🏈 Guy Bailey: New President of UA.

[TerryP]

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Board motions to elect Guy Bailey as president of the University of Alabama. 11 Jul 12

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[TerryP]

[h=1]UA Board of Trustees names Guy Bailey president of the University of Alabama[/h] By Will Tucker on July 11, 2012 12:10 PM CST


Texas Tech University president Guy Bailey was hired as the new president of the University of Alabama today after an interview as the sole presidential finalist with the school’s Board of Trustees.

Bailey was hired in a public meeting in the Bryant Conference Center on the UA campus that started at 11 a.m.


“There was one person that stood out as the best [in the search process for a president], and [Bailey] quickly rose to the top,” said Karen Brooks, chairman of the search committee. “We interviewed Dr. Bailey first, and you may think you’d forget the first person you interviewed. But we never forgot Guy Bailey.”


Bailey, a Montgomery native and the first member of his family to go to college, attended Alabama from 1968-1974, earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UA in English. The ability to return to his home state and alma mater seemed to be a major contributing factor to his decision to accept the position.


“I can’t think of any honor I’ve had in my professional career that is better than being here today,” Bailey said. “This is a beautiful place and a place that has touched so many lives. … I could never dream that one day I would be the university president.


“This is my home. I’m proud to be from Alabama, and I’m proud to be a graduate of this school.”


After a July 6 press release was sent out by the UA system that noted Bailey had been “invited to interview for the presidency” and detailed the specifics of the interview, much speculation ensued over Bailey accepting the position.

 

[TerryP]

From a report a few days ago when he was being discussed:

Texas Tech President Guy Bailey, a finalist for the University of Alabama Presidential search, already spent six years at the University of Alabama, earning a bachelors and masters degree. Now, 38 years later, the Alabama grad may be returning; but this time he would be getting paid to oversee the 30,000-plus Alabama students seeking their own degrees.


Among the 30,000 students he currently serves, Bailey seems to have support due to his emphasis on research, open-door policy with students and efforts to diversify the Texas Tech student population.


“I really feel that Guy Bailey has made so many positive changes here at the university. He has extensively helped with our admissions process. He has also been just an amazing friend to all students,” said Alex Alston, SGA president at Texas Tech. “He really does care about the university and he shows by his actions.”


Many of Bailey’s cited contributions to Texas Tech include a ten-year business plan to become a tier-one school, increasing enrollment, and increasing diversity.


“A huge issue we had was the diversification of our student population,” Alston said. “Dr. Bailey took this issue to heart and started a university panel that worked with him to try and bring up suggestions that could help solve this. Dr. Bailey also created a group of University ambassadors whose mission was to help admissions recruit students to Texas Tech from all over.”


Bailey also increased the number of enrolled students in his time at Texas Tech. According to an article on Lubbock’s Local Fox34 website, in the fall of 2009 enrollment was at 30,000 students. By the fall of 2012, after continually increasing enrollments, Texas Tech saw a total enrollment of 32,327 students.


One of Bailey’s most prominently cited contributions though, comes from his 10-year business plan that would ultimately land Texas Tech among elite “Tier-One” schools.


The plan was put out this past March, and included a visual stairway to Tier-One membership, description of Tier-One schools, the benefits, and the business plan to land Texas Tech in the rankings of Tier-One schools.


In order to be a Tier One university, a school would need to either be a member of the Association of American Universities or have an AAU-like profile (which includes research, academic, and merit-based requirements), be ranked among the top 50 universities in the U.S. News and World Report, be a member of a BCS athletic conference, and be ranked in the Top 50 Carnegie Classification R/VH (research/very high).


Alston said Bailey has been one of the key people in pushing Texas Tech towards Tier One recognition.


According to LubbockOnline.com, Bailey mentioned plans to meet Gov. Rick Perry’s challenge for universities to create undergraduate programs that would cost students less than $10,000. The article states Bailey’s plan involved students taking 80 hours of coursework at a community college, then transfer to Texas Tech and take 40 hours of upper-division courses. The plan also included “reasonably priced” online academics.


From 1968-1974 Bailey received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Alabama in English. He then received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in English Linguistics from 1974-1979.


Bailey has also written roughly 100 books and articles, many of which were written alongside his wife, Dr. Jan Tillery. The books and articles mostly cover subjects related to English, linguistics, dialects and language variation and change.


Bailey took over as President of Texas Tech University in August of 2008. According to texastribune.org, Bailey receives an annual salary of $350,000. Prior to serving as University President at Texas Tech, Bailey was chancellor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.


Overall, Alston said he has had no negative experience with Bailey’s term as university president. Alston described Bailey as having an open door policy towards students, and striving to be visible around campus.


“I believe Dr. Bailey’s greatest strength would be his will to step out of his office and be among the university population, “ Alston said. “I also feel that he really cares about everything he does. He has this attention to detail that really helps the university strive to be among the best within Texas.”

 

[TerryP]

I'm reminded of the first week Dr. Witt was on campus and was unknown to our community. I know, this has nothing to do with Bailey, but it was a story that just hit me from out of the blue.

It was a Friday afternoon, just after lunch by a few hours...maybe between 2 and 3PM? Perhaps a little earlier.

Anyway, he was walking around campus getting to know faculty and staff and one of his stops after the Ferguson Center was a peek inside the student services building. Now, I don't recall which departments, but I do recall it was at least three, maybe four of them that he wanted to meet, greet, etc.

One problem. Those offices were closed for the weekend and classes were still in session around campus. To say the least, it certainly didn't sit well with him and it was enough for him to get a bit vocal about—as much as Dr. Witt could get vocal about anything.

The jist of what he was saying was "this **** isn't going to happen anymore. If the students are here and in class, the student services will be here whether they are tending to the needs of students in their offices or not."

I recall thinking, "you know, this guy just might be what we need."

Looking back? He did one hell of a job!