Random stuff 2025

[wbtfg]

Who’s on the committee?

https://www.montana.edu/president/search/committee.html

[kcatz]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

[ClowderUp]

Who’s on the committee?

https://www.montana.edu/president/search/committee.html

Holy hell you are kidding me. 22 people isn't a committee, it's a full on bureaucracy.

[PHAT CAT]

Who’s on the committee?

https://www.montana.edu/president/search/committee.html

Holy hell you are kidding me. 22 people isn't a committee, it's a full on bureaucracy.

Leave Dean'o Folkvord and Leon on the committee and fire everyone else. They'll find the right person.

[Camo_Cat]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

This is where Waded had an advantage. She came to MSU from New Mexico State University, which is also a land grant University like MSU. So she was already familiar with similar institutions which have an ag focus.

[AFCAT]

A lot of people were also underwhelmed with Cruzado when she was hired. Hard to judge based purely on resumes when none of us (I assume) have been part of the search process.

viewtopic.php?t=19634

You said a mouthful there. Some of these posts are hilarious in hindsight.

Holy smokes! That is one thread that needs to live on forever.

[mommacat]

If you are able, please attend the open forum and community reception for each candidate. According to the Presidential Search website,
“ Following the visits, the Committee will welcome observations and comments through a designated survey link on this website.”
They also have an email that you can voice your comments and concerns: msupresidentialsearch@montana.edu

[grizzh8r]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

Yep, hard pass. Why would they choose someone with a background in liberal arts to be the next president of a land grant ag/engineering/nursing/STEM University? Ridiculous.

And regarding that thread when during the Cruzado hiring process, I was dead wrong and have happily eaten a double portion of crow over it.

[Cataholic]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

Yep, hard pass. Why would they choose someone with a background in liberal arts to be the next president of a land grant ag/engineering/nursing/STEM University? Ridiculous.

And regarding that thread when during the Cruzado hiring process, I was dead wrong and have happily eaten a double portion of crow over it.

Above in red are my exact thoughts. Makes zero sense. We should a finalist that is familiar with a deep understanding of our specialties and have strong relationships to industry in those fields. If we are using a search firm, maybe they place an emphasis on liberal backgrounds? I don’t know, but these candidates seem better situated for U of M than for MSU and that is not good.

[MSU01]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

Yep, hard pass. Why would they choose someone with a background in liberal arts to be the next president of a land grant ag/engineering/nursing/STEM University? Ridiculous.

And regarding that thread when during the Cruzado hiring process, I was dead wrong and have happily eaten a double portion of crow over it.

Above in red are my exact thoughts. Makes zero sense. We should a finalist that is familiar with a deep understanding of our specialties and have strong relationships to industry in those fields. If we are using a search firm, maybe they place an emphasis on liberal backgrounds? I don’t know, but these candidates seem better situated for U of M than for MSU and that is not good.

Pretty much all of what you say here was also said about Cruzado when she was hired. People couldn't believe that MSU was hiring someone whose academic background was as a Professor of Literature in Puerto Rico.

[lutecat]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

Yep, hard pass. Why would they choose someone with a background in liberal arts to be the next president of a land grant ag/engineering/nursing/STEM University? Ridiculous.

And regarding that thread when during the Cruzado hiring process, I was dead wrong and have happily eaten a double portion of crow over it.

Above in red are my exact thoughts. Makes zero sense. We should a finalist that is familiar with a deep understanding of our specialties and have strong relationships to industry in those fields. If we are using a search firm, maybe they place an emphasis on liberal backgrounds? I don’t know, but these candidates seem better situated for U of M than for MSU and that is not good.

Pretty much all of what you say here was also said about Cruzado when she was hired. People couldn't believe that MSU was hiring someone whose academic background was as a Professor of Literature in Puerto Rico.

Yeah. People should read that thread from when she was hired. They complained she didn't have any ag background.

If Dean is on the committee I hold out some hope we get it right.

I'm surprised there wasn't a handpicked homegrown replacement that had been mentored by Waded. Is there a list of all the candidates?

[BelligerentBobcat]

I’ll day this.

The amount of presidents who actually care about athletics are few and far between. Waded, obviously, prioritized athletics and overall growth. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but a downgrade in president is almost a certainty.

[BelligerentBobcat]

I’ll also say this regarding the committee.

The vast majority of them have only existed in the education system and have rarely had to hire somebody or face consequences for poor performance. There’s a large faction of educators at MSU who did not care for Waded, and likely want somebody who isn’t like her. Somebody that would have backed down in regards to some of the politicized issues MSU has seen recently. It’s unfortunate these people will have a large voice here.

[iaafan]

My problem with this is neither has any Ag experience. One is heavily studied in poli sci and liberal arts and the other isn't any more remarkable.

Such a let down from Waded's background and success

Yep, hard pass. Why would they choose someone with a background in liberal arts to be the next president of a land grant ag/engineering/nursing/STEM University? Ridiculous.

And regarding that thread when during the Cruzado hiring process, I was dead wrong and have happily eaten a double portion of crow over it.

Above in red are my exact thoughts. Makes zero sense. We should a finalist that is familiar with a deep understanding of our specialties and have strong relationships to industry in those fields. If we are using a search firm, maybe they place an emphasis on liberal backgrounds? I don’t know, but these candidates seem better situated for U of M than for MSU and that is not good.

Pretty much all of what you say here was also said about Cruzado when she was hired. People couldn't believe that MSU was hiring someone whose academic background was as a Professor of Literature in Puerto Rico.

Yeah. People should read that thread from when she was hired. They complained she didn't have any ag background.

If Dean is on the committee I hold out some hope we get it right.

I'm surprised there wasn't a handpicked homegrown replacement that had been mentored by Waded. Is there a list of all the candidates?

I don't know anything about Dean Folkvord other than he's a big donor and used to own Wheat Montana. You're the second person to mention him in this thread. I'm just curious what it is about him that makes you, or anyone, feel good about this hiring process? Anyone feel free to respond.

Was he on the committee when Cruzado was hired? If so, did he put his foot down and say that she's the one and swayed others to vote for her?

[iaafan]

I’ll also say this regarding the committee.

The vast majority of them have only existed in the education system and have rarely had to hire somebody or face consequences for poor performance. There’s a large faction of educators at MSU who did not care for Waded, and likely want somebody who isn’t like her. Somebody that would have backed down in regards to some of the politicized issues MSU has seen recently. It’s unfortunate these people will have a large voice here.

You can have that opinion, but hiring people is not an exact science. If it were, and it followed your train of thought, then it would be simple, and this world would be perfect. Apparently, all you need to do is get a group of people that have hired people and faced the consequences of poor performance, and everything is all tidy, is that what you're saying? I doubt that it is.

[iaafan]

I’ll day this.

The amount of presidents who actually care about athletics are few and far between. Waded, obviously, prioritized athletics and overall growth. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but a downgrade in president is almost a certainty.

What a laughable take! Most presidents (at least in this day and age) in NCAA DI understand fully how important athletics is to their school. Almost all of them care a great deal about it. Even presidents at NAIA and D2 schools understand its importance.

[iaafan]

From the UC-Merced website:
Kurt Schnier is a Professor of Economics at UC Merced. His research focuses on conducting policy analysis in the concentrations of health and environmental economics. His research in health economics has focused on the response of physicians and hospitals to current and impeding regulations that impact the provision of health care, the efficient utilization of donated organs and deceased donor organ allocation mechanisms. His environmental economics research has focused on the development of efficient marine resource policy and determining how fishermen respond to current and prospective fisheries policy. Furthermore, he has extensively utilized experimental economic methods to investigate pollution markets, charitable auctions and efficient hospital discharge protocols. In addition to his research, he has received two teaching awards for excellence in the classroom, serves in an advisory panel for two regional fishery management councils, and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, MT. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Science Foundation, Georgia Sea Grant and the United States Department of Agriculture. Professor Schnier received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona. He has served on the faculties of the University of Rhode Island from 2003 to 2008, and Georgia State University from 2008 through 2013.

(Seems like he has some familiarity with MSU and Bozeman).

Tessman has been discussed, so I'm just throwing this out there. Seems Tessman's ties to Montana are a bit negative in terms of MSU. He's a UM guy and was in the MUS system.

My take is that if they have it boiled down to these two, then they both must've hit some strong points and it's basically a toss up. If so, then I would think they'd take Schnier because they'd never live it down if Tessman were a flop. It's kind of like taking your starting pitcher out of the game to avoid a lefty pitching to righty situation. You better not bring in another lefty or the press and fans will eat you alive if he allows the game-losing hit.

[catatac]

I’ll day this.

The amount of presidents who actually care about athletics are few and far between. Waded, obviously, prioritized athletics and overall growth. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but a downgrade in president is almost a certainty.

I think most administrators understand how important athletics are to the overall health of the university. That said, the part in bold is... kinda no brainer. Saying we're going to hire someone juat as good as Waded is sort of like saying we're going to have a QB as good as Tommy in 2025.

[lutecat]

I’ll also say this regarding the committee.

The vast majority of them have only existed in the education system and have rarely had to hire somebody or face consequences for poor performance. There’s a large faction of educators at MSU who did not care for Waded, and likely want somebody who isn’t like her. Somebody that would have backed down in regards to some of the politicized issues MSU has seen recently. It’s unfortunate these people will have a large voice here.

I do know there are professors that didn't like her. I know one person that very much dislikes her. And there's a whole lot that love her too. So I don't know that you can assume the faculty on staff disliked her. They may or may not. We don't know.

[tetoncat]

I am surprised only 2 finalists. Any idea total # of applicants.