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Gutierrez proposes better faculty salaries, academic advising

UCSD vice president 1 of 5 candidates for provost

Ramon Gutierrez, one of five remaining candidates for the UA provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, is in Tucson today to meet with members of the university community and to participate in two forums.

Gutierrez, like most of the other candidates, said he thinks that faculty salaries are not at a competitive level.

"(The UA has) failed to keep faculty salaries comparable to its sister institutions," Gutierrez said.

The University of Arizona is not allowed to give salary increases above 2 percent with state money, the university's primary source of funding.

Other educational institutions are able to offer pay increases as high as 50 percent to some members of the UA faculty.

What results is called the "brain drain" - a severe loss of faculty and the inability to replace them.

"The university has to make a better case (to the legislature)," Gutierrez said. "It needs to show how (a research institution) translates into innovation and pays off in higher salaries for everyone."

Gutierrez - vice president for undergraduate education at the University of California-San Diego - said the UA's most important role is its research capacity.

"(The UA's) strength is in the natural sciences," he said.

Another focus Gutierrez said he would have as provost would be a student's ability to receive better academic advising

"One important theme (for the UA provost) is to improve is student advising," he said

After graduating with his bachelor's degree in history and Latin American studies from the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque, Gutierrez went on to complete his graduate studies in 1980 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In 1989, Gutierrez founded the ethnic studies program at UCSD.

While not familiar with the UA, Gutierrez said UCSD is close enough in structure that it would not be a difficult transition.

"(The UA) has similar levels of complexity," he said. "I bring a new and different perspective."

Gutierrez said he entered the realm of academia and education to have an effect on the world around him.

"Every major research university can participate in social change and can have a major impact," he said.

Richard Powell, vice president of research and graduate studies and chair of the search committee for a new provost, said that Gutierrez's resume may be what sets him apart from other applicants.

"He has a very distinguished record of scholarship in his field," Powell said. "(At UCSD) he has extensive administrative responsibilities."

Gutierrez's first forum takes place today at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Student Union Rincon Room.

The second forum will be held tomorrow from 11 a.m. to noon in the Arizona Health Sciences Library. All students, faculty and staff are invited to participate.