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Paul Ferguson, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, has been named as a candidate for University of Maine President Robert Kennedy’s replacement.
Ferguson has worked at SIUE, located about 25 miles from St. Louis with a fall 2009 undergraduate enrollment of approximately 11,100 students, for five years. Previously, he worked at the University of Louisiana-Monroe as an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology and vice provost; he previously served at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas as the dean of the graduate college and senior vice provost.
Ferguson, who has spent over 17 years working in university administration, has ample experience but has not yet held a presidency. He described his ambition to become the president of UMaine in terms of moving up a corporate ladder.
“The president is going to be the CEO. Right now I’m kind of a chief operating officer, and going to the CEO position is a very dynamic move to help move the entire university forward in a much broader way,” he said.
He said he has not applied at any other universities, unlike some of the other candidates for Kennedy’s replacement.
“I’m excited about seeking a presidency, but not just any presidency,” Ferguson said. “I’m really looking for that right fit and right chemistry and that right particular mission that kind of fits with my background and training.”
Ferguson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Whittier College in 1974 and his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of California-Davis in 1981. He was instrumental in establishing a school of pharmacology and toxicology at ULM and served as a professor of toxicology at UNLV. While in Illinois, he supported the growth of the university’s school of dentistry, established in 1972.
When asked if he would bring his interest in dentistry to UMaine, Ferguson said he would look to see if the program was needed. According to the Maine Dental Association, the University College of Bangor, a campus of the University of Maine at Augusta, and the University of New England are the only two institutions in Maine to offer an associate degree in dental hygiene.
“That’s the innovative and creative challenge of the president, to figure out what programs we need to enhance our portfolio and meet the needs of Maine,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said he feels prepared to enter the University of Maine System due to his experience in university systems in Louisiana, Nevada and Illinois. Recognizing that UMaine is in a unique position as the system’s flagship campus, Ferguson spoke about the need to balance the individual interests of the campus with the collective interests of the system.
“How do you balance the role of the flagship campus with the system as a whole? Are the strategic directions of the flagship willing to be furthered or hindered by the directions of the system,” he asked.
Having followed Maine politics and picking up on Gov. Paul LePage’s promise to get “Maine back to work,” Ferguson said he would be able to work with the governor on issues such as funding for the university. He described the political aspect of academia as equally important as curricula and research.
“I think that any academic administrator and, again, having been in three states that are really struggling fiscally just as Maine is struggling, it really is important for the university system, and in particular for the flagship campus such as UMaine, to be willing to work with the governor,” he said. “I think the system and the campus have really done a good job on starting to set the course for strategic planning.”
Addressing some of the same questions posed to candidate Donald Farish, president of Rowan University in New Jersey, Ferguson said he commended UMaine on its recent Tobacco-Free Campus initiative and stated that, as a toxicologist, he recognized the significant health risks inherent in tobacco use.
“I really am a firm believer in smoke-free environments, but I will balance that to say that also we live in a community of people with different needs at different places in their wellness and I think we need to have those kinds of dialogues to figure out how best to implement that,” he said, adding that any effort to decrease tobacco use on a college campus has to include an educational aspect.
Ferguson has served as a graduate dean multiple times, but he specified he would not focus so heavily on maintaining UMaine’s graduate-level programs as to slight the undergraduate programs. Emphasizing the importance of both levels of instruction, Ferguson said the university would falter if either level were ignored.
“Graduate education is very close to my heart. Graduate education is the backbone of a solid land grant institution,” he said. “The point is success of both [undergraduate and graduate] students.”
Paul Sarvela, vice president for academic affairs in the University of Illinois system office who serves on some of the board of trustees’ committees, supported Ferguson’s claim that he has an excellent relationship with SIUE’s board of trustees.
“Paul is a great guy. He is so approachable. It’s very easy to have a conversation with him. Students will have no problem interacting with him. He’s a great listener,” Sarvela said, adding that Ferguson’s involvement in programs has helped develop the university. “[SIUE] has had nice steady increases in enrollment and you can only do that if you have good programs and good staff.”
Faculty members from the university offered their views on Ferguson, both positive and negative, with the caveat that they were only personal opinions.
“I was in the faculty senate for a semester sitting in for a colleague who was out and he came and presented a few times there,” said SIUE creative writing professor Valerie Vogrin.” I think the overall perception is that he’s very competent, but he’s definitely not warm and fuzzy.”
“It’s pretty clear when he speaks to faculty that he puts himself above them and the general impression is that if the provost office wants something, they’re going to get it and they’re going to appear to go through channels and to consult with faculty, again with the faculty senate, but ultimately, he’s going to do what he wants to do,” she added, describing Ferguson as headstrong in his dealings with faculty and as operating under a corporate mentality of efficiency in the administration.
Susan Breck, an associate professor in the college of education, had an opposite view of Ferguson, saying he was “the kind of person who didn’t just make a decision and take off.”
Breck based her opinion on interaction with Ferguson while she was president of the university’s faculty senate. She described Ferguson as “very interested in shared government and faculty input into whatever he does.”
Brad Cross, a professor of engineering, said he has only had “very minimal dealings with [Ferguson].”
“In terms of developing our school of engineering, he’s really been very helpful with us,” Cross said, saying Ferguson has aided the engineering college in securing funding.
UMaine students and employees will have the chance to meet Ferguson in the near future. An open interview session scheduled for 4:15 p.m. tomorrow in the Wells Conference Center has been postponed due to travel difficulties and has yet to be rescheduled.
