Texas Tech University president Guy Bailey is scheduled to interview with the University of Alabama Board of Trustees on Wednesday as the sole announced finalist of the school’s 2012 presidential search. It is widely speculated that he will be named as the next president.
“They called late last night and offered him to be the sole finalist, meaning he will get the job,” TTU Chancellor Kent Hance said in an interview with KCBD, the local news station in Lubbock, Texas, on July 6. “He thought about it overnight and called me first thing this morning and agreed to accept.”
Also on July 6, the UA system sent out a press release, noting that Bailey had been “invited to interview for the presidency” and detailing the specifics of the interview, which will occur in a public Board of Trustees meeting in the Bryant Conference Center on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
However, Kellee Reinhart, spokeswoman for the UA system, believes that it is possible that Bailey will be hired on the spot.
“By the very nature of a presidential search of this magnitude and having a candidate who is head and shoulders above the rest at a flagship university, it is very likely that he could be hired following the interview,” Reinhart said.
The search for a new president began on March 5, when former UA president Robert Witt was selected as chancellor of the UA system upon the retirement of then-chancellor Malcolm Portera. Provost Judy Bonner was consequently named interim president, and an advisory search committee was formed during the following weeks.
The 23-member committee represents all facets of the university, including six members of the board of trustees, nine UA administrators, five business leaders and alumni, two professors and one student, SGA president Matt Calderone. Three months after the formation of the committee, Bailey, a two-time graduate of UA, was announced as the only finalist.
Bailey, a native of Montgomery, Ala., received his bachelor’s degree from the University in 1972 and his master’s in 1974 – both in English. Bailey served as provost and executive vice president of the University of Texas at San Antonio from 1999-2005 and chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 2006-2008 before being named president at TTU in 2008.
In the press release from July 6, Chancellor Witt addressed Bailey’s familiarity with the school and state as a strong characteristic.
“One of our best and brightest graduates, Guy Bailey knows his alma mater and his home state from top to bottom — and he brings a wealth of national leadership experience that is an impressive match for the selection criteria developed by the search committee,” Witt said.
However, Reinhart points out that Bailey is not just considered because of his Southern heritage.
“The fact that [Bailey] is a native son of our state and that he holds two degrees from the University wasn’t a criteria for the next president, but everyone agrees that it is the icing on the cake,” she said.
Following Jon Whitmore’s resignation as TTU’s 14th president, Bailey was presented to the University’s Board of Regents as the lone candidate on July 2, 2008, five months after their presidential search began. According to Robert Giovannetti, associate vice chancellor of communications and marketing of the TTU system, no students served on the Search Advisory Council.
“When Dr. Bailey got here, I would say that [the university] was on the upward trend,” Giovannetti said. “He was very instrumental in implementing his plan [for the school] and increased recruitment and quality of students.”
In fact, when Bailey arrived at TTU in the fall of 2008, the school’s enrollment was at 28,422. In the fall of 2011, the enrollment reached the largest it has ever been — over 32,000. The following spring saw a record for the spring semester with over 30,000 students, and the summer saw a record as well with over 11,000 students.
Additionally, the past seven semesters have seen record enrollments, with each surpassing the number of students during that semester the year before.
“Dr. Bailey has been very involved in recruiting trips all over the state, much like Dr. Witt did [as president of UA],” said Chris Cook, managing director of the Office of Communications & Marketing at TTU. “He’s very hands-on with faculty and with students. He’s very accommodating and has an open-door policy.”
Cook adds that two highlights of Bailey’s time so far at TTU have been the development of the school as a tier one university, which classifies the school as a major research institution, and the creation of a 10-year business plan. He describes the business plan as a “very conservative plan compared to other universities” that, over a 10-year span, will increase faculty by 500, additional staff by 300 and graduate assistants by 1,000.
Cook also stresses the importance of communication to Bailey, adding that he puts all of his reports to the TTU Board of Regents online for the public.
“He is an excellent communicator with students,” Cook said. “He is genuine, down-to-earth, smart, accomplished. If he talks to students, he asks their major. If he talks to professionals, he asks where they went to college and where they are from. He is genuinely concerned with their thoughts.”
