Ron Ehrenberg, vice president for academic programs, planning and budgeting, will return to the faculty after a year's academic leave, starting in July. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Ron Ehrenberg is struggling with several sets of conflicting emotions at the thought that come July he will once again transform himself -- this time, from a top-level administrator, to -- what?
Well, to be honest, he said with a smile, he isn't sure. But that doesn't faze him. He knows he will be rejoining the faculty after a year's academic leave starting in July. During that year he'll write a book about his experience as an economist in higher education administration and will decide how he wants to shape his future. That opportunity excites him, but he has some regrets.
Ehrenberg has been vice president for academic programs, planning and budgeting since July 1995, and the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics since July 1985. He became acting vice president for academic programs and planning in March 1995.
Now, on July 1, his vice president's position will disappear under a central administration reorganization announced by President Hunter Rawlings Jan. 24. The goal of the reorganization, Rawlings said, is to strengthen the primacy of the academic mission of the university and streamline its central reporting structures in the Office of the Provost.
Ehrenberg said he leaves the administration with a deep feeling of gratitude to Rawlings and Provost Don M. Randel.
"I have learned an enormous amount from interacting with them these past three years," he said. "From Hunter, I have learned the importance of a president's being decisive, continually optimistic, intellectually curious and capable of making fun of himself. From Don, I have learned the importance of a provost's having a strong underlying sense of academic values, of considering all decisions in the context of academic priorities, of carefully thinking through options rather than jumping to solutions and of building consensus for actions."
Rawlings, in turn, had words of praise for Ehrenberg. "Ron Ehrenberg is a highly focused and hard working faculty member and administrator. He has brought strong scholarly standards to his work and contributed wisely to academic decision-making at Cornell. I am confident that he will continue to inform decisions here in his role as a faculty member and that he will continue to produce outstanding scholarship at a remarkable rate."
Ehrenberg said he also leaves with both a deep sense of accomplishment at what he's achieved and a sense of frustration over what he hasn't had time to accomplish.
"The job isn't finished," he said in a recent interview in the office in Day Hall he will soon be vacating. "A former dean once told me, 'Don't ever become an administrator because you want to be an administrator. Become an administrator because you have things you want to accomplish.' There hasn't been sufficient time to accomplish all that I wanted to accomplish."
He said that when he accepted the vice president's position he told Randel he wanted to accomplish three things:
He's helped the faculty and administration make strides in those three areas, he said, ticking off a list that included:
Ehrenberg also is proud of his efforts in helping to devise a new policy on the transition to emeritus faculty that enhances emeritus status and encourages emeritus faculty members' continued involvement as valued members of the university community.
And Ehrenberg found his work with the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and its executive director, Frank Robinson, "very satisfying," he said. When he assumed the vice president's position, the museum was experiencing financial difficulties due to budget cutbacks. Ehrenberg said he helped the museum engage in a strategic planning process to determine a direction for the future and embark on a successful endowment campaign.
As a result, he said, the museum has changed its orientation from one that simply mounts outside shows to one that's "more integrated into the outreach and educational mission of the university."
The scope of Ehrenberg's administrative responsibilities has been far ranging and included involvement in operating budget and capital budget planning; supervising the offices of statutory affairs, institutional planning and research, space planning, and academic programs and special projects; supervising six academic programs; working with numerous trustee and faculty senate committees; working on special projects for the president and assisting the provost in his interactions with and supervision of various units.
Ehrenberg said what he will miss most about being an administrator, to paraphrase Dartmouth President James Freedman, is "the opportunity to raise very fundamental issues confronting higher education with my colleagues in the administration and on the faculty and to force them to think about these issues. They did not always respond to the issues in a way that I personally would have preferred, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that the university was seriously thinking about the issues. I will miss doing this at Cornell."
That's one reason he's taking a leave to write his book. He hopes to raise these very same issues with the academic community nationwide. But he's also excited at the thought of rejoining the faculty after that leave.
"It's like being a new Ph.D. but even better," Ehrenberg said. "You get to learn new things, and embark on new areas of research, but you don't have to worry about earning tenure. The key to my happiness will be to do new things. As a fundamentally different person, I'll have to grope with how the experience has changed me and how I will have to change going forward."
In the meantime, though, bridging the gap between now and his return to 256 Ives Hall and his leave starting in July, he's agreed to lead two important new university initiatives. First he's chairing the steering committee for the first NCAA certification review of Cornell's varsity athletic programs. And he's establishing a task force to examine the role and future priorities for the social sciences at Cornell.
Following are some comments from colleagues of Ron Ehrenberg on the contributions he has made to Cornell as vice president for academic programs, planning and budgeting:
Provost Don M. Randel: "Ron Ehrenberg is one of the smartest people I know and probably the single best professional student in this country of the economics of higher education. We have, therefore, been very lucky to have his advice and comments on a daily basis in the central administration. He has also accomplished a great deal in focusing attention on and adding strength to the social sciences across the university, and for that, too, along with his deep devotion to Cornell, we must all be grateful. I am counting on the continued benefit of his research and advice for Cornell's sake as well as for what it will contribute to the national discussion of higher education."
Philip Lewis, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences: "Ron Ehrenberg has been a dynamic source of ideas whose educational vision resolutely defends the academic mission of the university against the ceaseless back-pressures of bureaucracy. His tireless efforts to strengthen the social sciences by integrating and coordinating the programs of the endowed and statutory colleges will, I predict, eventually be perceived as a turning point in the history of academic progress at Cornell. Ron is a superb spokesman for innovation and for high-quality recruitment of new faculty and I'm sure he will remain an invaluable counselor to the university's leaders as they develop strategies for meeting the competition in the academic marketplace."
John Abowd, professor and chair of the Department of Labor Economics: "Ron Ehrenberg went to Day Hall with several very specific goals, among them the goal of strengthening the social sciences at Cornell. During his tenure as an administrator he made important strides in that area. Those include introducing the direct coordination of undergraduate and graduate teaching and course offerings across the university's many economics-related departments and full coordination of the hiring of senior faculty campuswide."
Phyllis Moen, director of the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center: "Ron Ehrenberg has played a key role in encouraging various social science disciplines to further develop their strengths across campus. In sociology, for example, he was instrumental in building a department that spans college boundaries."
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