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Q&A with Chancellor Peacock
Justin Boulmay: Tell me what you think about installation. What are you looking forward to?
Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock: I’m looking forward to the events – the some I’ve had and the some that I will be having – within smaller groups. I can talk to faculty, staff, students. This week’s activities, all leading up to this, were something I wanted. You can have an installation ceremony … but I wanted the chance to meet in smaller groups with faculty, staff, students, alumni, retired faculty, lots of groups. I had breakfast this morning with a group of our African-American students to say, ‘What can we do to make it better for you? Tell me what makes you uncomfortable, if anything.’ So that’s why I wanted these events leading up to it, because I believe, after these events, it’s given me a chance to hear the people who are here and to say here’s what we need to have Appalachian continue to move forward and go to greater heights.
Boulmay: What does this event symbolize to you? Have you felt, up to this point, your position hasn’t been official since you haven’t been sworn in, or does it matter?
Peacock: No, it’s symbolic. In academics, you don’t have to walk across the stage to get a degree. You’re still a graduate of Appalachian. It’s symbolic of change in leadership, and what I want to happen. What I’m going to try and get in my comments for Friday is the fact that this is a great institution. I don’t really want people on Saturday to be saying, ‘Well, we have a new chancellor.’ I want them to be saying, ‘Wow, we have a great institution and we are ready for bigger days and greater heights ahead.’ That’s what I want to try and accomplish with this.
So this is just symbolic in the fact that they wait until you’ve been in the job several months. Most chancellors are external; my situation was different, but it has given me a chance, even though I’m from campus here, to learn some of the strengths and challenges throughout. My job didn’t permit me to do that, although I didn’t take the opportunity to do that. I had my little area where I was responsible for, and I tried to do that, be a team player, but that wasn’t my area of responsibility. I learned so much about the strength of this university, but even some of the challenges that we face of which I wasn’t aware. So it’s good, whether internal or external, to wait a little bit and get your feet on the ground and have the chance to hear the people you’re here to serve.
Boulmay: You’ve been in office almost a year now. What have been your biggest accomplishments and failures?
Peacock: The biggest disappointments for me has been not having time to walk the campus and just get out and sit sometimes in the coffee shop or Cascades or the cafeteria or walk the halls with faculty. When I’ve done that, it’s been a tremendous experience. I’ve learned something every time. So I think that has been my biggest disappointment, is not having the time to do that. That has been my biggest challenge, is to find balance in the schedule. I hope that the second year is one that is a little more domestic than the first. The biggest accomplishments, I think, would be, I started in terms of building my team. I’m not there. We’ve got a lot of interims around still and we’ve got processes to go through, but I’ve started that. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to work with [Provost] Stan Aeschleman. It is a critical position for our campus and I appreciate the support of the faculty in saying let’s do this. It’s a little different, but let’s do it. And they have been very supportive of Dr. Aeschleman in that role, and I am honored to have that position solid for us. We were able, in terms of our team building, to attract a very fine gentleman to provide leadership for the College of Arts & Sciences, our largest college. I’m extremely pleased with that appointment.
We were not as successful in the [Walker] College of Business, so we’ve had some successes and some disappointments that were here. We’ve been successful also in continuing our fundraising efforts. Jerry Hutchens has done a great job. We set a very ambitious goal at the beginning of this year. This is a university in transition and you’re trying to say, ‘We want to raise more money, not just what we have been doing.’ The goal, I think, was $9.5 million. That was way above last year’s external support, but we’re moving on. I don’t know yet if we’re going to make it, but if not, we’re going to be very close, and that shows the confidence alumni have, and corporate donors and foundations, in the fact that Appalachian’s going to be alright.
Boulmay: What has been the worst day on the job since you took office?
Peacock: Probably … when we get a request that says ‘What would have to happen if you were to revert one percent, two percent, three percent, four percent of your budget?’ North Carolina is facing a tremendous shortfall in revenue. Appalachian, in my opinion, and I have numbers to prove this, is not receiving its fair share now. When I said when I get a requests to say how would you deal with a reversion, or cut, of some percentage going up to four percent … it’s discouraging, because you think, we’re starting off with a hole to begin with.
It has been one of my most difficult experiences, trying to communicate with people in Raleigh that Appalachian has 14,000 students here, 90 percent are from North Carolina. They deserve the same level of funding as other institutions who are in our category, and it doesn’t seem to really matter, or I can’t seem to get the point across that it’s Appalachian’s turn.
Boulmay: How do you feel you are perceived as a chancellor, as a person, by the Town of Boone?
Peacock: I think the Town of Boone sees me as one who really wants to work with them and cooperate with them … and I’m willing. I’m a person who wants to know what the rules are. And that’s where we’ve had so many conflicts between our university and the community: what’s the jurisdiction? Obviously I don’t make a decision without having consulted with the attorneys here, the attorneys in Chapel Hill, and sometimes up to the Attorney General’s office. Not the Attorney General per se, but the staff that deal with education. You feel that we have an interpretation of the law that says you can do this. Well the town has very good legal counsel also. But they have a different interpretation or slant on this. I go with what my counsel says.
Boulmay: Whatever happened to the “Hot, Hot, Hot” video?
Peacock: It’s still around, but it was used primarily for the [Appalachian] Caravan, taking it out with us on the road show and show that Appalachian is a great institution and it’s hot in many ways, and that was part of the whole show. So in order to understand fully that video, you almost had to be at one of those Caravan events. I would ask the audience to say, ‘You know why this is case? It’s because Appalachian, my friends, is …’ and they would respond, ‘Hot.’ I think they took it off the Web site because, without it being a Caravan event, it’s confusing. People don’t’ really understand what the message is with the song. It was all done in fun, to go and energize our alumni and say here are some things that are happening on campus, holding up the highlights of faculty, programs, accomplishments of students, and say ‘You know why this is possible? It’s because Appalachian is hot.’ It builds all around that whole theme.
Boulmay: The textbook rental system may not be with us much longer. If it were your choice, what would you use? The current system, a new one or a combination?
Peacock: Well honestly, until I get a report from the committee and have a few more discussions and meetings, that’s tough to answer. I’ve already learned a lot about students who pay a fee and aren’t getting use of the rental system because they have to buy their books in various disciplines. I would not want to pay a fee for a service and then I’m required to buy books because my discipline requires that. That’s something wrong, in fact. And I never thought about that until this question came up. I certainly want to make sure it’s not a question that would come down to which is the cheapest. It can’t be just a decision that says it’s a pocketbook question completely. That is a factor, but it cannot be the only factor in making this decision. I’ve heard from students that said ‘Please, don’t ever let anything happen to this. It’s the best thing to happen. It’s saves us money, it’s the reason I came to Appalachian.’ Likewise, I’ve heard students say, ‘Please get rid of it. I’m reading courses in international relations and that book is so out of date, it’s not funny.’ So I need more information on this. If I had to make a call right now … my call would be something between where we are and a complete abolish the system. I don’t know where that is yet.
Boulmay: As a faculty member, how did you use the textbook rental system?
Peacock: As a faculty member, I taught a course in which it had to change books every year. It was an income tax book. And in my discipline in accounting, it didn’t have to change the basic textbook every year, but as you went up in your course of study towards junior, senior level studies … you had to change. And you had to pull in problems and examples to do that to truly prepare your students for the profession they were about to enter.
Boulmay: The search for an athletic director is underway, but there are rumors that Dr. Linda Robinson already has the job and this committee is just a show. What is your response?
Peacock: It’s a wide-open search. I met with the committee; I challenged them to send me the names of three people they thought were equally qualified to serve in that role, and it is not a done deal by any means. People will say lots of things. You just have to move on with that. I told the committee ‘I don’t really want to have any interaction with you until you’ve done your job.’There’s no done deal. I know that on any committee, you’re going to have various points, and it’s polarized at times. That’s what the committee is for, to have the chance to hear those various opinions and hopefully come together with a consensus on three names to send me. I’ve heard a million rumors about that search, and others as well, that it’s all a done deal. It’s a wide-open race. All I’ve heard is that we’ve attracted a good pool of applicants. My involvement is nothing past charging the committee, appointing the committee and getting the three names.”
Boulmay: Are these rumors hurting, or hurt, the application process?
Peacock: I think it would discourage people from applying, and I want it to be a very rich pool and I heard that it is. I can’t tell you anybody for certain who’s in there.
Boulmay: What do you foresee your relationship being to that individual once the search is over and they take office?
Peacock: The [athletic director] reports directly to the chancellor and I’m excited about having that person in place so that they will provide the leadership that we need. I expect to win. I expect to be in compliance with the NCAA regulations all the way. I expect financial stability in the program. I expect our student athletes to graduate, and that’s not for compromise. So I have some expectations of the athletic program and I’m hoping this individual will by into that. In fact, if they don’t, I’m not going to be recommending that they’re the ones for this job, because we don’t have a shared vision.
Boulmay: You mentioned NCAA regulations, as in something happened of Appalachian that wasn’t fully compliant this year.
Peacock: No, but I think we have some issues in terms of space. I’m just beginning to learn about some of these. I want to be sure the AD has a thorough understanding on the number of scholarships that we have to issue, and when I say ‘have to,’ it’s not that I dread that. I want to be sure we are in compliance with them in terms of appropriate balance between our women’s sports and our men’s sports. I’m not aware of anything that we’re out of compliance, but just as we move forward, these regulations are getting more difficult, and we don’t want to drop the sticks anymore and embarrass our student athletes. I don’t want that to happen.
Boulmay: What changes do you want to address in athletics when the new director is hired?
Peacock: The permanent AD will begin to build a team, also, and will have my full support in doing that. There are many appointments there that are interim. They would have the right to establish a team with a shared vision. I wouldn’t be stepping in in my role of chancellor, making appointments.
Boulmay: Has a decision been reached on the Edmisten property?
Peacock: We’re not relocating the stadium, but that’s wide open. Maybe it should be for student housing. Maybe it should be for other athletic programs that we have as a complex that would be there, in which would be the finest complex in the state.
I really like being able to say that the arts are woven into the fabric of Appalachian and you see that with the Turchin Center on campus, you see that with the Catherine Smith gallery, you see that with the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture competition. It’s here. It’s in who we are as a university. I like to be able to say athletics are woven into the fabric of Appalachian, with the presence of the stadium being in the center of campus. That’s when our alumni fans return for the game-day experience. They come to the center of campus and they see the new structures and they see what we’re doing. I like being able to say that, so perhaps that should be a location for other programs that we have. It may be for a faculty housing. We have great need for affordable housing. Maybe economic development initiatives. That’s been discussed a bit. Certainly not for industry, but for areas in which with technology or research areas. It’s wide open, and honestly, we need about 10 more pieces just like it. And we could use it wisely on campus. We’re just so constrained.
Boulmay: What do you envision Appalachian State University being in five years as far as academics, construction, athletics, everything?
Peacock: Five years from now, I would hope, first of all, Appalachian will have been recognized as an institution, a part of the UNC system, that deserves greater financial support. I hope that’s not an issue that we’re going to be fighting anymore. Five years from now, I hope we have on campus a new and very impressive facility for our college of education. I hope that we have some more on campus housing for students. I hope that Sanford Hall will have been taken down, and that will be a park that we can use for both park green space and for more parking spaces for us to use for the campus need and the game-day experience. I hope our campus will be completely wireless, from a technology standpoint. I’ve visited campuses, even in other countries, in which I’ve seen students out with tables working in small groups with a laptop.
I would hope that we would have some new programs with our new and larger college of education facility that we will have increased the number of teachers that we graduate as the college has already made that commitment. I hope that dream will have been fulfilled in five years. We’ll have programs, more graduate programs, particularly in our professional science masters is underway for discussion. I would like to see that in place and a faculty compliment there to make that very successful.
Boulmay: How do you feel about bringing Burger King and Starbucks to campus?
Peacock: I have some concerns about that. It’s a personal concern for me. I’m not at all opposed to any type of Corporate America being a part of here and I certainly want to provide our students with as many options as we can. I want to do some more investigating on that and start that process to see can we do this, but in other locations?
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