Candidate for Provost: Gottfredson Addresses UA's Greatest Challenges

Vern Lamplot
May 1, 2000


"I believe strongly that it is realistic to embrace a vision for the University of Arizona as the pre-eminent student-centered research university in the nation," Vice President Michael R. Gottfredson wrote in his letter accepting his nomination as a candidate for the provost position.

Administrative Posts: He is currently the University of Arizona's vice president for undergraduate education as well as a professor of management and policy, law, sociology and psychology. Last year, he served as interim provost. Before that, Gottfredson served in numerous UA administrative positions, as vice provost for undergraduate education, acting director of the School of Public Policy and the department head of management and policy.

Scholar Snapshot: He is a nationally known scholar in the areas of criminology and the sociology of crime. He has been a UA professor since 1985. Earlier, he was an associate professor at The Claremont Graduate School, associate professor in sociology at the University of Illinois, and began his career as an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Criminal Justice, Rockefeller College at the State University of New York at Albany.

He is the co-author of eight books on crime and the criminal justice system and author or co-author of scores of publications.

Summary Statement
"That vision (as the pre-eminent student-centered research university) can only become a reality by determined focus on significant problems that confront the University. Inadequate and non-competitive compensation for all university employees, frustrating shortages in office and research space, inadequate levels of graduate and undergraduate student financial support, badly eroded general operations budgets, inadequate progress in diversifying the University community, and shortages in student housing are all immediate and alarming threats to the continued vitality of the institution. A legislature woefully lacking in appreciation for the contributions this University makes to the cultural, economic and intellectual well-being of the citizenry creates an additional challenge. So too does the all-to-common failure to recognize the enormous significance of basic research and creative achievement to the long-term vitality of our society.

"Perhaps our greatest challenge is to convince important constituencies that the land-grant tradition that the University proudly embraces animates everything we do - from seeking fundamental knowledge about the nature of life to presenting the highest quality artistic expression to the community."

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