The University of Vermont’s new President started work this week, and he’s hitting the ground running.
Tom Sullivan is a former Provost of the University of Minnesota and comes to UVM after the 9-year tenure of former President Dan Fogel, a stewardship that was marked by University expansion in both infrastructure and student undergraduate population. But Fogel’s tenure was also controversial. There were student and faculty protests over teacher layoffs, a scandal that ended in the expulsion of an on-campus fraternity, and another involving the wife of President Fogel and her relationship with a UVM employee.
The issues most immediately challenging to Tom Sullivan, however, have to do with, among other things, the skyrocketing cost of higher education, a problem of particular note at Vermont’s largest University.
Earlier this week, VPR’s Mitch Wertlieb had a chance to sit down with President Sullivan to discuss in greater detail his plans for UVM, and the most daunting challenges he’s identified. In the first of this two-part interview, Sullivan says his initial order of business is getting to know the lay of the land, and the people he’ll be working with to bring UVM into the future.
Click listen to hear the interview.
Part 2: Sullivan Expects Private, Public Collaboration At UVM