UMass nominates next chancellor

By Diane Lederman

05/01/2008- The Republican

AMHERST - University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson today named Robert C. Holub as his choice to be the next chancellor for the Amherst campus.

"Robert Holub is a distinguished scholar, a proven administrator and is driven by a desire to make UMass Amherst one of the premiere public universities in the nation," Wilson said in a prepared statement. "Excellence has been the hallmark of Dr. Holub's academic career and will be his watchword and goal at UMass Amherst."

Holub was one of four finalists who met with the campus community the last two weeks.

Trustees to meet Monday

The Board of Trustees, which must approve the recommendation, has set a special meeting Monday in Boston to act on Wilson's nomination.

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors, and a member of the search committee, praised the selection.

"I think it's a great choice. He's a very impressive scholar and administrator," Page said.

As president of the faculty union, Page said he is "impressed by his understanding of his need to build up faculty," and support them.

If approved by the trustees, Holub would replace John V. Lombardi who left the position Sept. 1. Since then Thomas M. Cole Jr. has been the interim chancellor. Cole was not a candidate for the permanent post.

Robert Holub's background

Holub, 58, is currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where he has been since 2006. He held a range of positions at the University of California at Berkeley from 1980 until 2006, including dean of the undergraduate division.

He also attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison from which he earned two masters' degrees and a doctorate, a background that also fit well, said Robert P. Connolly, a spokesman for Wilson.

Faculty and students on campus had expressed support for Martin Hall, the deputy vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Other candidates included Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Buffalo; Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences at University of South Carolina.

"All four candidates were outstanding. We think search committee did a great job. The president had a difficult decision he was looking a slate of four superb candidates," Connolly said.

And while students and faculty in Amherst said that they favored Hall, Connolly said that there were hundreds of comments and there "was considerable enthusiasm for Holub. People felt his Berkeley experience loomed very large that he really had very impressive academic credentials."

When meeting with campus community last week, Holub said he was applying for the position because "I see this as an opportunity." He said UMass "is a great university" and that he would have "the opportunity to make it better."

He also said that the University of Tennessee and UMass are similar in many ways, including funding.

"I don't think the (UMass) campus is that bad off with respect to resources," he said. "The real key is how are you going to use the resources?"

Having enough money "is always going to be a challenge," he said.

Pleased with Wilson's support

In a prepared statement, Holub said he is pleased and honored to receive Wilson's recommendation.

"I appreciate the tremendous expression of confidence that I have received from President Wilson and eagerly await the board's action," he said.

"This is an outstanding university that aspires to rise even higher," he said. "I was attracted to this position because President Wilson, the Board of Trustees and the UMass Amherst community all harbor an ambitious vision for this campus. It is a vision that inspires me and calls me to this great flagship campus."

"We had our hopes for Hall," said Malcolm Chu, president of the Student Government Association but he said "I would say Holub was second on students' list."

"I didn't get a very good sense of him," Chu said of Holub. But, he said, "hopefully we'll develop a strong working relationship."

Page pointed out that people also need to remember that the chancellor is just one individual. And what's "much more important is what kind of (funding) resources the new chancellor is given."

Faculty Senate support

Ernest D. May, UMass Faculty Senate secretary, said he is "very supportive and excited about the appointment of Robert Holub." He said that his "main challenge will be to mobilize all the constituencies - students, alumni, parents, faculty, citizens, the Legislature, the governor - in support of the trustee vision of lifting the Massachusetts public flagship into the top tier of public research universities.

"Everyone supports the vision, but no one wants to pay for implementing it," May added. "The chancellor's task will be to convince each constituency to contribute its share."

Lombardi left the university amid some controversy. Some said he was forced out because of difference in philosophy about the Amherst campus. Wilson and trustees see the campus as a flagship of a larger system and Lombardi viewed Amherst as having a separate identity.