Suspicions Confirmed About Dr. J’s Time Commitments?
We all know that Doctor Shirley Ann Jackson, our President, is a very successful woman due in no small part to her seemingly endless supply of energy. Recently, there have been some who call into question the focus of those energies. Check out this very interesting article from Bloomberg. To quote:
Jackson of RPI, in Troy, New York, sits on five corporate boards, more than most college presidents, after stepping down from a sixth in April. She traveled to Milwaukee and Houston to attend shareholder meetings for International Business Machines Corp. and Marathon Oil on two successive April days.
Shareholders at IBM, Marathon Oil, FedEx Corp. and NYSE Euronext filed proxy statements this year or in 2009 questioning Jackson’s ability to juggle jobs.
“Nobody should be sitting on that many boards,” said Emil Rossi, the trustee for shares who filed a proxy statement with his son to protest Jackson’s board nomination at Armonk, New York-based IBM, the world’s largest computer-services provider. Of 14 candidates, Jackson placed 11th in the voting and retained her seat. While getting the fewest votes for election at Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., a Newark, New Jersey-based utility, she also held her board post there.
Also interesting is the faculty response which was apparently solicited from Professor Napolitano.
Faculty members said Jackson isn’t devoting enough attention to RPI’s endowment losses and credit issues. In May 2009, RPI had its debt downgraded to A3 from A2 by Moody’s Investors Service. While retaining the rating, Moody’s in March changed RPI’s outlook to “stable” from “negative.” RPI’s endowment fell 23 percent in a year, to $612.8 million on June 30, 2009, according to the National Association of College & University Business Officers, based in Washington.
“Her first priority needs to be this university,” said Jim Napolitano, a professor of physics at RPI since 1992.
We’d be interested to hear some of your opinions about this in the comments section. Do you think Dr. Jackson commits enough time to RPI?
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What I’m wondering is how exactly do we judge Dr. Jackson’s commitments to RPI. Do we as students know them? Is that information public. I feel like its not so its really hard for me to comment on her dedication.
What is RPInsider’s opinion on this? I’m a little disappointed that you guys haven’t provided an opinion of your own.
It might be nice if she committed a little more time to RPI, but it won’t help her solve insoluble problems.