Vision and Actualization in Academia by Peter A. Freeman

Author:Peter A. Freeman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783031439308
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

5.7.1 Jump Start (July–December 1990)

Two fortuitous and unexpected events helped get the College off to a very productive start in 1990–1991: Encouragement to hire a specific, well-known faculty leader, and a tip that led to the hiring of an experienced and capable administrator.

The first event occurred on May 1, 1990, the day I accepted the offer to be the founding dean. At the meeting in his office that included the acting Executive Vice President, Michael Thomas, President Crecine encouraged me to hire one of the other leading candidates for the position: Jim Foley (shown in Fig. 5.4), a well-known pioneer in computer graphics. At the time he was Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. Jim and I were friends and had been in touch almost weekly while we were both being considered for dean. In addition, I had known and respected Jim since the 1970s when we tried to hire him at the University of California, Irvine, where I was a faculty member at the time. Several months of discussions ensued during the late spring and summer of 1990 about moving to Georgia Tech and joining the faculty, but he initially resisted the idea. Eventually he relented when, after a luncheon we both attended, we stood on a corner where we had a long conversation. He finally agreed to visit again, perhaps because it was a very hot, summer Washington midday and I wouldn’t take “no” for an answer while standing outside on the sidewalk! After that visit and more discussions (in a cooler space) he agreed to join the faculty effective January 1, 1991.

Fig. 5.4James (Jim) D. Foley, Pioneering graphics researcher, Founder of the GVU Center, long-time faculty member

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