UT provost hopeful touts collegial style

Dr. Glen Hahn Cope, at a UT forum, is one of four finalists for the provost position.

The first of four finalists for University of Toledo provost told college constituents yesterday she would bring an inclusive style to the position.

“I believe in open, collegial relationships and in a lot of communication and in honesty,” Dr. Glen Hahn Cope said during an open forum in Doermann Theater.

Dean of the college of public affairs and administration at the University of Illinois at Springfield since 1996, Dr. Cope is vying to become UT's replacement for Dr. Henry Moon, who resigned in May, 2000 as its top academic officer.

Dr. William Free, who is paid $150,000 a year, has served as interim provost.

The next finalist to visit will be Dr. Stephen J. Kopp, dean of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions at Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant. He will be in Toledo tomorrow.

The remaining candidates will be on campus next week. They are Dr. Alan G. Goodridge, professor of biochemistry and former executive dean of the colleges of the arts and sciences at Ohio State University, and Dr. Peter Englert, pro-vice chancellor and dean of science, architecture, and design at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

In the budget-cutting atmosphere that UT finds itself, Dr. Cope, 53, said she would be guided by a dedication to academic principles and criteria developed through a process that involves data and all concerned parties.

“I understand that the collegial process is not exactly the norm around here, but I would try to have one,” she said. “I did it in my college a few years ago when we had to make some cuts.”

Inclusion has long been an issue at UT, where faculty have been in an uproar recently over university advertisements soliciting professors that were not based on faculty input.

Dr. David Davis, a political science professor who attended the forum, said he was impressed with Dr. Cope's background in budgeting. In addition to her academic experience, she was a budget analyst and acting budget director for the Michigan Department of Social Services in the 1970s.

Dr. Robert Shaddy, an associate professor of liberal studies, said he's looking for a provost who is faculty-oriented. “She seemed like she was concerned with faculty needs,” he said.

Dr. Cope received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master's in public administration from Syracuse University in New York. Her doctorate in public administration is from Ohio State University.

Before taking her current position, she was associate dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.