Spring Break
Commentary: Grobsmith lacked focus on students
Lindsay Bryant
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: News
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"I've never been here before, except once to fly into the airport," she said.
On campus Monday and Tuesday for a whirlwind of information and a slice of SJSU - from a meeting with Associated Students to Clark Hall to the King Library and around campus again - Grobsmith said she liked what she saw.
And she said she could see herself as the president of SJSU.
Grobsmith told me that her value system coincides with the vision at SJSU: commitment to students, to teaching, the community and our unique partnership with Downtown and the City of San Jose.
She said she is encouraged by the "stewardship of place" at SJSU: preparing students for being active citizens.
Her time as provost at Northern Arizona University and in education for 25-plus years has been in preparation for what she referred to as "the next step" in moving up the rankings.
Grobsmith has the experience of a higher-up at NAU as the vice president of academic affairs, where her focus was on faculty's well-being more than students', but her 25 years as a professor alluded to her ability to lecture and interact with a large audience Tuesday morning at the Engineering Auditorium.
The questions asked by the faculty were directed at the looming budget cuts and what her response would be at a university like SJSU that is losing money, gaining more students each year and now in search of a new president to sit at Don Kassing's desk - a large one at that.
While Northern Arizona's student population is not of the same diverse cloth as SJSU's, Grobsmith said her acclamation to the student diversity would come easy. She said while the percentages are different between NAU and SJSU - 23 percent minority at NAU compared to SJSU's lack of an ethnic majority, according to the universities' Web sites - it is not a "quantum leap." The leap, also, wasn't so far from her upbringing - one, she said, that was accepting of diversity. And adding to her adjustment has been her longtime study of American Indians. Her tenure as an anthropology professor provides that canvas for Grobsmith.
At the public forum, Grobsmith said she hoped to build and increase staffing in advising for undergraduates - SJSU has nine advisers for 24,390 undergrads, while NAU has 27 for 14,000, according to the universities' Web sites. If Grobsmith commits to restructuring undergrad advising at SJSU, she will be on the fast track to pleasing students.
And Grobsmith seemed to be realistic about the financial crisis, which will hit the CSUs soon.
"It's not a one-year quick fix," she explained. She said she would begin planning how to deal with less money from the state and bringing in external funding for SJSU.
The fiscal train wreck, Grobsmith said, could be controlled by limiting the amount of damage, and "maintain(ing) the quality and maintain(ing) the investment."
Grobsmith admittedly doesn't know much about our university's athletic program or the politics that go with that entity, so this could be a foreseeable issue - especially for the Alumni Association, Tower Foundation and SJSU sports fans.
Football coach Dick Tomey has until 2010 before his contract ends and Athletic Director Tom Bowen was offered a job at Louisiana State University that he turned down, according to SJSU Athletics' Web site - the turnaround for SJSU athletics, football in particular, has been 180 degrees. Grobsmith may not have the experience, or knowledge, that some are looking for to keep the momentum going in the athletic department.
If Grobsmith wins the SJSU bid, she would be the second woman president in 151 years to serve the university. It is too soon to assert who the frontrunner is in the three-way race, but Grobsmith's charisma and experience impressed even a skeptic.
But students should be just as much the conversation as faculty - and the next SJSU president should be sure to keep this in mind.
Click here for Grobsmith's profile and to read more about her visit to campus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jim Ferryman '71
posted 5/08/08 @ 9:15 AM PST
It seems to me that Grobsmith is not bringing the skill set we need to the table. She will be learning on the job at a crucial time at SJS. We can't afford the luxury. (Continued…)
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