After Chancellor Michael Martin was offered the chancellor job at Colorado State University, The Daily Reveille asked him about the factors weighing on his decision and when he will make it.
Chancellor, have you made a clear-cut decision? Are you leaving?
“I don’t think we can say I’m leaving.”
Martin recalled the timeline of events, saying that he’s made three trips to Colorado in the past several months as he’s met with the CSU Chancellor search committee, the CSU Board of Governors and the Colorado governor. The board narrowed down the pool of applicants and selected Martin as their one and only finalist. It’s now up to CSU to draft an official employment contract with details about a salary, compensation, a starting date and the like.
“As of today, I’m the only one still in the hunt…When I get that [employment contract],I’ll mull that over, chat with my wife, chat with my kids, think about what I want to do next, and decide what is the best next adventure for me,” the chancellor said. “The question I’m asking now – if I want to work more, where can I make the biggest impact? The choice is obviously here or Colorado State…But I’m also seriously contemplating whether staying at LSU is the right choice.”
What kind of offer will it take to pull you away from Louisiana? Are you looking for a particular salary or set-up?
“It isn’t so much salary. I make plenty of money, even if they match or come reasonably close, that’s not so much an issue. What I want to do now is understand the parameters of a job…Cutting budgets is hard work at a university.”
Martin said it appears that CSU is emerging from their economic downturn that has resulted in budget cuts to the university. He also said he was drawn to CSU’s Pueblo campus.
“I’ve always found serving under-served populations to be a good thing.”
However, Martin said he’ll still keep the budget situation in mind if he leaves LSU.
“Whatever happens, I’m gonna try to do the best that I can while I’m here for LSU,” he said. “I’m going to try to make going into the next fiscal as comfortable as possible.”
You said that your primary motivation for making a decision would be where you can most make a difference. Given the turmoil in the system’s office and the governor’s control of higher education, do you think you can still make a difference at LSU?
“Oh yeah, I think so. I think there are still things do to here. I think the system’s office turmoil will settle down,” Martin said. “Bill Jenkins and I are good friends. Contrary to what people think, I still have a huge respect for John Lombardi… Certainly, all those things are stirring out there. But I still think the good people on this campus can be encouraged and supported. ”
There’s a lot of talk of the chancellor position being merged with the system president position at LSU. If you stay here, would that job interest you? Does that factor into your decision?
“It might interest me, but I haven’t thought about that very much. If that were to interest me, I’d have to think about how long it would take,” Martin said. “I have not given a lot of thought to that particular scenario.”
What do you think is the difference in academic quality between Colorado State and LSU, both of which share a ranking of 128 by U.S. News and World Report?
“You look at the institutions and they’re very similar.”
Martin pointed out that both LSU and CSU are land-grant universities that are near the same age. He said LSU is most similar to the CSU Fort Collins campus, but differs because of CSU’s Pueblo campus and Global campus.
“They jumped on the online education bandwagon about six, seven years ago and LSU still hasn’t made that leap yet.”
If you do leave LSU, who do you think will be your interim successor? Would you predict someone internal or external?
“I do not know, though even if not asked, I would volunteer some recommendations to William Jenkins…. They may be internal, may be external. There are some good folks, much like Dr. Jenkins, who have retired relatively recently who might still have energy for higher education.”
How can LSU handle facing another budget shortfall with entirely new leadership in the chancellor and provost positions?
“I think it would be challenging. The good news is you have some really great people back there doing great work,” he said. “I would never argue I’m irreplaceable – you have some very good people who, every day, make the rest of us look good. Nobody could do the job without those folks.”
The chancellor specifically mentioned Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of the Office of Budget and Planning; Eric Monday, vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services and CFO; Kurt Keppler, vice chancellor for Student Life and Enrollment Services; and Thomas Klei, interim vice chancellor of Research and Economic Development.
On Facebook and Twitter, students are writing about how much they admire you as a leader and how they don’t want to see you go. Will their thoughts make a difference in your decision process?
“Of course. I’m not looking for love out of this, but it’s always gratifying to know that people you respect respect what you’ve done,” Martin said. “We have the best students in the country. That’s hard to walk away from. One of the downsides of the Colorado job is that it’s… in a downtown high rise in Denver. I appreciate the fact that the students appreciate the people who are thinking about them…it is very gratifying and very humbling .”
When will you make a formal decision?
The chancellor said he anticipates receiving the contract in the next couple of days and then taking a few more days to mull it over with his family.
“My guess is about a week.”
 
 
 
—- Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]