university works. There's one page that has all the (presumably) key committee minutes avaiable for the last few years, as well as a blog-like report called the Weekly Blab. This is appears to be the page of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. You can check out all the key committee meeting minutes and the Weekly Blab.
The Faculty page includes a lot of links - including back to the Vice President of Academic Affairs page. Here are some other things on that page:
I did quickly glance at the resumes available from the UA President Search pages. Here's the vital information for Dr. Rossbacher.
200 dpi image
Profile (pdf)
As I said, I've focused on Rossbacher because my time is limited, but I did look at the other resumes and found this delicious typo on General Gamble's page.
Leadership may well be his strongest suit(e), but attention to detail appears not to be. That said, I had a typo on an important job resume once and got the job anyway, so I don't think this is crucial. I'm more concerned at how much of this reeks of professional public relations jargon.
This sounds like it comes from a book of phrases with which to pad your resume. It's not the kind of language one expects from someone "known for face-to-face, consensus building style." But is more consistent with "unpleasant decision-making such as tough recession-proofing cost saving measures." This is the language George Clooney used when he fired people in "Up in the Air".
I don't know the General. He could be fantastic. I know General Tom Case surprised us at the School of Business and Public Affairs with his decency and willingness to adjust to the University culture instead of imposing a military culture. But he was also severely handicapped coming from a setting where he had a thousand staffers who jumped at his command and stayed up all night if necessary to complete what he asked for. Faced with faculty who saw themselves as their own bosses and no real staff to actually get work done , my sense is that he was tremendously frustrated as Dean.
[Photo from Southern Polytechnic - President's Page.]
There's an audio interview from last August with Dr. Rossbacher at tagtvonline.
According to this audio, Dr. Rossbacher is the first woman geologist to be a college president in the United States.
Enrollment this fall is a record high of over 5,000 students.
She's the President at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia. Their website shows a school with a heavy emphasis on engineering and technology - befitting a Polytechnic. The five schools include:
- The School of Architecture, Civil Engineering Technology, and Construction
- The School of Computing and Software Engineering
- The School of Engineering Technology and Management
- The School of Arts and Sciences
- Division of Engineering
- Extended University
What I notice about the University website is its transparency regarding how the university works. There's one page that has all the (presumably) key committee minutes avaiable for the last few years, as well as a blog-like report called the Weekly Blab. This is appears to be the page of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. You can check out all the key committee meeting minutes and the Weekly Blab.
The Faculty page includes a lot of links - including back to the Vice President of Academic Affairs page. Here are some other things on that page:
Here are some things that may be of interest to new faculty:
- New Faculty "Quick Start" Guide--2008
- New Faculty Biographies (2006)
- New Faculty Biographies (2007)
- New Faculty Biographies (2008)
- New Faculty Biographies (2009)
- Bob Harbort's "How to Use Technology" Intro
- "Standards of Academic Content" document
- "An Example of Proper Writing" document
Here are some things that may be of interest to advisors:
Text of Speeches [from the President's Page]
- "A is for Accreditation" -- State of the University, Fall Kickoff 2009 (August 20, 2009)
- "Presentation about Customer Service and SIx Sigma at SPSU" to Board of Regents on April 18, 2007
- "State of the University" - Fall Convocation 2006 (September 12, 2006)
- SPSU faculty/staff campaign remarks: The John Lennon challenge - Remarks delivered on 8 December 2005; a prize was given to the person who could most closely identify the number of song titles by John Lennon incorporated into the comments
- SPSU faculty/staff campaign remarks, with titles of John Lennon songs identified
- "SPSU and the 1920s" - Remarks at the SPSU Foundation Gala, (October 22, 2005)
- "Presentation to the Board of Regents" - BoR Meeting hosted at SPSU (October 11, 2005)
- "SPSU to BoR" - Powerpoint Presentation, 48.1 MB
- "SPSU to BoR" - PDF version, 9.2 MB
- "Surprise" - Georgia Southern University Commencement (December 10, 2004)
- "State of the University" - Opening of 2004-2005 Academic Year (August 18, 2004)
- "The Retrospective" - Opening of 2004-2005 Academic Year (August 17, 2004)
- "Regional Metamorphism and SPSU" - Opening of 2003-2004 Academic Year (September 19, 2003)
- "Hedgehogs and Rocks" - Opening of 2002-2003 Academic Year (August 15, 2002)
- "Solve it... at SPSU" - Opening of 2000-2001 Academic Year (August 14, 2000)
I did quickly glance at the resumes available from the UA President Search pages. Here's the vital information for Dr. Rossbacher.
And for Chancellor Pugh:
Here's the same information for General Gamble:
GambleCV/Resume (pdf)
200 dpi image
Profile (pdf)
As I said, I've focused on Rossbacher because my time is limited, but I did look at the other resumes and found this delicious typo on General Gamble's page.
"Reputation and personal leadership philosophy synonymous
with outstanding character and performance."
This sounds like it comes from a book of phrases with which to pad your resume. It's not the kind of language one expects from someone "known for face-to-face, consensus building style." But is more consistent with "unpleasant decision-making such as tough recession-proofing cost saving measures." This is the language George Clooney used when he fired people in "Up in the Air".
I don't know the General. He could be fantastic. I know General Tom Case surprised us at the School of Business and Public Affairs with his decency and willingness to adjust to the University culture instead of imposing a military culture. But he was also severely handicapped coming from a setting where he had a thousand staffers who jumped at his command and stayed up all night if necessary to complete what he asked for. Faced with faculty who saw themselves as their own bosses and no real staff to actually get work done , my sense is that he was tremendously frustrated as Dean.
UA Presidential Search - Speed Dating
[UPDATE March 19: All the posts on the UA President search and the APU president search can be found here.]
Last week I heard people say that Sen. Gary Stevens was on the short list for the UA President Search. Then over the weekend I learned thatGregg Erickson's [Rebecca Braun's] Alaska Budget Report had listed six finalists. (Let me remind readers that I'm a retired professor at UAA and have been through the process of president and chancellor searches a number of times.) Progressive Alaska has posted a 'commentary' from two UAF faculty members assigned to Kotzebue that says that the University has been slow to share with the university community the list of finalists, even though a list was leaked [published in] through the Alaska Budget Review. (This is a subscription newsletter, so I can't link to it.)
Let's put this all in context. The University is supposed to be an academic institution. Traditionally university system presidents and campus chancellors are recognized scholars AND administrators. They usually have PhD's. And lots of experience in universities. At the moment, none of the top positions in the University of Alaska is held by someone with a PhD.
President Hamilton is a retired Army General with a Masters Degree in English. UAF Chancellor Rogers has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard (my field), UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer, has a J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School. UAS Chancellor John Pugh has an MSW (Masters of Social Work) from the University of Texas, Austin.
All three Chancellors have extensive careers in the state of Alaska. Rogers graduated from UAF and is married to a UAF graduate. He's worked in administrative positions at the University and been a state legislator. Ulmer was mayor of Juneau, in the state legislature, and Lt. Governor of Alaska. Pugh has been Director of the Division of Family and Youth Services, State of Alaska, then Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
My academic field is public administration, so I'm strongly supportive of people who have had good administrative experience. It is critical for the top administrator of a University. But so is academic experience. The Chancellor and President are the heads of organizations made of teacher/scholars. Going through the career path of an academic so that you understand the rigors of academic research and the joys and frustrations of teaching is critical too. I'm not one of the purists who insist on PhD's for all the heads of the campus or the system if they have unique qualifications.
However, to have all four of the top positions held by people who have not been faculty skews the balance way off.
It is also true that before President Hamilton, the university had gone a long time without budget increases. Hamilton turned that around pretty quickly with a powerful presentation that he'd tried out around the state before taking it down to Juneau. By the time he got before the legislators he'd heard all the questions people might ask and had convincing data rich responses to any question the legislators could throw at him. As an ex-military man of Republican leanings, he was a match for the Republican legislature and began bringing budget increases back home from Juneau. Budgets are important.
And in my personal experiences with him (I was a union grievance representative) I was always impressed with his willingness to listen and to respond reasonably. I didn't do it often, but when I sent him a detailed email, I would get an equally detailed and thoughtful email in return, promptly.
He received an Academic Freedom award in 2002 from the conservative National Academy of Scholars. More recently there has been dispute about faculty member Dr. Richard Steiner's being taken off NOAA projects because of alleged improper advocating.
UAA faculty have chafed under characterizations attributed to Hamilton that UAF should be the doctoral degree granting campus and UAA was more of a community college, though UAA had more students get graduate degrees than UAF.
That's some of the backdrop to the current presidential search. I cannot recall exactly how the last presidential search was conducted, though I know that traditionally, Chancellor searchers have included search committees made up a wide spectrum of faculty, community members, and even students.
This search appears to have been conducted in a much more closed nature. The University website has a link to a calendar for the search, but the calendar only has campus wide meetings for faculty, students, and staff to give input - last September.
Two hours and 45 minutes on September 16 in Fairbanks.
Two hours on September 18 in Anchorage.
Two hours on September 29 in Juneau (with video conference links to Ketchikan and Sitka)
That doesn't seem like a lot of time to get feedback on such an important decision.
There's nothing after that. I don't know if it's just that the website wasn't updated or that was it for public input. In any case, if more input was wanted, it would have been helpful to keep the website updated.
So, the names listed on the Alaska Budget Report last week were, according to a guest post at Progressive Alaska by Kotzebue based University of Alaska faculty Susan B. Andrews and John Creed:
leaked [publicized] by Gregg Erickson on Thursday.
Well, Sunday afternoon, university faculty got emails with the list of finalists and the schedules for meeting the President candidates.
Let's look at this closer:
In past Chancellor searches, candidates had two or three days on campus, and candidates were almost never on campus the same time. Faculty and students and community members and staff had multiple opportunities for in-depth interaction with candidates during the visits - there were even opportunities for one-on-one visits in some cases. Meetings in the past allowed each constituency to meet separately with the candidates so they could go into depth about issues of special concern to them. There were also more generalized meetings where the audiences were more mixed.
APU, the private university down the street from UAA, also had a President Search this school year. They had each candidate up for several days of intense interaction with faculty, students, and alumni and donors.
But in UA's search, all three candidates will be on campus at the same time and constituents won't have a lot of time to get to know them.
Each group will have 45 minutes to meet and get a sense of the candidates in Fairbanks Monday.
And there will be another 40 minutes in the evening for the community members. There will be an extra 40 minutes to talk with Patrick K. Gamble who is the only one to have a slot with no one else meeting at the same time.
The announcement went out Sunday afternoon, so it might make it into the newspapers Monday morning. And the meetings are already starting Monday afternoon in Fairbanks.
Tuesday is UAA Day. Five constituent groups have been identified to have 45 minutes with the candidates:
Presumably if someone didn't have any classes to go to, they could see two of the candidates twice.
There's a two hour community reception at the Convention Center from 6-8pm too.
In Juneau, there is a lot more time on the ground. Here, the candidates will meet with specific academic units. The Schedule is too big for me to get you a legible screen shot, but you can get the pdf yourself here. So each of these groups is scheduled for 30 minutes with each candidate:
So Juneau, where people presumably know one of the candidates pretty well - UAS Chancellor John Pugh - gets the most time to see the candidates and in smaller groups. But they also get the candidates at the end of a three day whirlwind tour. They'll be pretty tired by the time they get to Juneau. Assuming the airport isn't fogged in Wednesday.
Compared to past searches, at least for Chancellors (as I said, I just don't remember what happened when Hamilton was hired), the Board of Regents is holding this decision pretty close to the vest. While Pugh is a known commodity - at least in Juneau - and Gamble (head of the Alaska Railroad and former Air Force General) has been in Alaska long enough for people to be able to check up on him, Dr. Rossbacher is pretty much an unkown entity.
[UPDATE March 8: An Anchorage Daily News article says that in January 1998 the Board of Regents held an emergency meeting after Pres. Komisar announced his resignation, and said they would do the search themselves. There were two finalists who each spent their own day on campus. The article said this was a break from previous searches where a committee made up of some regents and university employee and public members conducted the search. The article is archived and may require a password.]
There are other questions that come to mind:
Did Erikson get the list wrong last Thursday? (One of the finalists was NOT on his list)
Or did the Regents shuffle it to make it look like he was wrong?
My guess is that Gamble is the designated candidate. They really like Generals. The approach to academia in recent years, has been to apply a market model to universities and to see students as "customers." I'm a very strong advocate for faculty who make their students a high priority and who get to know them well enough to move them from where they are to where they need to be understand and master the concepts and skills. But I don't buy the logical next step of "the customer is always right." It simply does not work in an academic setting.
The closed process with just a short window of access to only the final three candidates has several potential negative consequences:
1. There isn't much time for faculty, staff, students, the media, and community members to do any independent background checking on the candidates. As the George Sullivan example (see 3rd paragraph from the bottom) from the early 80s proves, this can be costly.
2. The new president is going to have to work a lot harder to win the confidence of the faculty, students, and staff, simply because the process has been so exclusionary, with this brief show and tell at the end.
3. It suggests to faculty (and probably the others) that they aren't taken seriously enough to give them a real chance to be involved in this process.
On the other hand, sometimes the best procedure comes up with nothing good, and bad procedure comes up with winners. Though I don't think the odds favor this. UA searches have been known to drag on forever. In this process the email suggests the decision could come in by March 15. (Don't these people read Shakespeare? I just saw Julius Ceasar knifed last week at Juneau's Theater in the Rough.)
Even APU, which had an expedited search process, didn't skimp when it came to introducing the candidates to their community. Which all leads me to believe that this is just for show and they pretty much know who they want.
Last week I heard people say that Sen. Gary Stevens was on the short list for the UA President Search. Then over the weekend I learned that
Let's put this all in context. The University is supposed to be an academic institution. Traditionally university system presidents and campus chancellors are recognized scholars AND administrators. They usually have PhD's. And lots of experience in universities. At the moment, none of the top positions in the University of Alaska is held by someone with a PhD.
President Hamilton is a retired Army General with a Masters Degree in English. UAF Chancellor Rogers has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard (my field), UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer, has a J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School. UAS Chancellor John Pugh has an MSW (Masters of Social Work) from the University of Texas, Austin.
All three Chancellors have extensive careers in the state of Alaska. Rogers graduated from UAF and is married to a UAF graduate. He's worked in administrative positions at the University and been a state legislator. Ulmer was mayor of Juneau, in the state legislature, and Lt. Governor of Alaska. Pugh has been Director of the Division of Family and Youth Services, State of Alaska, then Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
My academic field is public administration, so I'm strongly supportive of people who have had good administrative experience. It is critical for the top administrator of a University. But so is academic experience. The Chancellor and President are the heads of organizations made of teacher/scholars. Going through the career path of an academic so that you understand the rigors of academic research and the joys and frustrations of teaching is critical too. I'm not one of the purists who insist on PhD's for all the heads of the campus or the system if they have unique qualifications.
However, to have all four of the top positions held by people who have not been faculty skews the balance way off.
It is also true that before President Hamilton, the university had gone a long time without budget increases. Hamilton turned that around pretty quickly with a powerful presentation that he'd tried out around the state before taking it down to Juneau. By the time he got before the legislators he'd heard all the questions people might ask and had convincing data rich responses to any question the legislators could throw at him. As an ex-military man of Republican leanings, he was a match for the Republican legislature and began bringing budget increases back home from Juneau. Budgets are important.
And in my personal experiences with him (I was a union grievance representative) I was always impressed with his willingness to listen and to respond reasonably. I didn't do it often, but when I sent him a detailed email, I would get an equally detailed and thoughtful email in return, promptly.
He received an Academic Freedom award in 2002 from the conservative National Academy of Scholars. More recently there has been dispute about faculty member Dr. Richard Steiner's being taken off NOAA projects because of alleged improper advocating.
UAA faculty have chafed under characterizations attributed to Hamilton that UAF should be the doctoral degree granting campus and UAA was more of a community college, though UAA had more students get graduate degrees than UAF.
That's some of the backdrop to the current presidential search. I cannot recall exactly how the last presidential search was conducted, though I know that traditionally, Chancellor searchers have included search committees made up a wide spectrum of faculty, community members, and even students.
This search appears to have been conducted in a much more closed nature. The University website has a link to a calendar for the search, but the calendar only has campus wide meetings for faculty, students, and staff to give input - last September.
Two hours and 45 minutes on September 16 in Fairbanks.
Two hours on September 18 in Anchorage.
Two hours on September 29 in Juneau (with video conference links to Ketchikan and Sitka)
That doesn't seem like a lot of time to get feedback on such an important decision.
There's nothing after that. I don't know if it's just that the website wasn't updated or that was it for public input. In any case, if more input was wanted, it would have been helpful to keep the website updated.
So, the names listed on the Alaska Budget Report last week were, according to a guest post at Progressive Alaska by Kotzebue based University of Alaska faculty Susan B. Andrews and John Creed:
- Gary Stevens, 68, State Senate President and retired UA history professor
- Sally Johnstone, 60, VP for Academic Affairs, Winona State University in Minnesota
- Patrick Gamble, 65, Alaska Railroad Corp. President/CEO
- Jim Johnsen, 52, a Senior VP for Doyon, Ltd. and former aide to Mark Hamilton
- John Pugh, 64, UAS Chancellor since 1999
Well, Sunday afternoon, university faculty got emails with the list of finalists and the schedules for meeting the President candidates.
From:
Date: Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 4:20 PM
Subject: [UANews-L] CORREX UA Board of Regents announces finalists for
UA president
To: UAnews-L@lists.uaf.edu
CORRECTED VERSION--please disregard previous one
For Immediate Release
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010
UA Board of Regents announces finalists for UA president Campus visits begin Monday
The University of Alaska Board of Regents announces the following finalists for the UA president position:
• Lisa A. Rossbacher, president of Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia, part of the University System of Georgia, since 1998; and a professor of geology;
• Patrick K. Gamble, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Railroad Corp. since 2001; and a retired four-star Air Force general;
• and John R. Pugh, chancellor of the University of Alaska Southeast since 1999, former UAS dean of faculty, education, liberal arts and sciences; and former state Health and Social Services commissioner.
Photos and complete resumes of each finalist are posted on the board’s presidential search website, at www.alaska.edu/bor/pres-search/.
Board Chair Cynthia Henry said the selection process is challenging. “We received many solid applications from well-qualified individuals, both within the state and from the Lower 48,” Henry said. “It’s been a difficult and lengthy process, narrowing the field down to these few. Now we look forward to hearing from our various stakeholders as we move to the next stage of our search---selecting a president to lead the University of Alaska System.”
The finalists will begin a tour of the UA system’s three largest campuses Monday morning, providing the candidates with numerous opportunities to meet students, faculty, staff, community members, business owners, alumni, local officials and elected local and state leaders.
The board encourages members of the public to attend the evening public presentations in each community as well, though public members are welcome at campus sessions if evening presentations are not convenient.
Feedback forms will be available at all venues for university stakeholders and the public to provide opinions on the three finalists.
The finalists will visit the University of Alaska Fairbanks tomorrow, Monday, March 1; the University of Alaska Anchorage Tuesday, March 2; and the University of Alaska Southeast Wednesday, March 3. See the above website for detailed itineraries of each campus visit.
“We want to hear from our university stakeholders as well as the public about who they think could best lead this complex institution,” said the board’s vice chair, Tim Brady. “UA offers everything from workforce training certificates to four-year degrees, master’s degrees, doctoral degrees and post-doctoral research opportunities. The UA system provides a $1 billion influx annually into Alaska’s economy and is responsible for educating and training some 30,000 students each year—most of whom are Alaskans. We want a well-qualified president to follow the fine leadership and enthusiasm we’ve seen under Mark Hamilton the last 12 years.”
Hamilton announced last June his intention to retire in 2010. He and his wife Patty plan to remain in Alaska, but hope to spend more time with their children and grandchildren, as well as enjoy more opportunities to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors.
The board will consult with its statewide advisory committee on Thursday (for membership of that panel, check the board’s presidential search website). The regents will then meet again March 15 to discuss and possibly choose a final candidate. A public announcement would follow sometime after that.
For information on the search, visit the Board of Regents’ website at www.alaska.edu/bor/pres-search/.
Let's look at this closer:
But the schedules on the links seem to contradict this characterization of "numerous opportunities."
The finalists will begin a tour of the UA system’s three largest campuses Monday morning, providing the candidates with numerous opportunities to meet students, faculty, staff, community members, business owners, alumni, local officials and elected local and state leaders.
In past Chancellor searches, candidates had two or three days on campus, and candidates were almost never on campus the same time. Faculty and students and community members and staff had multiple opportunities for in-depth interaction with candidates during the visits - there were even opportunities for one-on-one visits in some cases. Meetings in the past allowed each constituency to meet separately with the candidates so they could go into depth about issues of special concern to them. There were also more generalized meetings where the audiences were more mixed.
APU, the private university down the street from UAA, also had a President Search this school year. They had each candidate up for several days of intense interaction with faculty, students, and alumni and donors.
But in UA's search, all three candidates will be on campus at the same time and constituents won't have a lot of time to get to know them.
The announcement went out Sunday afternoon, so it might make it into the newspapers Monday morning. And the meetings are already starting Monday afternoon in Fairbanks.
Tuesday is UAA Day. Five constituent groups have been identified to have 45 minutes with the candidates:
- Governance Groups
- Students
- Faculty and staff
- Alumni
- USUAA (student government)
There's a two hour community reception at the Convention Center from 6-8pm too.
In Juneau, there is a lot more time on the ground. Here, the candidates will meet with specific academic units. The Schedule is too big for me to get you a legible screen shot, but you can get the pdf yourself here. So each of these groups is scheduled for 30 minutes with each candidate:
- School of Arts & Sciences
- School of Education
- Student Government
- School of Career Education
- Faculty Senate
- School of Management
- Juneau Campus Advisory Council
- Staff Council
So Juneau, where people presumably know one of the candidates pretty well - UAS Chancellor John Pugh - gets the most time to see the candidates and in smaller groups. But they also get the candidates at the end of a three day whirlwind tour. They'll be pretty tired by the time they get to Juneau. Assuming the airport isn't fogged in Wednesday.
Compared to past searches, at least for Chancellors (as I said, I just don't remember what happened when Hamilton was hired), the Board of Regents is holding this decision pretty close to the vest. While Pugh is a known commodity - at least in Juneau - and Gamble (head of the Alaska Railroad and former Air Force General) has been in Alaska long enough for people to be able to check up on him, Dr. Rossbacher is pretty much an unkown entity.
[UPDATE March 8: An Anchorage Daily News article says that in January 1998 the Board of Regents held an emergency meeting after Pres. Komisar announced his resignation, and said they would do the search themselves. There were two finalists who each spent their own day on campus. The article said this was a break from previous searches where a committee made up of some regents and university employee and public members conducted the search. The article is archived and may require a password.]
There are other questions that come to mind:
Did Erikson get the list wrong last Thursday? (One of the finalists was NOT on his list)
Or did the Regents shuffle it to make it look like he was wrong?
My guess is that Gamble is the designated candidate. They really like Generals. The approach to academia in recent years, has been to apply a market model to universities and to see students as "customers." I'm a very strong advocate for faculty who make their students a high priority and who get to know them well enough to move them from where they are to where they need to be understand and master the concepts and skills. But I don't buy the logical next step of "the customer is always right." It simply does not work in an academic setting.
The closed process with just a short window of access to only the final three candidates has several potential negative consequences:
1. There isn't much time for faculty, staff, students, the media, and community members to do any independent background checking on the candidates. As the George Sullivan example (see 3rd paragraph from the bottom) from the early 80s proves, this can be costly.
2. The new president is going to have to work a lot harder to win the confidence of the faculty, students, and staff, simply because the process has been so exclusionary, with this brief show and tell at the end.
3. It suggests to faculty (and probably the others) that they aren't taken seriously enough to give them a real chance to be involved in this process.
On the other hand, sometimes the best procedure comes up with nothing good, and bad procedure comes up with winners. Though I don't think the odds favor this. UA searches have been known to drag on forever. In this process the email suggests the decision could come in by March 15. (Don't these people read Shakespeare? I just saw Julius Ceasar knifed last week at Juneau's Theater in the Rough.)
Even APU, which had an expedited search process, didn't skimp when it came to introducing the candidates to their community. Which all leads me to believe that this is just for show and they pretty much know who they want.
Birds!! I Used to Post Birds. Surf Scoters Today.
For the birders, the video has them swimming in various formations, diving, and surfacing. There's also some interaction with some gulls that I don't quite understand. Are they all in the same place because there was food below the surface? Did the gulls come because they saw the scoters? Did their presence affect each other's behavior? Did the dive because the gulls flew in? Why did the last one stay on the surface? Was he a lookout? So many questions. But I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent out there watching the birds.
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