Ryan ChartrandBill Durgin, Cal Poly’s provost for the last two years, was moved to a new position as University Executive for Research and External Support while the interim provost, Robert Koob, officially took the reigns Monday.
Koob, now the second-highest ranking official on campus, will have to deal with increasing budget cuts as the economy continues to be unstable.
“Having strong leadership through the budget crisis is going to be important,” said College of Liberal Arts Dean Linda Halisky. “I personally have faith in the president’s choice and we all plan to give the new provost our support.”
Durgin was known for his involvement with the still-pending proposed deal with Jubail University College in Saudi Arabia. The deal created tension on campus last year, especially with some professors in the mechanical engineering department who claimed certain minority faculty members would be excluded from participating because of Saudi Arabia’s strict cultural biases.
“Durgin wasn’t a bad guy, but he didn’t have a lot of support in his decisions, especially in dealing with the dean of engineering,” said Unny Menon, industrial and mechanical engineering professor.
A July article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune noted that while some engineering faculty wanted their dean, Mohammad Noori, replaced, “university officials say (he) has performed well since he was hired three years ago.” Durgin would have been responsible for replacing Noori because the provost oversees all college deans.
Menon said he felt the provost got the brunt of the criticism for the JUC proposal when engineering Dean Noori should have taken care of it.
“Durgin seemed to be a guy who people liked, but some people couldn’t figure out where he wanted to take the university,” said Richard Saenz, California Faculty Association Chair and Cal Poly physics professor.
When asked why he thought Durgin was moved to a new position, Saenz said, “who knows what the real reasons are?”
The search for a provost takes time and some question why Durgin was moved after only two years if he was doing as well as university officials claim.
“Typically a provost is here for at least five years when he is doing well,” Menon said.
Dean Halisky, however, said she wasn’t surprised Durgin was only provost for two years.
“It’s not surprising he was here only two years given where we are right now,” Halsiky said, citing budget cuts and the economy.
In an e-mail to Cal Poly faculty, Durgin wrote about accepting his new position, which will allow him “to focus sharply on issues critical to the future of the university including funding, graduate education, and academic technologies.”
Durgin had interest in helping the university with federal funding programs, University President Warren Baker said at the Oct. 1 Associated Students Inc. Board of Directors meeting.
His duties will include developing a Professional Science Master’s degree and doing an environmental scan of higher education to analyze efficiency of information technology and learning resources, Baker said.
Sandra Ogren, the vice-president for advancement, said she expects to work with Durgin on these issues.
“We’re working on increasing technology use at Cal Poly and developing new master’s programs,” Ogren said. “I look forward to working with him.”
Koob was provost at Cal Poly from 1990 to 1995 and will be joining the university as an interim provost for a maximum of two years during which a permanent replacement for Durgin will be found.
Halisky said she didn’t know much about Koob except that he had been at Cal Poly previously during another time of large budget cuts.
“He had to make some hard decisions, I think, and the president has a lot of faith in his decision (making),” Halisky said.
Koob was unavailable for comment as he was out of town during press time.