Amid controversy over eliminated majors, Utica University names new president
Utica University has announced its next president in the midst of a campus controversy over changes to the university’s academic portfolio.
After a nationwide search, the trustees announced Todd Pfannestiel, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, will take over when current president Laura Casamento retires at the end of this semester, having served for seven years.
The university’s influence in higher education and its contributions to the region keep growing, Pfannestiel said, adding, “As with many universities, we face challenges which together we will address head-on with the same spirit that has become a hallmark at Utica."
Robert Brvenik, chairman of the board of trustees, called Pfannestiel a “leader of the highest caliber.”
“The board’s primary goal in this national search,” he said, “was to find a new chief executive with the vision, knowledge, and experience to lead Utica University forward in a manner commensurate with its extraordinary potential as rising center of innovation and excellence in higher education."
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New president named days after trustees' report on academic cuts
Officials made the announcement just four days after the trustees released a report explaining recommendations made by Casamento to change the university’s academic portfolio by sunsetting, modifying and adding majors, and giving their decisions on those recommendations. The recommendations and the process by which they were arrived at had led to a censure of the trustees by the Faculty Senate and protests by faculty, students, alumni, community members and professors from other universities.
But Leonore Fleming, president of the university’s union, AAUP-Utica, and an associate professor of philosophy, one of the doomed majors, responded optimistically to the news, noting although Pfannestiel formed the controversial task force, his role in making the academic portfolio recommendations isn’t clear.
“While there was much opposition to the board of trustees’ choice to conduct a confidential presidential search, I am very happy for Provost Pfannestiel and I am optimistic that he will take the AAUP-Utica’s concerns seriously,” she said. “I am optimistic that he will work with us, not against us, and I am looking forward to working with him.”
Pfannestiel plans to examine academic portfolio review process
Pfannestiel formed the task force to review the college’s academic portfolio, with input from the deans, but was not involved in its work otherwise, according to the university. He did review the task force’s report with Casamento and helped her form the recommendations, with his primary responsibility to review enrollment data and job market analyses, according to the university.
Pfannestiel noted some of the faculty’s disagreement with the trustees' decision to implement most of the president’s recommendations, but said those decisions are now final, that he agrees “completely” with them and that he’ll work to implement them. He hopes to get past the controversy.
“In addition, moving forward we clearly have wounds and divisions we need to work together to heal,” he said, “as well as assess the academic portfolio review process to see how we can refine it for future discussions in coming years.”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Utica University names president: His thoughts on academic controversy
