Interim president shares views with 'Wildcat'

Kristy Mangos Arizona Daily Wildcat Paul Sypherd answers questions about his temporary position as interim president of the UA and other university issues. Peter Likins will take over the presidency Oct. 1.

The Arizona Board of Regents chose Peter Likins to be the UA's next president July 22, six and a half months after Manuel Pacheco resigned from the position.

The Wildcat talked to Sypherd recently about what it has been like to be interim president, as well as his views on Arizona International Campus of the UA, plans to renovate the Memorial Student Union, the Integrated Instructional Facility and other issues.

Wildcat: What has it been like to be interim president? How have your dutieschanged from what you were doing before?

Interim President Paul Sypherd: Unknown to most people, the provost at any majoruniversity is the chief academic officer. The provost's day is really made up of operational things - details like do we have enough sections of Spanish 101? In a sense I do, as the provost, a lot of the things that the president does with a couple of notable exceptions. It's been relatively straightforward for me to sort of switch over and take on the job.

WC: What do you think about the direction the university is going in right now as far as new projects coming up on the board? How will they help education here at UA?

Sypherd: I believe the IIF is going to have an enormous effect on the experience of particularly freshman. It's going to have a real salutary effect on campus life and experience. It is also going to be a high-tech, well-mediated building that we need very desperately. The problem with the union is how do we roll down the highway and change the tires at the same time? If we take food service off line where are we going to feed the students? When that building (old AME) started coming down everyone began to see a new possibility. It's not a wholly baked idea yet. Probably it is a couple of years in the making.

WC: What will be the benefit of the changes to the University's external physical image (classrooms, new plans)? Did a bad image contribute to last year's enrollment decline?

Sypherd: There has been a change in the mood of the faculty and administration toward students. Back 10 or 15 years ago there was this sort of 'field of dreams' concept and that is 'we are here, they will come.' I think lately, within the last five or six years there has been a refocusing on the student experience. When a student walks into a shabby classroom or walks into an old student union - what are we saying to students about how important their educational experience is? We can have fine looking residence halls and winning basketball teams but what about the educational experience?

WC: What is being done now to ensure the union is safe?

Sypherd: We have done a number of things. The old leaky floors were hardly safe. I think almost all of the buckets are now out of the union. There are other access issues. If you were in a wheelchair and you were going to go to the union club, follow the course that you would have to take sometime. It's abominable that we have let that go on.

WC: So far we have talked a lot about image. When can we see the end to this continuous cutting back throughout the university? When can we start putting money back into these programs?

Sypherd: What's affected us in the last three years has been student enrollment. Theenrollment issue, it seems, is turning around. We have taken most of the reductions out of administrative and other activities. Some of it has had to come out of the academic colleges. It has been very difficult on the deans and the department heads. I believe the state is doing so well they can no longer ignore the needs of the universities. The other thing is our enrollments are coming back. So we won't suffer the double cut. That students aren't here means we don't get their tuition, if the students aren't here also means we don't get money from the state.

WC: What about AIC? What is the future of AIC?

Sypherd: The major problem with AIC is that everyone believed the enrollment growth study. Someday we will need more capacity, we just came on line a bit too soon. It also came on line in a way that, as long as I have been in higher education, I don't know of another institution that has taken this path. In three months, Dr. (Celestino) Fernandez had to hire faculty, develop a curriculum, design courses and recruit students. Bottom line is we will have more students needing higher education in the state of Arizona. Whether we are ahead of the curve or behind the curve - we need to be ready for them.

WC: Do you think AIC would be more successful if it were closer to UA?

Sypherd: I personally believe that it would be more successful if it were closer or at least in a center of the population.