Published Friday, June 05, 2009 6:05 AM
Murano got a scathing review
By VIMAL PATEL
vimal.patel@theeagle.com
Texas A&M University System Chancellor Mike McKinney filed a scathing job review of A&M President Elsa Murano, who responded by rejecting the evaluation and asking to meet with regents.
McKinney stated that Murano failed to assume responsibility for decisions, should work with faculty members and not for them -- in handwritten notes, he underlined the words with and for -- and gave her the lowest rating for acting decisively and as a team player, according to documents obtained by The Eagle on Thursday through an open records request filed early last week.
On a scale of 1 to 5 -- 1 being poor and 5 excellent -- McKinney gives Murano a 1 for "team player," 2 for "honesty/integrity" and a 3 for various personal attributes such as "acceptance of new ideas," work ethic, judgment, loyalty and creativity. The review is broken up into five parts: leadership, management, constituent/customer relations, communication skills and personal attributes. Under the last two, she received no better than a 3, and nowhere in the review did she receive "excellent" marks.
The majority of the attributes -- 23 -- were ranked as average, and 13 were below average.
Murano responded by sending a strongly worded letter to McKinney and all nine members of the Board of Regents, the Texas A&M University System's ultimate governing authority.
"Incredibly, Dr. McKinney also rated me a '1' in terms of being a team player. Does this simply refer to the fact that I question ideas and plans that cross my desk that are troubling and which I consider as potentially damaging to the university?" Murano wrote in the 10-page typed response sent March 10.
"Given the complete disconnection between Dr. McKinney's perception of my performance as president and all the evidence to the contrary, I can only conclude that this review was not based on facts. I completely and absolutely disagree and reject the results of this evaluation, and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further with the Board," she wrote, urging the panel to consider having reviews of presidents in the 11-university system include evaluations from peers and subordinates.
McKinney's five-page performance assessment was written on Feb. 9 and sent to regents. It lacked specifics and was handwritten rather than typed. A page allowing him to write down goals for the president, as well as a summary of her strengths and areas needing attention, was left blank.
After being questioned by The Eagle last week, McKinney acknowledged that regents concerned about cutting costs were considering merging his position with Murano's, a move that would likely remove Murano from the post of president.
The proposal drew a strong reaction from faculty members, administrators and alumni, many of whom said such a plan could be catastrophic for the university and simply wasn't necessary.
A&M officials -- past and present -- suggested the real aim was to remove Murano and eventually replace her. In March, during a regularly scheduled board meeting, regents approved a policy allowing them to pick a president not vetted by a search committee.
Murano, the university's first female and first Hispanic president, makes $450,000 a year. McKinney is paid $533,000. The total Texas A&M University budget is about $1.2 billion.
After reports were published in The Eagle and intense public reaction followed, McKinney and regents indicated that the idea was not being seriously considered.
'Personally insulting'
Five days before McKinney gave Murano her evaluation, she was asked to turn in a self-evaluation in which she highlighted her achievements, but also pointed out what she called a barrier to achieving goals: a "lack of adequate communication between the system and the university administration" on several key issues.
In the evaluation, McKinney wrote that Murano "refused to acknowledge her commitment to [the Board of Regents] or chancellor (re: VPR, Research Foundation)."
The "VPR" is a reference to the vice president for research. Murano went forward with a national search that resulted in the selection of Jeffrey Seemann, currently a dean at the University of Rhode Island. He is scheduled to begin at A&M next month.
It was unclear what McKinney, a former chief of staff for Gov. Rick Perry, meant.
McKinney, who did not respond to a message seeking comment Thursday, rated Murano a 2 for honesty and integrity.
"Only a president who is deceitful, malicious, or who is known to break rules or even the law would rate this low on these very important character traits," Murano wrote in her response. "Such a low rating regarding my honesty and integrity goes beyond the pale and I consider personally insulting. This rating besmirches my character in a way that I vehemently disagree with."
She asked for "proof that would lead anyone to evaluate me this way" and pointed to a stack of letters from high-caliber officials, students and others, even an evaluation from McKinney when she served as vice chancellor of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
In his latest review, McKinney gave Murano a 3 for work ethic, loyalty and commitment and creativity.
"It is impossible to ascertain how anyone could come to such ratings in the face of the many accomplishments I have documented," Murano wrote. "The number of days and the long hours I dedicate to performing my duties is a matter of public record. One only needs to review my calendar entries to realize that my work ethic is impeccable."
In an interview with The Eagle last week, McKinney was asked what he thought about Murano's job performance. He declined to name her, but said the A&M System chancellor and Texas A&M University president have to work as a team.
"And failing that, you got to fix it. You can't afford for the university to suffer, and you can't afford for the system to suffer," he said.
Differing opinions
McKinney wrote that Murano does a good job on "things she likes," but is "very poor" at carrying out decisions she doesn't agree with.
She received a 2 for effective utilization of funds, change management, effective staffing, team building, and motivating. In crisis management, she received a 4. McKinney noted that she was "very good" in the effort to accommodate Galveston students in College Station after Hurricane Ike and that she "handled well" the "boat incident," referring to the sinking of the Cynthia Woods.
Murano wrote that McKinney's rating of 2 for utilization of funds would be descriptive of someone with poor management skills who caused financial trouble for the organization. She said that her stewardship of funds was "second to none" in the Texas A&M System and that A&M's 4.1 percent administrative cost ratio was the lowest of any university in Texas.
"Many of the problems that I inherited as president were due in part to a lack of proper oversight," she wrote. "Hiring the right people in the right positions to address the oversight issue has made a tremendous difference. Furthermore, I would assert that the very modest and reasonable increase in our executive salaries has been justified. Finally, each hire that I made was approved by the Board of Regents."
Murano also disagreed with McKinney's giving her a 2 for her management of people:
"Especially troubling, and absolutely inaccurate, is his rating of '2' in terms of my ability to motivate people, especially given the tremendous turn-around in the morale of the faculty and staff from where it was a year ago during the controversy surrounding the search process for president."
Murano was selected as the sole finalist for the Texas A&M presidency in December 2007, about a year after Robert Gates left the post to become U.S. secretary of defense.
A presidential search advisory committee in 2007 conducted a nationwide search that produced three sitting university presidents as finalists. Murano, who was then vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, wasn't a finalist or one of eight or so candidates interviewed by the advisory committee.
Still, regents selected her on an 8 to 1 vote, riling faculty and members of that search committee who said they felt their views had been disregarded. Regent Gene Stallings cast the sole dissenting vote. Twelve days after she wrote her rebuttal to McKinney's review, Stallings admonished Murano in a note, saying that she should not have sent her response to the regents and that it wasn't in the best interest of A&M.
Many A&M faculty members and former A&M President Ray Bowen have said over the past week that Murano never received the kind of mentoring and guidance required for a first-year president.
"I'm just kind of shocked at the nature of the document," said R. Douglas Slack, a former speaker of the faculty senate, after reading the performance review made public Thursday. "It looked to be hastily done. It doesn't look like something that was well-thought out. It's a contrast to the president's well-thought-out response."
Comments
[comment]
45 comment(s) found!
Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 12, 2009 3:30 PM
Comment Title: McKinney is lying why does anyone trust him?
McKinney is a liar. He said he needs to roll the chancellor job and president job together for money issues! At a time of sky high tuition and enrollment at A&M. Times are tight you know, those giant jumbotrons dont grow on trees. We cant afford a President of Texas A&M. Oh thank you Mr. McKinney it all makes sense now.
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 11:43 AM
Comment Title: Remember what Clayton Williams said?
Just lie back and take it cuase you aint no good ole' boy.
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Posted by:
John On:
Sunday, June 07, 2009 6:56 PM
Comment Title: Who do you trust
The President 99% to 1%, Has Mckinney resighen yet?
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Posted by:
On:
Saturday, June 06, 2009 11:18 PM
Comment Title: Here Comes Perry
Here comes Perry... Here comes Perry... He is writing his acceptance speech...
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Posted by:
On:
Saturday, June 06, 2009 6:43 AM
Comment Title: CONFUSED
If KBH is elected governor and the governor appoints and controls what the regents do, how would either McKinney OR Perry have a chance at living out their dream.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:42 PM
Comment Title: Headline in Chronicle of Higher Education today
So how much better would it be if A&M was in the Chronicle of Higher Education today for something that would make Aggies proud rather than this amazingly embarrassing episode? The Board of Regents should all be fired as well as McKinney, who I am starting to think is not just inarticulate with poor people skills but perhaps actually evil and Machiavellian........I bet that the new Vice President for Research is having major second thoughts about coming to a University like this.....What a disaster for recruitment of faculty! Quote from the Chronicle: "Faculty leaders believe the criticism refers to President Murano’s refusal to immediately accept a candidate that the chancellor and the regents put forward. A national search was under way and a different candidate was eventually chosen."
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:50 PM
Comment Title:
The only act more self-serving and brazen would be to PROCEED with the plan to install Perry as President or Chancellor now that their game is exposed. Do you believe they will continue to mount the charge? KBH could be a major roadblock.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 6:39 PM
Comment Title: Rip Ford's Lament
Unfortunately, neither of the principal players (MM, EM) in this sorry saga, nor the unprincipled player (Perry), are deserving of the distinction of leading Texas A&M University. Perhaps the three of them might rise to the occasion and ask the Presidents Bush (41, 43) to mediate some temporary binding arbitration that would put the interests of Texas A&M University and its potential as a contender to be a nationally recognized academic and research institution of the fist tier ahead of their very sullied personal ambitions and commercialization schemes. Better yet, perhaps the graciousness and dignity that both Presidents Bush display might inspire them all to resign. Texas A&M University will get past this embarrassing spectacle and fulfill its destiny, but it is a cautionary tale to all who love Texas A&M of the inherent danger of letting self-serving ambitions metastasize like a cancer of mediocrity into fabric of a great university. God Bless Texas A&M!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 4:45 PM
Comment Title: Race
Oh people, why does it always have to come to a race issue!?!? Get over it! I bet you voted for Obama too!
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Posted by:
James On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 4:24 PM
Comment Title: Female and Latino?
To be Latino and Female is going to get you searched up and down to make you look like a fool. It is her first year and A&M was quite some mess. Give her time. Truly someone has personal grudge.
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Posted by:
chaching On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 4:15 PM
Comment Title: McKinney qualifies as a "good 'ol boy"
McKinney and his idiot half brother Rick Perry are responsible for the hiring of Mike Sherman, who is the most overrated coach in A&M history--except for maybe hammerin' Hank Foldberg, another guy who fit into the structure at Texas A&M. Murano does not fit into the good ol' boy frame of reference, so by God let's get rid of her and get a "good 'ol boy" in that slot. Then we might can get something done. If a WASP (white, anglo saxon protestant) was President of Texas A&M, you would never see an evaluation aired publically, but Dr. Murano is not a WASP, so Ricky and his puppets mount what is in praticallity a political campaign against her. Shame on you Rick and shame on you McKinney.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 3:18 PM
Comment Title: No Grade inflation
Maybe this isn't such a scathing job evaluation. The Eagle should have filed an open records request for McKinney's other evaluations. Maybe he is just a low grader and the other presidents got equally low evaluations. Yeah, maybe.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 3:16 PM
Comment Title: Affirmative Action is Wrong
The terms affirmative action and positive action[1][2] refer to policies that take race, ethnicity, or gender into consideration in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and education to public contracting and health programs. The impetus towards affirmative action is twofold: to maximize diversity in all levels of society, along with its presumed benefits, and to redress perceived disadvantages due to overt, institutional, or involuntary discrimination.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 3:13 PM
Comment Title: Perry's parents
Oh, and not to mention but it was either Perry's mom and dad or mother in law and father in law that just built a house here in College Station. Oh yeah, they are banking on Perry losing and becoming president. I think Murano and McKinney BOTH need to be fired!
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Posted by:
Long time A&M employee On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 3:10 PM
Comment Title: Performance Evaluations
Performance Evaluations at A&M are not worth the paper that they are hand written or typed on. If those that gave the evaluations were evaluated by their faculty and staff I'll bet we would hear a lot more grumbling and moaning and no one would get raises anyway. Just a way to degrade people you don't agree with.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 2:58 PM
Comment Title: Vote for Perry
Well Curious Aggie, the only way to keep Perry off of our campus is to vote him against Kay in the next election. If he is reelected then we don't get him as president. I think this review for Murano along with the combination of hers and McKinney's jobs is a plot to get Perry as President. Combine the two jobs, McKinney takes the title as president until after the election in which Perry does not win. Then, by some miraculous way, the Economic times will be better and we will need a President along with McKinney's job. THEN Perry can take office. All a plot....
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Posted by:
Twisted Sister On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 2:18 PM
Comment Title: Aggie and Truth
Perry was a screw up and goof ball when he was an undergrad here at A&M. Now he is trying to use the Aggie network to curry favor into a position once he is voted out of office! Shame on you Mckinney for looking out for a worthless type such as Slick Rick Perry. The guy who got into the office he is in simply riding on the coat tails of Bush, and you know this don't you Slick Rick?
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Posted by:
John On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 1:51 PM
Comment Title: Time to resign
Doesn't play well with other. Check Doesn't follow directions. Check Selfish. Check See ya!
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Posted by:
Curious Aggie On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 1:19 PM
Comment Title: Curious Aggie
Is there any National or state oversight committee that can step in and oust regents or administrators in the event some sort of wrong-doing is exposed? Or is it simply up to the people to vote Perry out, and hope the new governor staffs the Regents and Chancellor with competent people?
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Posted by:
Anonymous On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 12:41 PM
Comment Title: Good Old Boys alive and well
The Chancellor looked like a complete Doofus when interviewed by KBTX. And this is the man who is giving her a performance evaluation? Dr. Murano was absolutely capable of being Dean of the College of Life Science. Somehow the good old boys have been upset?? Dr. Murano, you need to hire a civil rights attorney!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 12:20 PM
Comment Title:
All one has to do is to go to the system's website and look at its organizational chart. Here is the link: http://www.tamus.edu/documents/pdfs/orgcharts/tamusor.pdf The mindset at the system is that the Board of Regents not only is appointed by the Governor but the Board directly reports to the Governor and carries out his orders. My guess is that the majority of the Board think that is the case as well.
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Posted by:
Is this payback time? On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 11:55 AM
Comment Title: Self Preservation or Revenge?
Did Murano fire one of the McKinney supporters/friends in the early house cleaning she did at A&M? Is this payback time? Is McKinney a team player by giving such a poor review? What is going on with the upper leadership of the Texas A&M University that this discord is manifesting in nasty tatics?
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 11:05 AM
Comment Title: Not a surprise
I worked for A&M for 13 years and this whole dust-up doesn't surprise me. A&M is a great institution, but it's also totally dictated by a top-down management style. I doubt if the Chancellor or Regents understand what Murano wants to do. McKinney's comment of working "with the faculty" actually means "dictating TO the faculty". Murano's style is admirable, but not in touch with the top-down dictates of McKinney. Congratulations to Murano - A&M needs more openness and less blind adherence to dictates from the Chancellor.
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Posted by:
Sniffy On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 10:48 AM
Comment Title: Crooked
McKinney is a crook and he knows it.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 10:43 AM
Comment Title: Professionalism
Regardless of how anyone feels about Dr. Murano's tenure thus far, if you read the review that McKinney wrote and compare it to what - and how - she composed her self-evaluation, I'm not sure how anyone could support McKinney's position. That his was hand-written, lacking many specifics, without providing any constructive feedback, goals, areas of strength or weakness...if this happened in the private sector, she would have any and all kinds of recourse, both within and outside the 'system.' Both her self-evaluation and her response to his were thoughtful (if not angry in the response), thorough and specific. If she fights this, she loses anyway and she is tainted as she looks for new employment. She isn't a good ol' boy and she didn't lay down to be walked on. In addition, I find it awfully coincidental that all this broke after the Legislative session is over, but very, very quickly for an Open Records Act request. Why? And how? Who cooperated with whom? I didn't love her as President, and I think both sides had valid points to be made about her performance, but she is being railroaded, and very, very unprofessionally. It is a shame for her and for the university. No one wins here.
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Posted by:
Tap On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 10:21 AM
Comment Title: I agree
This is all about trying to move "Slick" Rick Perry into the president's position here at A&M. For one, if you are going to do an evaluation on someone and called them unethical, then you better have proof of this. You better document exact incidents of not only illegal activity but also immoral decisisions or actions by that person. Also, if you are going to do evaluate someone correctly, first you do not present it in your own hand, second you give then suggestions on how to improve and give them a timeline to do so. This has not been done so you know that this is all politics at it ugliest! I am not a big fan of the current president but I do not believe that she is dishonest and she is not that bad of an administrator. If there were all these problems, why just address them now?
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Posted by:
The Rosemary On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 10:00 AM
Comment Title: "Model" Chancellor is using
The model that the Chancellor appears to be using--appointment, merge, poor evaluation in file, door opening outward--has been used successfully at A&M before. Just check in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology in the past few years.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:48 AM
Comment Title: NOT the A&M Spirit
This whole thing is disgusting. There is no Aggie Spirit being displayed here by any party and that includes The Eagle. Leave this alone, let the Univeristy work this out and MOVE ON!
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Posted by:
Houstonag On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:43 AM
Comment Title: Not surprised
Gene Stallings knew what he was doing when he voted against her. I am tired of these politically correct positions. Performance and experience is what counts. My observations is that she has done very little to advance TAMU in many areas. I am also not surprised that internally she is being viewed as having poor skills. Perry and the others made a mistake, admit it, pay her off, and move on.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:22 AM
Comment Title: just wait
Maurano was hired just to pave the way for Gov. Perry that is why all his buddies have gotten hired already... just wait and see the next President of A&M will be Rick Perry
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:07 AM
Comment Title: Conspiracy
This is in response to Conspiracy: You are quite close in your assessment, but I don't think the set up is for Mick. I think Good-hair realizes that he will lose to Kay Bailey-Hutchinson (in the Governors race) and is positioning himself to take over the newly combined positions at A&M.
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Posted by:
Florence On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 9:07 AM
Comment Title: Never should have been hired
I had a feeling from the day she was hired that she would be lazy, incompetent and have a hard time getting along with others it was so predictable.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:59 AM
Comment Title: real financial issues knows the real story
THIS is the real issue, not Murano. McKinney applauded Murano's choice as the president over the "real" university presidents who were candidates initially because he said he saw her as a "team player". Now that she didn't knuckle under and sell off the University's VPR position to his newly created Systems research VP person, she suddenly isn't a good "team" player. This is the way hack politicians are messing around with the state's landgrant university and your kids' education, in order to make business opportunities for themselves. SHAME!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:56 AM
Comment Title: Conspiracy?!?
I am feeling paranoid for thinking this, but it's all starting to come together. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the Board of Regents, full of Governor Goodhair cronies, ignored their own search committee in appointing Dr. Murano. Then Mike McKinney, another Governor Goodhair crony, brings up the idea of combining his job with the of the President. It didn't make sense. General Rudder thought that there was to much work for one person, and that was almost 40 years ago. A&M has exploded in size since then. Now, with Dr. Murano's poor review, it's all making sense. I am waiting for McKinney to fire Murano and make the "sacrifice" of running A&M himself. God help us!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:52 AM
Comment Title:
Rudder is turning in his grave! Get rid of both of these clowns! To drag A&M through mud like this is terrible and does not portray the Aggie spirit. Can the CLOWNS!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:52 AM
Comment Title: Can we give McKinney a performance review?
If anyone should be canned, it's McKinney. He's an embarrassment to the university in everything from his incompetent speaking at public events to his insulting initiatives (his teaching rewards idea made us a national laughingstock) to this latest idiotic idea for a takeover of TAMU by the System. His management style and leadership are indicated by how he's been undermining President Murano in the press instead of working with her on areas where he wants her to change. McKinney wants to run TAMU the way George Steinbrenner runs the Yankees. Honesty and integrity? The man doesn't seem to recognize the concept of a conflict of interest. It is important to remember that Murano was brought in as President in a flawed process that McKinney was an integral part of. TAMU could have had a more experienced President if the Regents had followed the recommendations of the search committee. In my view, Murano wasn't the first choice of the McKinney/Perry crowd... she's the one they had to hire when the community outrage at the high handed process made the national news. Now they've discovered that Elsa isn't what they thought she would be: a token they could push around because they elevated her to the Presidency. She may not have the experience of the rejected candidates, but she's smart enough to recognize how badly implementing the dumber ideas coming from the Chancellor's office would tarnish her legacy as TAMU President.
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Posted by:
The Elephant in the Room On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:45 AM
Comment Title: Mick must have been shocked!
Poor chancellor Mckinney must have been shocked when President Murano went to the Regents and protested his review. I'm sure that back in his day women and Hispanics "knew their place", but times have changed. He and a whole bunch of people need to get with the times and enter the new millenium. A person doesn't get to become President of one of the largest institutions in the United States by accident. I'm sure she got to her position the same way that every previous President has... by earning it! Therefore, as a rational human being, I will not discount her ideas, leadership, or expertise based solely on her gender or ethnicity. Also, I graduated TAMU under President Bowen... In my opinion__Everything that could have gone wrong for A&M happened during his tenure and we still haven't recovered.
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Posted by:
robin On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 8:24 AM
Comment Title: Can her
I think TAMU can do much better in finding a President! Can her... and move on!
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:59 AM
Comment Title: Murano
The talk on campus is that most of the students feel no connection to Mrs. Murano...how sad....maybe here job performance review show that this is true and that the whole Aggie family feels no connection to her.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:56 AM
Comment Title: Real financial help for TAMU
McKinney has staff at the Office of Technology Commercialization, namely Guy Dietrich, who is a close friend of Perry. Guy and has staff routinely try to strike deals with companies and faculty members and leave the University administration out of the communication loop. One such deal, Lexicon Genetics went south and lost a lot of money. Guy D. tried to put the $100K+ write off of that company on the University's tab and is still trying to do so. The Chancellor also hired Brett Giroir as the Vice Chancellor for Research. This is who he and the board were wanting for the VPR position. I can't imagine what he makes. Giroir is genuinely trying to do a some good things, but this position was not created before and therefore is an added cost to the TAMU System. I can't imagine what Guy D. and the whole OTC make. Guy has caused more headaches by trying to broker horrible deals on behalf of the University when he has no right to and then put the tab on TAMU when it goes bad. Guy D., McKinney and Perry are making decisions for the University based on their own business dealings and wanting to run it like their own personal business. Someone please investigate Lexicon genetics, and Xerion and investigate McKinney, Dietrich and/or Perry's involvement with these companies and why they are pushing so hard for the University to finance $60M+ deals with these shady groups that inevitably have ties to all three of these people. Oh...and do a public records request on the performance eval for Guy and the OFfice of Technology Commercialization that the CEOs did last year. They scored worse than Dr. Murano did, but the difference was their low scores were actually warranted. INteresting how McKinney hasn't railed them in the paper and no one has done anything about their drain on tax payers money.
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:56 AM
Comment Title:
I will be the first to agree that Murano is sorely lacking in many areas, especially team player. Her actions as president has shown she subscribes to the "my way or high way" system of governance. She has sacked a VP for Student Affairs and hired an unqualified person to replace him. She's forced out others in like manner. She talks about shared governance, but her actions show the opposite. She used bait and switch on the students over the MSC refurbishment. All that said, she still doesn't warrant the extremely low rankings she received in the performance evaluation. This is blatantly a ploy by Mckinney to set the groundwork for forcing her out as president so Gov. Goodhair can take over once he's booted from the Governor's Mansion. A&M looses more credibility every day, and we are becoming the laughing stock of academia. Just try to find good faculty to come here now. One man should not be given that much power over evaluations. This shows the inherent problems with such a top-down approach to administration. The university president should be evaluated equally by the regents and the faculty and staff, with the results taken equally in weight. In fact, all this is showing that the entire system of university regents is flawed. Rather than a political hack putting his cronies in as regents, at least half should be elected by the university community, to ensure we have people on it who understand the special needs of academia. A university is not a corporation and should not be run as such.
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Posted by:
mark m On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:48 AM
Comment Title: She is horrible!!
I have lived in the bcs area since 1984 and have never seen a worse President than Elsa Murano.
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Posted by:
Jamie@CS On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:34 AM
Comment Title: Elsa Murano please resign today
The truth must hurt for this liberal rag Elsa Murano she is unwanted and unliked by most in the brazos valley. Why would she stay where she is so unwanted that is the hardest part to understand?
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 7:21 AM
Comment Title:
I've been a staff member on campus for over 30 years and I have never seen a leader so lacking in skills as McKinney is. It is ridiculous that he saw fit to embarrass the university by rating Murano so low on such a public document. His interviews are painful to watch since he can't control his eyes (usually means someone is lying when they look away as they answer the questions). Maybe he needs a good communications director. No wait - he has fired three of them since he came to A&M. Nevermind....
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Posted by:
On:
Friday, June 05, 2009 6:23 AM
Comment Title: That's what these things get you.
I would rate both McKinney and Murano low. But that is what you get with a political hack (MM) and two poorly qualified (MM and EM) people.
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