Dr. Lewis Jones, the new academic dean for Goddard College. Courtesy photo
Goddard College officials say they were aware that their new academic dean had received a vote of no confidence from faculty while he was the provost of a state college in West Virginia three years ago.
At the time, according to an item reported in the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s news clippings from June 18, 2012, a Charleston Gazette newspaper story said the vote of no confidence taken against Dr. Lewis Jones by the faculty senate of Bluefield State College was the first in the college’s history.
The news account said faculty, in their vote, were alleging “coercive” behavior, including threats to dismiss faculty without cause, promoting academic policies that were not in concert with the college’s values and “unlawfully upending the university’s core academic structure,” a letter from the faculty senate stated at the time.
Jones said in the account that the charges against him were baseless, and motivated by “pernicious politics.”
The vote was 32-18, the newspaper and other media outlets in West Virginia reported then.
A tip provided to VTDigger included links to the news articles about what happened in West Virginia, and complained that Goddard had not been forthcoming in its news announcement about the hiring of Jones, who was offered the post in mid-July.
Gariot P. Louima, dean of enrollment and external affairs for Goddard College, said in an interview Thursday that the search committee members were all aware of the vote taken in West Virginia, but said, “A lot of that stuff we’re not going to go into because of the nature of a search, but we are quite confident in the skills and experience that he brings to Goddard as our dean.
“We were familiar with Dr. Jones’ background, but we are also familiar based on conversations with his references of the context of those stories,” Louima said.
Louima said Goddard had 61 applications for the position and “conducted quite a thorough national search.”
Co-chairing the committee were Susan Wilson, dean of community life, and Karla Haas Moskowitz, a member of the faculty council and faculty in the college’s education program.
Wilson said Thursday that she and other members of the committee were aware of the no confidence vote that had been taken in Jones’ former position.
Serving on the search committee were program directors, student representatives and faculty and administrators, Louima said.
“We went through several rounds of vetting, and were very familiar with all the work histories, teaching philosophies,” and more about the candidates.
In the announcement about Jones’ hiring, with a start date of Sept. 14, Goddard President Robert P. Kenny said, “We are extremely happy that Dr. Jones has agreed to assume this pivotal role at Goddard College.
“He has deep experience in academic and faculty leadership, program assessment and enrollment management,” Kenny said in the announcement. “His enthusiasm for progressive and adult education, as well as his understanding of the complexity and challenges of operating a liberal arts institution in this political and economic climate will be valuable foundations on which Goddard can map a sustainable future.”
Kenny, when asked about the vote of no-confidence, said, “We looked into it very thoroughly; we felt in the balance, as we all are in the balance, that the gifts that he would bring to us in coming to Goddard far exceed any concerns that that may have presented.”
Louima said Jones is traveling and was unavailable for comment for this report.
Louima said the faculty were “quite involved in our search from the get-go,” and while the vote of no confidence in West Virginia did not come up specifically, that he recalls, the issue was known.
Jones was at Goddard for a full day of campus-wide meetings in which every member of the academic community had an opportunity to ask questions and meet with him, the school said.
“This didn’t come up as a major area of concern for a majority of folks,” Louima said. Instead, he said, people were focused on the fact that Jones brings an educational philosophy that is progressive and a strong match for Goddard which has a different model for education than most colleges.
Jones succeeds interim dean Steven James, who has been the longtime chair of the college’s psychology and counseling program. James has served in that interim role for a year and a half.
Louima said the college is looking forward to Jones’ arrival, saying, “There is a lot of good work to do; we serve some amazing students from around the country and the world. I’m excited to work with him.”
In addition to his role as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bluefield State College in West Virginia, Jones’ employment history includes vice president for academic affairs at Wilberforce University in Ohio, director of academic affairs and chief academic officer at Webster University in Missouri, and dean of faculty at Grantham University in Kansas, among other senior-level academic positions, the announcement said.
Jones holds a Ph.D. in education policy and analysis and higher education administration from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in American history and African-American history from North Carolina Central University, and a B.S. in social science with a minor in history from St. Paul’s College in Virginia.
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