When incoming university President Wallace Loh arrives Nov. 1, he will bring with him a change from the hard-sciences background most administrators and former presidents have hailed from — a sign Loh won’t neglect the humanities while strengthening sciences, many say.
Throughout his 12-year tenure, former President Dan Mote’s fundraising efforts were integral to the construction of the Kim Engineering Building, among other projects, and the college attracted top-notch faculty as its prestige climbed. Meanwhile, other colleges, such the behavioral and social sciences college, struggled to maintain a burgeoning student population with limited resources, and humanities faculty clamored for more support.
But unlike Mote, or acting university President and Provost Nariman Farvardin, Loh does not have an engineering degree. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology from Grinnell College, Cornell University and the University of Michigan, respectively, along with a law degree from Yale University.
Many professors are hopeful Loh’s academic diversity will bring a fresh perspective to the table at an institution often lauded for its science research programs and leaving the humanities overshadowed for a lack of research grants. For the 2011 fiscal year, the university allocated $468,738 to the arts and humanities college and a total of $664,938 to the chemical and life sciences college and the computer, mathematical and physical sciences college.
Biology professor Charles Fenster said because science research brings in a substantial amount of funding for the university and the state, there is often the perception that humanities play a less vital role at the university.
“It’s the sciences that is perceived as really running the university in terms of bringing in the money,” Fenster said. “In the humanities, no matter how wonderful of a reputation a professor or program has, they don’t have access to the scale of federal funds that are available to scientists. As a result, their contributions are perceived to be less by some administrators.”
English professor Martha Nell Smith, who drafted a letter to the Presidential Search Committee last semester emphasizing the need for a president who appreciates the humanities, saw Loh’s appointment as a positive step for the university.
Smith said it’s hard to tell how Loh will react regarding the humanities and sciences departments because he hasn’t fully transitioned to the university yet, but she’s optimistic he will appreciate all disciplines.
Farvardin said it shouldn’t matter what background a president comes from for them to do an efficient job running the university, noting former university President Brit Kirwan’s background in mathematics and Mote’s engineering degree.
“I don’t think a president’s discipline should really have any influence on the treatment of the university,” he said. “All presidents should treat the university in a balanced way, and I’m convinced Mote and Kirwan did that.”
Others, however, think it matters what field the president tends to lean toward, and some professors said Loh’s psychology background is an advantage.
“Personally, I think scientists tend to see things in black and white, and maybe that’s not the best approach to running a multi-layered and multi-cultural institution,” Fenster said. “You have to be able to perceive nuances in order to appreciate the wealth of diversity here.”
Farvardin said even though research grants primarily go to the sciences because of the work’s nature, the university community values the humanities just as highly.
“I don’t want to give any impression that humanists are not engaged in research,” he said, noting that research for a historian is different and often less expensive than research for a physicist. “We are making significant advancements in the arts. We’re bringing outstanding scholars here who are doing cutting-edge scholarship.”
Despite the fundamental differences between the humanities and the hard sciences, Farvardin said this cultural variety is beneficial in a college setting.
“It’s what makes such a rich university community,” Farvardin said. “If all the parts of the university were the same, the university would lose its intellectual vigor.”
Physics professor Jordan Goodman said even though the science departments bring in more money, the humanities are always appreciated for their contributions to the university.
“We know we’ve been a strong part of giving the university the reputation it has, but we’re happy to see the rest of the university succeeding, too,” he said. “The state legislature sees the importance of a program that brings in a lot of resources and jobs, but we in the hard sciences think it’s best when the whole university is a strong place.”
Though Goodman said Mote’s propensity for engineering was beneficial for the science departments, he added he didn’t think those schools would now suffer because Loh’s expertise lies elsewhere.
“It’s good to have someone who knows what you do, but a top quality person will figure out what we do,” he said. “As long as he has the best academic interest at heart, it won’t be an issue.”
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