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Louis stresses his support for faculty

Oxford grad advocates shared governance

By Portia-Elaine Gant
Senior Staff Writer

UH provost candidate Charles Louis, the vice president for research at Georgia State University, repeatedly stated that faculty is the most important part of a university at an open forum Tuesday.

"It's the faculty that creates a university," Louis said at the forum, his chance to meet members of the UH System community.

Although Louis completed his bachelor's degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and his doctorate at Oxford University in England, he has 26 years of experience in American universities. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center for three years, and at the University of Minnesota, he advanced from associate professor to the head of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology & Biophysics.

Though Louis did not directly answer all questions put forward by the audience, he said he is a proponent of shared governance.

"I am a strong advocate of faculty governing. I'm a faculty member first, and their input is absolutely crucial," Louis said. "I look to build a strong relationship with the faculty governing system. It's important that the faculty understand what the issues are and have the same data set as the provost, because with the authority they have comes responsibility."

Louis said he is no stranger to taking responsibility for his actions, regardless of the repercussions.

"There was a situation where a federal regulation was violated, and it was clear what should be done. I could either cover it or use it as a learning opportunity and get beaten up for it," Louis said. "It was a cathartic experience in that it went against the culture of the university, but the provost and president should be held to the highest ethical standards."

In light of state budget cuts that have affected UH, fund raising was a subject of interest among some who attended the forum. Louis said the president should be a part of the fund-raising process, but he said he enjoys raising money, too.

"I actually love fund raising," he said. "I like it because I get great pleasure from hearing about the university in the past (from alumni donors)," Louis said.

"It's a phrase at my current institution that it's the role of the president to get money and the role of the provost to spend it," he said. "It's a partnership where the president takes the lead."

Louis said he is not applying for provost at any other universities, but is looking at other positions. He said Houston has the benefit of family ties, but he is intrigued by UH in particular.

"I think it's an interesting place. It's an institution with a great deal of similarities to the institution I'm currently at," he said, referring to Georgia State, whose campus is in downtown Atlanta. "They're both urban research universities. I think the most interesting universities in the United States are research universities."

The withdrawal of David Young and Bernadette Gray-Little left Louis the last of four provost candidates to visit the University. Honors College Dean Ted Estess, the chairman of the provost search committee, said there are no definite plans to accept other candidates.
 

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