UK chooses Subbaswamy as provost

Months after being passed over as IU-Bloomington chancellor, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kumble Subbaswamy was named provost of the University of Kentucky Friday.\nSubbaswamy will leave IU after five years as COAS Dean.\n"I am very excited that an academic leader the caliber of Dr. Subbaswamy has accepted this offer," said Kentucky President Lee Todd in a UK press release. "The provost position is one of the most important on our campus, leading the academic efforts of the entire institution."\nSubbaswamy, as the university's chief academic officer, will oversee its 16 colleges, library and graduate school. He will spearhead Todd's plan to make UK a top-20 research institution.\n"I feel truly honored and excited to be returning to UK in an academic leadership position at this critical juncture in its history," Subbaswamy said in the UK press release. "Lexington is where I have spent the most time in my life, and both my children were born there. My family and I are looking forward eagerly to return to our 'Old Kentucky home!'"\nSubbaswamy spent 15 years at UK as a physics professor, department chairman in physics and astronomy, and administrator in the UK College of Arts and Sciences. He left UK in 1997 to become COAS dean at the University of Miami, Fla., before coming to IU in 2000. He will officially start work at UK on July 1.\nSubbaswamy will replace former UK provost Michael Nietzel, who became president of Missouri State University in May 2005.\nInterim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis appointed Subbaswamy as dean six years ago. \n"You are always disappointed when good people leave, but it's very common for the dean of the college to move on to better jobs," Gros Louis said.\nLaw professor Fred Cate, who has been a vocal advocate of Subbaswamy, said he felt the dean left mainly because he was passed over as a chancellor candidate. Subbaswamy was one of three finalists chosen for the position by a search committee, but IU President Adam Herbert scrapped the finalists and reopened the search in October. \nCate said Subbaswamy never put himself in the running for any other jobs while he was at IU because his ultimate goal was to be chancellor. He expressed disappointment about Subbaswamy's potential departure prior to the announcement.\n"I think it'll be a tremendous loss to the University if we lose him," he said before the announcement. "It will be the single greatest negative impact of this whole controversy.\n"It's ironic that many other universities are considering him for jobs that we rejected him for," he said. \nChemistry professor Ted Widlanski discussed Subbaswamy in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student prior to November's emergency meeting of the faculty regarding Adam Herbert and other issues. In that interview, he predicted that Subbaswamy would leave, saying "now we might not only have to look for a new chancellor, but a new COAS dean."\nHe said he also warned Gros Louis that Subbaswamy would leave even before the extension of the search was announced.\nWhen Widlanski heard that Subbaswamy eventually decided to leave, he expressed anger at "the president first and the trustees second."\n"It's a terrible blow to the University," he said. "Not only was he doing a great job, but he was picking up the slack for a lot of people and now that he is gone, I think a lot of glaring problems with the University will be apparent.\n"He was one of the few people holding the University together, and they got rid of him."\nMany University officials who have been turned down for top positions move to other schools, and after being turned down for IUB chancellor, Subbaswamy became a hot commodity. He was also named as a finalist for provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. \n"Dr. Subbaswamy was clearly the top choice of everyone involved," Todd said in the press release. "We are excited about the leadership and skills he will bring to the table in helping to lead this institution forward during exciting and challenging times."\nAt IU, Subbaswamy is known for his work in fundraising and is popular among many IU faculty members.\nSeveral weeks after Herbert's announcement that the chancellor search would be continued, members of the faculty held a special session where they approved a resolution to the IU board of trustees asking for a review of Herbert's leadership.\nTwo other resolutions concerning Subbaswamy were withdrawn at his request. One asked for his immediate appointment as IUB chancellor, and another thanked Subbaswamy for his service to IU.