Welcome, Chancellor
Come Jan. 1, Joseph E. Steinmetz, provost at Ohio State University since 2013, becomes the new chancellor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
He arrives on the scenic campus of just over 26,000 students as of last fall from the nation’s third largest university with an enrollment in 2014 of more than 58,000.
You might say this distinguished neuroscientist with a Ph.D. in psychology is downsizing along with his wife, Sandy. I tend to think of his move as a step up in any number of ways, having spent five years in Columbus as an OSU Buckeye.
Those were the years between 1989 and 1994 when I directed the Kiplinger Public Affairs Reporting Program and fellowship for eight to 10 professional journalists who took a year away from their assignments to earn all-expense paid master’s degrees.
It also was the period when I learned to like and appreciate OSU’s President E. Gordon Gee, a diminutive bow-tied gentleman with boatloads of charm and a wit and appearance that rivaled former Razorback Coach Lou Holtz.
And now, the University of Arkansas welcomes a man who by all accounts is not only capable on an academic level but is people-oriented, very engaging and seemingly cares about making a difference with the years and energies of his life.
He arrives to replace a chancellor of eight years who many in the state believe was irreplaceable. G. David Gearhart not only set records as a remarkable fundraiser during his tenure in the university’s administration, but who lifted the institution to new heights nationally in academics, enrollment and research.
Together with his indomitable wife, Jane, they made one formidable team when it came to leaving a remarkable swath of success and growth on every level. Moreover, they established themselves as just plain good people who worked, entertained and shared themselves on every level.
Under the category of unsolicited advice, I’d suggest the new chancellor and his wife spend considerable time visiting with the Gearharts, who know and understand the inner workings of the UA better than anyone I know.
One friendly admonishment I’d also offer is to make certain to hire administrative department heads who understand and follow budgets. His predecessor unfortunately learned the hard way that, regardless of all the remarkable good you achieve for the university, a misjudgment in that area can lead to an entire hellish year of sustained media hounding and mean-spirited political posturing aimed at gaining headlines. Despite the huge disparity in both size and scope of the campuses, there are some similarities between the universities. I digress to football.
For instance, where OSU and its Buckeyes are dissatisfied with anything less than 10-win seasons and perennial rankings in the Top 10, we in Arkansas, where the Southeastern Conference Western Division is the toughest in college football, get downright giddy if we can win eight games in a season. (I wonder how OSU would fare in the brutal SEC West?)
Unlike OSU and populous Ohio, Steinmetz quickly will discover how big a deal Razorback football is across the state. It is as if the so-called Razorback nation is ingrained as a state of collective consciousness in the hearts and psyches of so many from border to border.
While the OSU Stadium, affectionately known as The Shoe, holds some 104,000 fans, our Don W. Reynolds Stadium (also on campus) seats about 72,000. But make no mistake, those 72,000 Hog fans can get as loud as Buckeye fans in their home.
Where the Buckeyes have a tradition of one tuba player “dotting the i” as their enormous band spells out the school’s revered “Script Ohio” on field, Arkansas fans, including everyone in the stadium and every wing joint, sports bar and in most homes, join in standing to call those hogs. He will learn that quickly.
Finally, while Ohio State has had Michigan as its arch-foe for decades, Arkansas, since leaving the Southwest Conference, lost its nemesis in the University of Texas. However, Hog fans I’m sure will delight in knowing Steinmetz recently withdrew his name as a finalist to become UT’s president.
Steinmetz, at 60 years of age, appears to be a genuine person, liked and respected by most who know him, as well as a capable administrator and academician with a sense of humor. All are traits that will serve him well here. He certainly has an extensive career background in liberal-arts fields at universities where he has taught and administered.
As one born in this state and having seen and lived in others from coast to coast, I can assure Dr. Steinmetz that he and Sandy will find an abundance of wonderful and kind people here as well as unmatched scenery and recreation (go see the transcendent Buffalo region just 90 minutes east).
They made a very wise choice by coming to Fayetteville.
They also will find a faculty, staff and board willing and ready to help him achieve his goals whether it be in research, enrollment, or retention rates. I predict the Steinmetzes will be very fulfilled and happy in this community with hills that earned it the nickname of “Athens of the Ozarks.”