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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1982)
Battalion/Page 8 April 8, 1982 photo courtesy of Lafayette Journal and Courier At a press conference after his selection as Texas A&M clancellor, Hansen shows the folks back home a moment© of his Texas visit. Purdmesic A Mime WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — If Dr. Arthur G. Hansen has any foes in the Purdue University fa culty or administration, they couldn’t be found. No matter what questions were asked and no matter who was asked, the answers were always favorable. Not just favorable, but out standing. “If he hadn’t been hired and you got a glowing report, you might be suspicious thinking we were trying to peddle him,” said Dr. John W. Hicks, executive assistant to the president. “But that isn’t the case — you’ve already got him. “He’s an absolutely honest and straight-forward individual. He doesn’t manipulate or pull deals or operate behind the scenes — he comes right out and lays it on the line — something rare in university administra tors.” Dr. John C. Hancock, dean of engineering, said: “When Dr. Hansen got here, he had to take on the job of cultivating alterna tive sources of fund-raising. Be cause of this, he delcpijeniriit to our ; of his internal work loHis toughness is But, it's clear that heitaj-d questions gated the responsibilit; ituations. But, t mority that go withit ikijiJbined with behind people - kieople. loyal.” “Because most George S. King, diitisions take plac the Purdue Division : tepesand the hu legiate Athletics, agreanijliesurface, hi: that (Hansen) haslieriEpft. But, this is i lent administrator- jmsc , when the have no complaints lit,jade, the hard c way he’s handledou &,be asked. I’m pretty well left loji'fou can run a show.” umber of dill Dr. Felix Haas.exti Jaas said. “Then president in chargei nswer. But, I thir mic affairs, said twt iodcl of careful Hansen’s personalit (gallon of aulho considered before h ;cn for people i ness as an administnH a mix as an) measured. Hansen came to “First, he’s a ver oeorgiaTech in Ji person,” Haas said, w*Frederick L. H challenges — he asf resident from 1 about why we do thii. trifled to step d< we do. He’s verv rtk|GavTotten, edit accept things without ue Alumnus, sai them through complet«ame toPurdu< “Second, he’s addeditoliod of great ui Future (Continued from page 1) ship, going back to when Mr. Bright (H.R. “Bum” Bright, chairman of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents) first asked me about (accepting) the presidency of A&M. The actual decision point came in late February, shortly after the announcement came out about Chancellor Hubert stepping down. I was nominated as a candi date in late February by one of the A&M alumni I had worked with. Mr. Bright then contacted me and asked me if I would accept. The next step was to meet with the search committee ... at Mr. Bright’s house. Two weeks ago, the executive session was held and the follow ing Tuesday (March 22) the offi cial vote was taken. The interest on both sides had been there but the decision point came in February. Since both ptrties had known about each otfer, (the decision) was a very simpe matter. Q. Whenwill you start work? A. I’ll star work July 1 but ... from late Miv to early June I’ll probably ma.e a number of trips to (Texas\&M), to become acquainted win the staff in ... an unofficial capacty. Q. How do pu think your outlook will cha>ge as you go from being president of Purdue to chancellor of the Texas A&M System? A. I think it will be an adjust ment period. I’ve been so close to running (Purdue) for such a long time that I will have to learn to pull back. The thing that bothered me at the news confer ence was questions about what I would do at A&M. I had a quick response because I know A&M is so much like Purdue. Now, I’ve got to catch myself and real ize that’s no longer my opera tion, -it’s President (Frank E.) Vandiver’s operation. Q. How do you perceive the role of the Texas A&M chan cellor? A. (The chancellorship) is a management role in a different sense. As the regents keep tell ing me, I’m the chief executive officer. I keep telling myself to keep in mind that my direct re porting responsibilities are to the Board of Regents. In turn, it’s my role to make sure that the units reporting to me operate well and operate efficiently but keep my fingers out of their jobs. I think that will come fairly readily. My hope at A&M is that I will have a lot more time... to engage in what I would call strategic planning — there has been in sufficient time at Purdue to do as much of that as I would like. I vant to do more planning, more omprehension along the lines c where the University should bifive or 10 years from now. ). Do you ha ve plans to bring anyof your top administrators to AtcM? A.No. I think one has to be very ireful ... of leaving an in- stitutin and then taking from that intitution the best people — it’s jut not fair. Now that does not imfy that some point in time, soteone from this institu tion ... tight, on their own in itiative, cfcjtact me. But, I have no plan ri£it now to hire any of the top aQiinistrators here at Purdue. Q. What a? your first plans? A. One of lie first things that I’m going to <p ... is to become acquainted as uickly as possible with the (Systet) components. I plan to meet yth the people who report to ne, I want to travel to each of ne institutions, tour the campuseand see them first-hand, and beome as famil iar as I can in as sprt a time as possible with both ne problems and the opportunies that are resent. I’d like to © that well efore school starts n the fall. The other thing I’n going to concentrate on very h a vily and very rapidly is prepaition for the 1983 legislative se^on. Q. When you came to*urdue in 1971, you said you pttbably would stay at the univerity 10 years. Ha ve you set any lint on your term at Texas A&M A. No, I have not ancthe reason is a very simple ne. When I first came to Purdu, I was very much aware of whi a presidency entailed. I felt tkt 10 years was about the timet took to get the job done. But since I haven’t been in a chancel lor’s role, I’ve set no time limits whatsoever. I think the agreement I have with the regents is a very simple one and that is that I’m hired year by year. They made no commitments to me, and I made no commitments to them. I serve at the pleasure of the Board. Q. At the press conference, you referred to a decentralized style of management. What did you mean by this? A. Administration tends to grow and grow. I want ... staffs to be lean. It’s easy to build up a large staff (and) give people all kinds of jobs to do. The problem with that is that it then becomes basically inefficient. So, we try to give a few people a lot of respon sibility and authority and hold them to it. Unless there’s something glaring, I won’t interfere. My feeling is that the minute I tell people how to run their shops, I might as well be running their shops for them. At the press conference, the decentralized style (of manage ment) I referred to means I do not want to interfere and yet I have to understand priorities, directions, purposes and goals. If we agree on that ... then it becomes my job to make sure that I get the money from the state, from private resources or whatever it happens to be. Q. Since land-grant institu tions are based on agriculture, science and engineering, what do you feel is the role of fine arts and the humanities at such an institution? A. In modern times, the first- rate land-grant institutions have had a concern about the educa tion of the whole individual. The feeling is that while it is good to have technical skills, that does not complete the whole education of a person. There’s a whole broad pers pective of the social sciences, of the humanities, of the fine arts that add that extra part to the education of what I would call a complete human being. But at a land-grant institu tion, I would expect that certain areas will emerge normally with in the land-grant tradition of sci ence, technology and agricul ture. In the professional and vocational fields, you should have areas of excellence. Normally, you would not ex pect areas of such excellence to appear in the fine arts. One may infer from that that I’m not in terested in the fine arts or huma nities, but that is wrong. What ever you have, whatever the de partment is, it should be first- rate. Q. Dr. Vandiver has men tioned that the University is in dire need of an expanded com puter system. How do you feel about this? A. I agree with that complete ly. It’s something that’s going to have to come to every university that wants to be first-class. It’s got to be big, and it’s got to be well-designed and students have got to have access to it. At A&M, we have to take a long hard look at where the computer direction is going. First, you’ve got the student need, which takes into account a certain type of computer approach for terminals and the like. Second, however, you won’t get good faculty and research to day without a good research computer behind you. So, you need a combination of a compu ter system that will not only serve the students but will also serve the faculty’s research needs. I want to see what A&M’s got ... where President Vandiver wants to go. Then, if we can de cide on an approach, we’ll go out and see if we can obtain that in the shortest possible time. Q. How do you feel about the concept of making Texas A&M a “world university“? A. The answer to that is you have to have the will. That means selecting areas of strength and that means having the self-perception of “Yes, we can.” You can have all the re sources in the world but if you don’t have faculty, students and administrators who think that way, you won’t have a chance. Q. What type of growth do you perceive for the Texas A&M System? A. Speaking of A&M ... first, I would say that the time has come to consolidate all that we have. I think during the era of very rapid growth, which is what A&M ... has been through, the University became so involved in trying to accommodate more students and the expansion of programs that it became very difficult to sit back and reflect what the next steps for excell ence in various areas would be. I would think that ... I would prefer to see things slow down. You cannot continue to live in a state of stress that comes from continual growth. I would hope that the University would con solidate itself with what it has. Because A&M is so big and such a dominant factor, you tend to think wholly in those terms. The things I heard on the campus mainly deal with A&M — the research there, the faculty that they have. On the other hand, I have a whole host of other ... responsi bilities in the other universities and the agricultural and en gineering extensions that I’ve got to learn to be worried about, too. So, I’ve got to find a balance at the outset of looking at where I think the key needs are, whether they are in agriculture or at a particular university. Q. Are you satisfied with the current organization of the System? A. Yes, I have no quarrel whatsoever. If it’s working, no matter what it is, it shouldn’t be changed. But if good people are not working well, 99 times out of 100, this means that the system needs to be changed. And, cer tainly, I will make this assess ment continually. photo courtesy of the Purdue Alumnus During Handicapped Awareness a wheelchair to learn first-hand the Week, Hansen spent a few hours in problems faced by the disabled. Hansen ddiven i*®'" 1 address graduation ceremj® University. archer. I prefer to f has between the c/iancells'L , president. How do \v , M en • /p Vo/e of the S?sJJ£\ f°T" r \ a -ru u ii i f 61110 tr y to hnd r A. The chancellor lilt. , • , . , ( son who is ultimateht,' ‘ lie , ° , • 11 ble for the successor! . ea< - lin R the System. There’s# &°;^ nd in h — that’s where the bJ n „ _ . What was your The regents'jol«L‘' rin y. Tel ing — it not, me hfflj. , f , , sonal feeling is thatit'C 1 felt the p re w f a get along and getthe«P 0Cn r y OpeV There should mbei! their fin g e u rs a V that we’re all worb# 35 S0I f thi ng b same goal - it's m , f was also a feel., that, this is done. ™commun,ty. This also means C°^ es ’ t0 ^t people who report#’ „W ho estabhs given the responsibit ' Tb °se values the job done. 1 amnol° nof ° L ur soc / et y go over their heads. I abo “ t the u m done it here, and IwEi, lke . j b ^ m but thal there. Norld happens to Une thing, howevi Q. Some people important w; growing conflict to pursue exce teaching and researcif lv ’ e exce ‘ lence ’J, 0 A&M. How do yoaf# P nce for U , Wb; this? 'u happens to be, I r A. lam unconvi4 t( ^ tthe bes ^ P ec good faculty member *. and res P ond t0 a good teacher and # et P™* happens