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