President to leave his post at the end of academic year
After two years at AAU, Joseph Drew is looking for new university presidency
By Tamina Quinto Penkova
Staff Writer
Although the new academic year at AAU greeted students and faculty with fresh innovations, such as the change of the school logo and name, it also has marked the beginning of the final year of President Joseph Drew's presidency. Drew said he would leave in June 2004, when he will have been at his position for three years.
Drew made the announcement of his departure on Sept. 12 at an AAU event to welcome the new academic year.
"I am sorry to see him leave," said Mitchell Young, vice president for academic affairs." He has done a lot of good things for the school."
Although Drew said he expressed from the beginning of his presidency at AAU that he would take the job for only two or three years, his reasons for leaving also are linked to personal motives. "The major reason [for leaving] is that my family wishes to live in the United States, and I wish to live with them," Drew said. He explained that his wife, Shakun, an immigration lawyer, has a practice in Washington, D.C., and his son, Danny, is reluctant to leave his school and friends in the United States.
Moreover, in his recent article in the American publication The Chronicle of Higher Education, Drew wrote that, despite what he considers to have been a success-filled and rewarding tenure as president -- working at AAU and in the Czech Republic has not been without its disappointments.
"People in Prague don't seem to trust others," he wrote, and added that at AAU this quality "makes the development of academic partnerships between institutions more formal than would otherwise be the case."
As another example of this lack of trust, the president mentioned colleagues who seemed to question the sincerity of his compliments. Saying such things as 'That's a great idea' or 'What an excellent, well-done job' -- routine compliments elsewhere -- is considered insincere, he said.
"Finally," Drew said in his article, "I've got one individual here whose specialty is making up egregious stories out of whole cloth. He seems to operate on the assumption that when he flings the dirt with reckless abandon, some part of it will stick, and he will emerge in the public eye as the Czech who saved the institution from these foreign interlopers."
Asked by ALW Online about this individual, Drew said that, though he believes the overall prospects for the future of the Czechs are bright, some unhealthy attitudes still persist. "History -- especially the occupation here by the Nazis followed by forty years of communism -- has also led to the emergence of some individuals who have learned the wrong lesson from tyranny. These people are the detritus of the past and, let us hope, will not be found among the younger generation."
Drew feels his experience at AAU to be, on the whole, very rewarding. He said he was proud of the school's achievements during his tenure. Among those he cited were:
--The building of a strong leadership team, including Mitchell Young, vice president for academic affairs, and Martin McGoldrick, vice president for institutional development.
- Improvements in the school's enrollment efforts.
- An increase of curricular offerings by about one third.
- Progress in resolving the accreditation problem of legal studies.
- Partnerships with colleges and universities worldwide.
- Success in attracting prominent Americans and Czechs to AAU's governing board, including the U.S. ambassador, Craig Stapleton.
- Achieving a budget surplus, "for the first time ever."
- A change of name of the school to Anglo-American University. (A university in the Czech Republic represents a higher level of education than a college.)
President Drew expressed his gratitude for having had the opportunity to work at AAU, and added that he has much confidence in its faculty and students.
"I believe that graduates from this institution have every tool necessary to guarantee success in their future," the president said. " I also believe that our graduates will be making an increasingly more important contribution to the growth and development of the Czech people and their beautiful country."
Although Drew isn't sure of what universities he will be applying to as a presidential candidate, he said he is working on a list of priorities.
Regarding the search for a new president, nothing seems certain at the moment. Young said the process will begin sometime this semester and interviews might happen in the spring. More information will be released in future issues of At the Lennon Wall Online.
--Tamina Quinto Penkova can be reached at tamina31@hotmail.com.
|
Last issue date: Dec. 12, 2003
