Walter Harris, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, announced Wednesday, April 2 he will resign Aug. 1, take a one-year sabbatical and return as a tenured professor in the College of Music and Fine Arts.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and (the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president) and I had conversations quite some time ago and I decided that it was something that I really wanted to do,” Harris said.
Harris spent much of Wednesday morning meeting and sharing the news with his support staff, the vice-provosts, the council of deans and with other directors who report to him. He said the feedback has been positive.
“You know people have been very congratulatory … people are being very supportive and are thanking me for all of the things that they know that I’ve done for the university and wishing me well,” Harris said. “But, the interesting thing in every group, people are expressing real delight that I’ll be returning to the university, because I think rumors were out that I was out looking for jobs. I have not been looking for jobs.”
Amid other rumors that Wildes forced him to resign, Harris said, “It is not true.”
“He has dealt with extraordinary times in the life of the university: Katrina and the departure of a president,” Wildes wrote in an e-mail to The Maroon. “He has done so with vision, integrity, and good humor. For which I am grateful.”
During Harris’ tenure as provost he was instrumental in the development and implementation of the controversial Pathways Plan in 2006 that cut academic programs and terminated 17 tenure and tenure-track faculty members, but said he wasn’t turned off by the controversy, saying, “that sort of goes with the territory.”
“I’ve served five years in the position and that’s about the length of time that provosts serve in those positions these days and I felt it was time,” he said.
“I am a musician and a full professor and I look forward to getting back to those sorts of things.”
On sabbatical, Harris said he will travel and continue research he put on hold after taking the job as provost. Addressing whether he has any concerns about returning to work with the people who have been vocal in their criticism of him as provost, he said, “Not at all. How emphatically can I say that?”
Harris said he doesn’t have any regrets. “I stand by every decision I’ve made and I think they’ve been good decisions for the university, and I think in time more people will come to realize that.”
Wildes said he is asking members of the university to recommend people to take on the position on an interim basis until a search committee is put together and a new provost is hired. He said he will announce the interim appointee in about a week.
Jordan Hultine can be reached at [email protected].
