Academic life today

I know nothing about David Kessler, the new dean of the U Cal medical School, but this account of his career is persuasive enough to be worth some thought. From the account it appears that the man has made a career out of pose-striking, political grandstanding, and general self-promotion. As FDA Commissioner he ruined morale and politicized regulation, making it both more intrusive and less effective. He was also an expense account chisler. As head of the Yale Medical School, he became known as the “invisible dean,” because he ignored administrative duties and was mostly away travelling.

So why would he be chosen to head a major academic institution? So far as I can tell, from this story and other cases I know of, the reason is that the main job of someone in that position is to make the school look good and keep it in the news so that the money keeps rolling in. Part of that is being a good promoter and knowing what will sell, and part of it is skill at papering over problems that otherwise might attract attention. So the man the story describes, one who knows how to do things that look good to people with political influence and who’s adroit in extricating himself from scrapes, is exactly the man who’s needed. He should send the story to the next search committee he wants to impress.
Posted by Jim Kalb at July 01, 2003 09:01 AM | Send