James Bennett III | The Crow’s Nest
By Nancy McCann
When consolidation takes effect next July, the USF system provost says faculty in St. Petersburg can count on his support for equal treatment with their counterparts in Tampa.
That pledge came Oct. 24 from Ralph Wilcox, who will be a powerful figure when the three campuses are consolidated.
There are four things “we absolutely have to assure” for faculty, Wilcox said, ticking off equity of assignments, support, performance expectation and compensation.
“Those are the four principles that I’ve really dug my heels” in on, Wilcox told the St. Petersburg Campus Board, a five-member group of Pinellas County residents who are appointed by the USF system president to advise the regional chancellor.
Wilcox said the responsibility for equitable treatment of faculty across the campuses will fall to multi-campus college deans working in partnership with Regional Chancellors Martin Tadlock in St. Petersburg and Karen Holbrook in Sarasota-Manatee.
They must ensure that “a faculty member in biology on the St. Petersburg campus can be assured that she or he has the same instructional assignments as the biology professor on the other campuses, the same access to research support means, and will be held to the same performance standards,” Wilcox said.
This won’t be easy because it’s a “significant shift of culture within the organization,” Wilcox said.
“But I certainly want to be clear that you have my fullest commitment.”
A number of the Tampa-based deans and administrators who will have to uphold Wilcox’s pledge were present to hear him make it.
They included Julianne Serovich, dean of the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences; Charles Adams, dean of the Judy Genshaft Honors College; Jackie Reck, associate dean of the Muma College of Business; Carol Ann Davis, assistant dean of USF Libraries; Nick Trivunovich, vice president of business and finance and chief financial officer of the USF system; Terry Chisholm, vice provost of strategic planning, performance and accountability; and Cindy DeLuca, associate vice president of innovative education.
Roger Brindley, vice president for USF World, also attended part of the meeting.
Wilcox’s promise came after remarks by history professor Ray Arsenault, president of the USF Faculty Senate.
Arsenault praised the revised plan for consolidation that USF system President Steve Currall released on Oct. 17.
The new plan was greeted with a “sort of sigh of relief” in St. Petersburg, Arsenault said.
But Arsenault said he still senses a lot of faculty concern about “equitable distribution of research funds, course loads and salaries” as consolidation approaches.
These “more anxiety producing aspects” are not addressed in Currall’s new plan, Arsenault said.
