UNI Presidential Candidate William Ruud Touts Open Communication, Collaboration at Public Forum

The conflicts that dominated conversations at the University of Northern Iowa in 2012 weighed heavily on the conversation between the public and William Ruud, the first of three presidential candidates vying to replace Ben Allen.

Ruud, 60, is currently the president of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, and said he prefers to be known as Bill. He addressed hundreds of faculty, students and community members who packed the Maucker Union Ballroom.

"We have some of the same challenges in Pennsylvania as you do here," he said. "Having no money, and then having no money again next year and doing more with less money."

He had done his homework on topics popular in Cedar Falls, dropping references to everything from Scratch cupcakes to Shippensburg University's policy of shared governance - a clear reference to recent conflicts between many faculty and administrators at UNI.

"I’m in an environment where we have six unions. I work with a unionized environment on a regular basis," he said. "We take great pride at Shippensburg in having the fewest number of grievances that go forward in Pennsylvania. It’s my policy to talk about problems within ourselves as problems arise."

UNI professor Frank Thompson asked how Ruud would address the possibility of censure by the American Association of University Professors.

"I’m hopeful over the next six months that it’s the intent of all members of UNI family to work together, cooperate, put the issues on the table. If there was ever a time to keep your mouth shut, this is not the time to keep your mouth shut," he said.

The next president will take over in July, after the vote on censure has already happened. Whatever the outcome of that decision, Ruud emphasized the importance of communication and collaboration.

"I would work from sun up to sun down in the future if we have to make the hard decisions, so we would have a good conversation before we reach that decision," he said.

He said Shippensburg went through around $28 million in budget cuts over the last several years, but they were able to do so with no layoffs. Some faculty positions were lost to attrition, he said.

Ruud also spent a lot of time talking about telling UNI's story to the community and beyond, as UNI competes for both financial resources and students.

"I would hope together, me working with you, we would be able to show the rest of Iowa that we are a good place to live, work and learn," he said.

Current president Ben Allen has announced he will retire by July. After Ruud and the two other candidates visit campus, the Presidential Search Committee will forward its recommendation to the Board of Regents, which will have the final vote.

UNI community members were emailed a link to a feedback form to fill out after today's visit. Community members and any UNI employees without university email access who wish to give feedback should email CSBR@uni.edu.

The second candidate, Avijit Ghosh, will be on campus Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 30 and 31. The public forum will be from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Jan. 30, in the UNI Commons, Slife Ballroom.

The third and final candidate, whose name has not yet been released, is scheduled to visit Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 4 and 5. The information about the public forum will be released when the itinerary is finalized.