Incoming Haskell president sets 90-day agenda / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, March 13, 2007

March 13, 2007

Job: President of Haskell Indian Nations University

Age: 58

Family: Single with two sons, George Briscoe II, 40, St. Louis, and Scott Briscoe, 36, Olathe; two grandchildren.

Education: Bachelor's degree, Northeastern State University in Oklahoma; master's degree, Pennsylvania State University; doctorate, University of Oklahoma.

Experience: Director of the American Indian Leadership program at Pennsylvania State University, 1993-1995; program officer for education system reform with National Science Foundation, 1996-1998; research faculty at the Harry S. Truman Center for Public Policy at University of Missouri, 1995-2001; CEO of nonprofit agency in Milwaukee, 1999-2002; research faculty at the University of Missouri, 2002-2003; associate vice chancellor for academic affairs with Tennessee Board of Regents, 2003-2007.

Haskell Indian Nations University's next president hasn't started her job yet, but she already has sent a list of priorities for faculty and students.

Linda Warner, who will begin working April 2 on campus, said she has "10 priorities for the first 90 days" that she is on campus.

Among those priorities, Warner wants to assess and review: the student environment; retention of students and faculty; academic master plan; fiscal integrity; facilities and services; integrated planning, budgeting and evaluation; enrollment management; leadership; and extramural funding.

"I don't propose to come in and sort of unilaterally start changes until I know what's in place," Warner said.

Warner said she has talked with interim co-Presidents Venida Chenault and Marvin Buzzard about how to collect the information. She said she wants feedback from everyone involved: the community, students, faculty, Haskell Board of Regents, alumni and administrators.

"The changes that we will put in place will be a result of that 10-90 plan," Warner said.

Chenault said she thought the list was consistent with initiatives that the university has prioritized.

"What she is indicating in this plan is that these are the areas that we are going to focus on, and to really do an analysis of what the strengths and weaknesses are and what the opportunities are," Chenault said. "I don't think she is saying that she is going to resolve each of these in 90 days. The work that is going to be done in the first 90 days is going to guide our future."

Also included in the list of priorities is a smooth transition. Warner said March 27 would be her last day with the Tennessee Board of Regents as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Meanwhile, she is working with Chenault and Buzzard to make the transition as smooth as possible. She said any substantive changes to programs or personnel would need to be discussed with her before they are finalized.

Warner said she is looking forward to returning to Lawrence. She was director of admissions at Haskell from 1981 to 1986. She also was a faculty member at Kansas University from 1990 to 1993, when she also taught a course at Haskell.

"I am just really amazed that I have this opportunity to come back and work with old friends both at KU and at Haskell," Warner said. "In fact, I got an e-mail from somebody this morning that said, 'I hear you are going to your dream job.' So, that is how I think about it."