LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A University of Louisville search committee has made its recommendation for the school’s next provost without a national search and after considering only two internal candidates.
The 14-member search team recommended the job as the school’s second highest-ranking officer be filled by Neville Pinto, who is serving as interim provost, The Courier-Journal (cjky.it/1RS3ajO) reported. The provost job was vacated by Shirley Willihnganz last year.
Some faculty members in February criticized school President James Ramsey for looking only at inside candidates for the opening.
Professor Ricky Jones, who chairs the department of Pan African Studies, blasted the limited search recently.
“Neville could be the best candidate available in the entire country, but if you have a search like this, it doesn’t validate it,” Jones said in an interview.
In an email, he wrote: “Can you say SHAM SEARCH! This is the type of stuff that makes it hard to defend the place.”
University spokesman John Karman said Ramsey decided to look at insiders only because “there was extraordinary talent on this campus and people here who already were familiar with the campus culture.”
The search committee set out requirements for the position that included “value system must be congruent with the president’s and this must be the public perception.”
Pinto’s appointment isn’t official yet, Karman said. Faculty will get to meet with him, and Ramsey will make the final decision on hiring him, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.
The search committee considered two candidates but decided to interview only Pinto. Karman wouldn’t name the other candidate but faculty members said he was David Simpson, a professor and chairman of the department of Urban and Public Affairs, the Louisville newspaper reported.
Simpson said in an email he was surprised that were only two applicants but that it was an open process and advertised with plenty of notice. He said he respected the credentials of the search committee and that Pinto “is well-qualified to lead the academic mission of the university.”
Pinto’s current salary as professor of chemical engineering and interim provost is $327,600. Willihnganz was paid $342,694 in her last year as provost, but The Courier-Journal reported that the U of L Foundation paid her $1.8 million in deferred compensation in 2012-13.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal, https://www.courier-journal.com
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