Auburn's New President?

[SupperClub 0]

Jay Gogue, University of Houston president, sole finalist for Auburn's top post

Posted by rsims March 19, 2007 14:30PM

University of Houston President Jay Gogue, a 1969 graduate of Auburn University, has been named as the sole finalist to become his alma mater's 18th president.

Gogue was named the only finalist for the job by the school's Presidential Search Committee which met Monday and by 2:30 p.m. voted to name Gogue as its candidate for AU's top job.

Search committee members have spent months reviewing resumes of applicants for the job and narrowing the list of those interested in the job.

The 59-year-old Gogue, a native of Waycross, Ga., is expected to be on campus by Wednesday where he will make the rounds meeting with faculty, students, administrators and community leaders.

On Thursday the Auburn University Board of Trustees will meet and are expected to interview Gogue and then possibly vote to hire him.

Gogue was named president of UH, and chancellor of the University of Houston System in 2003. Before coming to Houston, Gogue served as president of New Mexico State University from 2000 to 2003.

In addition to his undergraduate degree in horticulture from Auburn, Gogue earned a master's in the same discipline from Auburn in 1970. His Ph.D, also in horticulture, was earned from Michigan State University in 1973.

Gogue's wife, Susie, is also an Auburn graduate.

Link

Thoughts?

[SupperClub 0]

Here's more:

Search committee picks Houston president to lead Auburn

3/19/2007, 3:12 p.m. CDT

By BOB JOHNSON

The Associated Press

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — The president of the University Houston, Jay Gogue, has been selected by a search committee to be the next president of Auburn University, school officials announced Monday.

Gogue, 59, has two degrees in horticulture from Auburn and has been president at Houston since 2003. He is past president of New Mexico State University and provost of Utah State.

Search committee chairman Charles McCrary said Gogue would be invited to visit Auburn's campuses in Auburn and Montgomery later this week. The full Auburn University Board of Trustees is expected to vote to name Gogue president Thursday afternoon.

"This gentleman in my opinion was just heads and shoulders above the rest and a perfect match for Auburn," said McCrary.

The committee voted to recommend Gogue after hearing a report from John Kuhnle, a consultant with Korn/Ferry International. He said Gogue emerged as the top candidate after a year-long search that included several hundred potential candidates.

Gogue would replace Auburn president Ed Richardson, who took the job on an interim basis when William Walker resigned at about the same time the school's accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, placed Auburn on probation, partly because of charges that the trustees had too much control over day-to-day operations at Auburn.

Richardson later was given the title as president, with "interim" dropped.

Link

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

Can you really be the sole finalist?

"Congratulations, sir! You are the sole finalists!"

"Wow! So I got the job?"

"Not yet. You are only a finalist, even if you are the only one"

[TxWarEagle 3]

There was little chance they would publicize the names of other University officials that were interviewing for the job. University X wouldnt be happy to see that their Pres. was active in the job market.

Seems like he is qualified, and an Alumnus to boot.

[saniflush 0]

I don't know anything about him but based on the fact they are Auburn folks I would say they get the benefit of the doubt out of the gate.

[TxWarEagle 3]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

[saniflush 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

Maybe he was in the Corps of Engineers? Still in the army, depending on what you did in the corps it could lead directly to a job in Dept. of Interior.

[saniflush 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

Maybe he was in the Corps of Engineers? Still in the army, depending on what you did in the corps it could lead directly to a job in Dept. of Interior.

Not questioning that it could lead to a job with the interior. I am questioning when it says he was in the Army and the Department of Interior at the same time. maybe some of these slacker government workers around here can clear it up for me.

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

Maybe he was in the Corps of Engineers? Still in the army, depending on what you did in the corps it could lead directly to a job in Dept. of Interior.

Not questioning that it could lead to a job with the interior. I am questioning when it says he was in the Army and the Department of Interior at the same time.

I don't think it would be proper to say that you were employed by both at the same time, but the corps is used a lot by the Dept. of Interior. But I understand what you are getting at.

[saniflush 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

Maybe he was in the Corps of Engineers? Still in the army, depending on what you did in the corps it could lead directly to a job in Dept. of Interior.

Not questioning that it could lead to a job with the interior. I am questioning when it says he was in the Army and the Department of Interior at the same time.

I don't think it would be proper to say that you were employed by both at the same time, but the corps is used a lot by the Dept. of Interior. But I understand what you are getting at.

I am not trying to throw the guy under the bus either but as someone who reads WAY TOO MANY job applications that is what initally jumped out at me. Those are the things I look for that I question right out of the gate when the interviews actually start.

[JohnDeere 0]

Experience

Seems pretty impressive, so far.

If it is right or his.

I find it hard to believe that a memeber of the army is also a worker for the "U. S. Department of Interior". Maybe I am off base here.

Maybe he was in the Corps of Engineers? Still in the army, depending on what you did in the corps it could lead directly to a job in Dept. of Interior.

Not questioning that it could lead to a job with the interior. I am questioning when it says he was in the Army and the Department of Interior at the same time. maybe some of these slacker government workers around here can clear it up for me.

He was commissioned in either the U.S. Army National Guard or U.S. Army Reserve. You'll also notice no mention of serving in Vietnam, which would have been a 90% probability for a newly commissioned LT in the Active Duty Army in 1973.

[DKW 86 7,499]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4644487.html

UH's Gogue sole candidate to lead Auburn

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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Jay Gogue, president the University of Houston, is the sole candidate for the top job at Auburn University, Alabama's largest university and his alma mater.

Auburn's search committee announced today that Gogue would be the only candidate to visit campus for interviews this week. The university's governing board is expected to ratify the selection as soon as Thursday, officials said.

Gogue, 59, said that he was not looking to leave UH, but could not ignore the opportunity to return to the university where he earned two degrees. His wife, Susie, and daughter, Alison, also graduated from Auburn.

"There are very few positions that could entice me away from the University of Houston and the UH System," he said. "However, the opportunity to lead my alma mater to its next level of excellence is indeed a once in a lifetime possibility."

Gogue, who has been UH's president since September 2003, would leave Houston while most of his biggest projects are not yet complete. He may be best remembered for starting an ambitious makeover for the University Park campus.

His notable hires included Provost Donald Foss, chief fundraiser Michael Rierson and Donald Birx, vice president for research.

Gogue's departure would come before the launch a major fundraising campaign and amid talks about a new medical school in partnership with The Methodist Hospital and Cornell University.

Leroy Hermes, chairman of the UH System's governing board, said Gogue would be missed, but the aspiring research institution will move on.

"When your undergraduate alma mater knocks at your door and asks you to come home and lead them, it is virtually impossible not to open that door," Hermes said. "We, of course, believe that the opportunities in Houston and at the University of Houston are second to none, and would love to keep Jay and Susie here for a number of years yet."

Hermes said the regents would likely meet within the next week to pick an interim president and appoint a search committee.

"I would like to think we could find the same qualities we had in Jay Gogue," he said.

Steve Craig, an economics professor and former president of the faculty senate, praised Gogue for a laying groundwork for UH to become a highly ranked research institution.

"UH is poised to really explode," he said.

At Auburn, Gogue would replace Ed Richardson, who is expected to retire in June after more than three years as president. Richardson earns about $500,000, while Gogue receives a salary of $423,392 at UH.

Auburn, which serves more than 28,000 students on an annual operating budget of roughly $500 million, is smaller than UH.

But Auburn is ranked among the nation's top 40 public universities, well ahead of UH. And the school is ahead of schedule on a $500 million fundraising campaign, with more than $370 million already pledged.

The university is wrestling with some recent public embarrassments. A campus committee investigating whether two professors' independent-study classes helped some Auburn athletes remain eligible found that the professors were "overly accommodating to all students," not just athletes.

Richardson's predecessor, William Walker, resigned as president in January 2004 after an accrediting association put the institution on one year's probation because of micromanagement by the Board of Trustees. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools later removed the university from probation.

Charles McCrary, who led the search committee, said ties to Auburn were not a prerequisite for the next president, but it might be a positive that Gogue attended the university and was briefly a member of the basketball team.

"I think maybe it works for Auburn in that he's been here and he's seen the magic of Auburn and maybe he yearns for that magic again," McCrary said.

Gogue earned his bachelor's degree in horticulture from Auburn in 1969, and a master's degree in the same discipline a year later. He received a Ph.D. in horticulture from Michigan State University in 1973.

After various administrative positions, he became president of New Mexico State University in 2000.

Some UH administrators and faculty members said they were disappointed, but not shocked by the move. Rumors swirled throughout his tenure that Gogue would leave UH for a job closer to Georgia, where he was born and raised.

"I'm not surprised," said Ted Estess, dean of the honors college. "To be called home to one's alma mater is about as high an honor as one could receive."

The Associated Press contributed this report.

matthew.tresaugue@chron.com

[saniflush 0]

He was commissioned in either the U.S. Army National Guard or U.S. Army Reserve. You'll also notice no mention of serving in Vietnam, which would have been a 90% probability for a newly commissioned LT in the Active Duty Army in 1973.

Good call. I didn't think about those weenies.

[DCWarEagle 0]

That CV doesn't knock my socks off, but I guess we need to trust the search committee. I have no idea how many applications they recieved, or what quality they were, but announcing a sole finalist does seem odd. Was Gogue really that far above the other candidates? I understand the sensitivity of being announced as a finalist for one job while still at another job, what if you don't get the new one, then you are kind of hung out to dry.

I kind of thought we might need some "fresh blood" in the position, but as a double alum, whose wife is also an alum, hopefully he will be loyal to Auburn. It would be nice for us to have some major stability in the office of the President. And he does have twenty years of admin experience, including two stints as President of another school. And even though he is an Auburn Man, he has been out of the Alabama Ol' Boy Network for a long time, so hopefully he will be independent and not under anyone's thumb.

All in all, if he is who we end up with, I'll support him and hope he is the right person for the job.

War Eagle!

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Speaking locally, the U of Houston is VERY well respected academically, and their law school is top notch. His work here has been impressive. I say good call for AU.

[Ranger12 46]

Can you really be the sole finalist?

"Congratulations, sir! You are the sole finalists!"

"Wow! So I got the job?"

"Not yet. You are only a finalist, even if you are the only one"

Makes about as much sense as when the decided to take the term "interim" from Richardson's title.

"Hey Ed, ummm...we are going to quit calling you Interim President and just call you the President, but you are still actually just the interim president because we are still going to hire somebody else to replace you. Thanks buddy".

[DCWarEagle 0]

Speaking locally, the U of Houston is VERY well respected academically, and their law school is top notch. His work here has been impressive. I say good call for AU.

Thanks for the local scoop. Especially important now that he has officially gotten the job.

http://www.ocm.auburn.edu/news_releases/18_pres.html