Office of the Chancellor and
Vice President for Academic Affairs
810 Andy Holt Tower
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0184
(865) 974-3265
FAX (865) 974-4811

December 17, 2003

TO: Stephen Blackwell
FROM: Loren W. Crabtree
SUBJECT: Your Recent Memoranda


I have received your memoranda of December 11 regarding administrative searches and December 12 regarding the Review and Redirection process. Let me respond to each of them.

First, concerning administrative reorganization:

The changes in the administration of the former Provost's office have been discussed in some detail with leadership of the Faculty Senate and with the Director of the Office of Equity and Diversity. Moreover, in many cases they are simply conversions of titles from the Provost's Office to the Chancellor's Office. They have not required searches. Where searches are required, we have followed closely OED procedures and policies. In the case of the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, the position description was distributed campus wide on two occasions on the DDH List.

For the position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, I have asked the chair of the search committee, John Koontz, to add a faculty member to the search committee. Beauvais Lyons will provide the name of the faculty member.

Second, regarding Review and Redirection:

There was no intention to exclude anyone from attending the hearing on Urban and Regional Planning. Indeed, the hearing room was packed with many interested parties. There is always a tension between the need to meet important academic deadlines and the requirement for full participation. We have received dozens of letters and e-mails regarding Planning and have responded to all of them. The network of people interested in the program is well-organized and I am confident all interested parties were aware of the hearing and attended if they could. We will proceed with the process as outlined and communicate our decisions to the campus in due time.

I appreciate the concerns AAUP has raised about both these issues. We will certainly do our best to conduct open, fair searches within OED guidelines and will move forward fairly and expeditiously with the Review and Redirection process.

xc: Anne Mayhew
Marva Rudolph
Clif Woods
John Koontz