From what I've read about him (3 articles) he seems to be a real "doer". Someone who will "GET THINGS DONE". I think that's exactly what we need.

We've had tons of good ideas and lots of good intentions but... let's be frank. Not much of significance has been achieved over the past 10-12 years. Sure there's been the new structures (Dorms , STEM Bldg) some expansion of academic offering (adding Engineering Physics) but our biggest rival has done some of the same things along with starting a new Osteopathic Medicine school, expanding a number of doctoral programs and growing enrollment from 15,000 to 21,000. In that timeframe we (SFA) have gone from 12,000 to 13,000. Meh.

All I'm saying is that the fine details of this mans achievements are important but not easily uncovered. The one thing I noticed is that he looks to have had consistent success adding programs that created significant enrollment impact Additionally his academic background is in the Life Sciences. Most academics would say that Forestry is SFA's strongest academic program. Seems like good symmetry to me.

BigJack85 said:

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Looks like a good pick to me. I support the STEM angle and hope he has the chops to develop that side of the university. Along with enrollment growth, I think developing a strong set of STEM programs is the best thing we can do for the university. We already have the "meager" beginnings of an engineering program. Maybe he will be the one to help build it out over the next 3 - 4 years. I think a reachable goal would be to have a full Mechanical Engineering program by 2023 (100 year anniversary). I would also like to see if he puts more focus on developing a stronger Environmental Science program at the post-graduate level. Specifically I'd like to see some kind of Doctorate in Natural Science attached to Environmental Science. Maybe it only boosts our Doctoral enrollment 8 - 10 students a year but that could catch fire and take off.

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He definitely checks the boxes of outside leader, STEM specialist, familiar with schools our size.

But I'm concerned about his lack of any connections to the State of Texas. Especially when we're trying to raise 100 million and need all the help we can get in the legislature.

But I'll try to read up on his background when I get the chance. Currently remodeling so super swamped. Happy to give him a chance, but he better be the Ryan Ivey of college Presidents if this is going to be successful.

TallTexan said:

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BigJack85 said:

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Looks like a good pick to me. I support the STEM angle and hope he has the chops to develop that side of the university. Along with enrollment growth, I think developing a strong set of STEM programs is the best thing we can do for the university. We already have the "meager" beginnings of an engineering program. Maybe he will be the one to help build it out over the next 3 - 4 years. I think a reachable goal would be to have a full Mechanical Engineering program by 2023 (100 year anniversary). I would also like to see if he puts more focus on developing a stronger Environmental Science program at the post-graduate level. Specifically I'd like to see some kind of Doctorate in Natural Science attached to Environmental Science. Maybe it only boosts our Doctoral enrollment 8 - 10 students a year but that could catch fire and take off.

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He definitely checks the boxes of outside leader, STEM specialist, familiar with schools our size.

But I'm concerned about his lack of any connections to the State of Texas. Especially when we're trying to raise 100 million and need all the help we can get in the legislature.

But I'll try to read up on his background when I get the chance. Currently remodeling so super swamped. Happy to give him a chance, but he better be the Ryan Ivey of college Presidents if this is going to be successful.

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It would be nice to have more connections with the legislators but we have never had much support outside of the deep east Texas group of 2-3 state senators and representatives. We would have more success if we had more alumni in the government.

Dr Childs has had some success. Maybe he deploys her strategically.

A friend of mine and I have kicked around the idea of an SFA alum political academy. Basically we'd recruit & launch candidates for local races, mayor/city council across East Texas, with the idea that those who win could move up into state rep & senator races in a few years.

Basically building a Lumberjack political power pipeline from the ground up.

We might have to look more into spinning that up. It could help Dr Gordon immensely & set SFA up for future success.

By my calendar, the state mandated 21 day period has passed. The BOR chair was in Spain with the Jacks. I have not seen Ms. Henderson or her husband in photos since Madrid, so perhaps they have come home.

Apparently, Saturday will conclude the search.

http://www.sfasu.edu/sites/default/files/2019-08/bor-agenda-08.17.2019.pdf

Posting over here because I want the Dr Gordon thread to stay positive and be focused on his tenure.

But have you guys noticed the crickets on the news about Gordon being hired?

I've been keeping an eye out and haven't seen anything from the Tyler Paper, much less DMN or the Houston Chron.

Nacogdoches hiring Frailey got a full article in the Chronicle.

And here we have our biggest chance for free marketing outside of March Madness and we can't get coverage outside of Nac.

That's bad and a personal annoyance of mine. If we can't learn how to market ourselves, we're not going to make much headway on the universities goals.

Did I miss any stories, since I'm mostly an online reader? Or did we just drop the ball that badly on PR?

It's been handled oddly I would say. Even locally it's not garnered much press. Today he was presented at the Chamber of Commerce meeting and stopped by city hall to me with local administration. His reception was a short affair at the Cole Art Center with the general public invited, but not much being said by SFA yet. Maybe because school's out?

Honestly Frailey (as NISD superintendent), Ivey and Carthel all seemed to generate more buzz. I agree that it is odd so far. Possibly with the semester about to start it will all get out soon.

Dr. Gordon was also at the Meet the Jacks event yesterday evening.

BigJack85 said:

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I'm fine with the low key approach. I'm not sure who is running the media rollout but....... my guess is that the new Prez has opted to set a low key tone. As long as he delivers, the introductory stage is little more than the first act of a long play.

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True, it has little bearing on his overall tenure, but you only get so many chances for free press and goodness knows we need it.

We've got to be better at marketing ourselves.

nacluth said:

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It's been handled oddly I would say. Even locally it's not garnered much press. Today he was presented at the Chamber of Commerce meeting and stopped by city hall to me with local administration. His reception was a short affair at the Cole Art Center with the general public invited, but not much being said by SFA yet. Maybe because school's out?

Honestly Frailey (as NISD superintendent), Ivey and Carthel all seemed to generate more buzz. I agree that it is odd so far. Possibly with the semester about to start it will all get out soon.

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I hope they have something planned. Need to capitalize on the excitement a new President brings, especially since his tenure will be defined based on SFA taking the next step as a university and hitting our fundraising goals.

Good press is always good.

My secondhand info from people who heard him today is that he wants to exploit our region and opportunity. Apparently at EWU, he worked with Microsoft to develop a data engineering degree to fill a need for trained skilled workers. In Tennessee it was working with an Interstate highway committee (like the soon to come I-69) to maximize the impact that increased traffic can have on a university.

It's a good message. I wish him and SFA the best at being forward looking and practical.

nacluth said:

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My secondhand info from people who heard him today is that he wants to exploit our region and opportunity. Apparently at EWU, he worked with Microsoft to develop a data engineering degree to fill a need for trained skilled workers. In Tennessee it was working with an Interstate highway committee (like the soon to come I-69) to maximize the impact that increased traffic can have on a university.

It's a good message. I wish him and SFA the best at being forward looking and practical.

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There's not much out there on him, but I am a big fan of what he did with Microsoft. Imagine doing something like that for the Texas Energy industry.

Geography is a big issue for the university, but we should also take advantage of it as best we can. There are two million people within 80 miles or so of SFA. Everyone in that range should know we're the East Texas' university.

We should support East Texas schools with education resources, work with econ development committees, everything we can to cement our place in the community.

It seems like Gordon's career has been in taking advantage of that type of opportunities.

That and the fact that he's from so far out of left field as a candidate should tell you that he must be a heck of an interviewer who can sell his vision.

So I still have good hopes for him.