Budget, personnel, curriculum top new AIC head's agenda

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Tanith L. Balaban/Arizona Summer Wildcat Paul Rosenblatt talks to a reporter about his plans Arizona International College. On May 29, Rosenblatt was announced as the college's new dean.

Paul Rosenblatt, Arizona International College's new dean, has big plans for the small school.

"My primary goal is to shape things so AIC can grow toward independent status," he said.

Rosenblatt will have that chance as the liberal arts college moves into portable classrooms across from the University of Arizona on Speedway Boulevard.

Rosenblatt, 70, brings 40 years of UA experience to his new position. He spent time as an English professor and was dean of the now defunct Liberal Arts College from 1975 to 1982. During the past five years, he was executive director of the UA's Office of International Affairs.

He said making AIC a separate entity from the UA is one of President Peter Likins' goals for the branch campus.

"The president wants AIC to have an honest shot at independence," he said

The college had a shaky start. It remains a part of the UA, despite a push since the AIC's inception to win separate accreditation.

Rosenblatt said a step Likins took last year - moving AIC from southeast Tucson to the north end of the UA campus - will increase the school's chances of gaining independence. AIC's enrollment now is up to 238 students, more than double last year's total.

"The president considers the next three-to- five years to be an incubation period for AIC to give it a chance to stand on its own," Rosenblatt said. "I take incubation to mean development within an optimum environment and conditions, and the move to the UA campus makes accessible to the AIC that kind of environment."

The college's two new buildings, located on the southeast corner of North Cherry Avenue and East Helen Street, were scheduled to be completed by July 1, but Rosenblatt said the school is planning to move in June 22.

He said his initial priorities must be threefold, and must be approached in unison.

"There cannot be a highest priority in this moment of the school's development," he said. "Budget, personnel and curriculum are all intertwined, pushing each other."

He said his focus will be on gaining independence from the University of Arizona without losing sight of AIC's unique curriculum.

"Behind all the rhetoric and the mission statements and everything else, the curriculum is what speaks," he said. "Students stand at the center of it."

The college offers interdisciplinary core classes, including classes like "Spanish for Medical Professionals" and "Technology and Change in the Developing World."