Here’s how the new chair of the board of trustees at one of the major public universities in this country writes.
It’s his letter of application to the university for the position.
I am Chris Kennedy and I am interested in being nominated to the Board of Trustees for one of our nation’s most prestigious universities – The University of Illinois… An institution that embraces innovation, embraces new ideas. An institution that embraces new ideas, embraces its future. The confident attitude that the people from Illinois embrace comes from their comfort with being surrounded by organizations like the University of Illinois that are the best in the world. The University of Illinois has taught us all how to embrace the future. The University of Illinois is an economic incubator. Each year it retains the state’s brightest minds and attracts thousands to our state to live here for four years. Most of them fall in love with the state, with its beautiful lakes and state parks, its vibrant culture, the welcoming nature of its people, and its wonderful communities and neighborhoods in which to raise a family.
Straight from the grave of Leonid Brezhnev. If I were a student — let’s not even talk about a professor — at the University of Illinois, I’d be disgusted. The guy obviously doesn’t give a shit about the place and can’t be bothered to show any respect to the nominating committee.
And they made him chair.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:24PM
All that embracing makes me want to be AD at San Diego State.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:27PM
Sad, but you only have to write slightly better and you can become a provost at another Big Ten university:
"our fundamental mission as a University must be deployed in service of the broader transnational learning process"
I know… you think I’m pulling your leg. This is a quote from our provost, a serial ex-law school dean. For more, see:
http://ptable.blogspot.com/2008/11/hiring-pause-thinking-freeze-thanks-to.html
(Hiring Pause, Thinking Freeze)
November 9th, 2009 at 1:27PM
He apparently submitted the application after the decision had been made to appoint him.
http://tinyurl.com/ybdp7de
November 9th, 2009 at 1:59PM
Another clouted admission, francofou.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:48AM
"I seen my opportunities and I took ’em."
– George Washington Plunkitt
November 10th, 2009 at 11:06AM
Thought you might like to know that the graduate employee union at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is planning to go on strike, starting Monday (11/16), after 7 months of stalled negotiations (http://preview.tinyurl.com/yeymv78).
November 11th, 2009 at 2:06PM
Unfortunately, I have about a dozen students who are channeling this dork’s writing style this semester.