(Photo courtesy of the Muleskinner)

WARRENSBURG, Mo.--The UCM Board of Governors has voted to not renew President Aaron Podolefsky’s contract after his term expires June 30, 2010.

In a 4-3 vote, the Board decided not to renew Podolefsky’s contract for one more year. The votes were cast as follows: Weldon Brady, no; Lawrence Fick, aye; Deleta Williams, aye; Edward Baker, no; Mary Long, aye; Walter Hicklin, no; Richard Phillips, no.

Release of the vote came as a result of a Freedom of Information request by the Muleskinner.

The decision was made during a closed meeting of the Board Oct. 2. University Relations released a statement Tuesday that said the Board will release more information about the coming search process “that will include a wide range of stakeholders.”

Podolefsky released a statement Tuesday, saying, “Please know I am extremely proud of UCM’s faculty, staff and students, and the progress we’ve made during my tenure here. It has been a highly successful time by any measure of institutional success. I remain dedicated to the University and look forward to the remaining time we have together in furthering the progress of our outstanding institution.”

Although Podolefsky is out of town until Friday, he said in a brief phone interview, “I’m kind of an optimistic sort of person,” and that he will be looking forward to other opportunities in the future.

Richard Phillips, president of the Board of Governors, was contacted Tuesday, but had little to say regarding the matter.
“It is a personnel matter and I cannot comment on it. There will be information coming out as time unfolds regarding presidential search protocol and matters related to that.”

In a Sept. 16 Muleskiner interview with Phillips, the Board president said no decisions would be made regarding the reissuing of Podolefsky’s contract until January 2010.

“There’s a lot of procedures to go through and making sure there is no violation of statutes, there is no violation of protocol. There’s several procedures to go through, so we’re not at that point,” Phillips had said.

The Board's decision follows a petition started by an ad hoc committee of tenured faculty members that obtained 143 faculty signatures, or 52 percent of tenured faculty members, in support of the Board renewing the president’s contract.

Podolefsky has visited three campuses in the past year as a candidate for various presidential positions--at the University of Central Washington, the University of Central Arkansas and Georgia Southern University.

Podolefsky’s most recent visit to Georgia Southern prompted him to withdraw his name from the presidential race due to “other opportunities in the pipeline.”

During Podolefsky’s five years at UCM, he has worked toward making the University a “nationally recognized” institution. In a May interview, he said, “I’d like to see our reputation follow that so if somebody says ‘University of Central Missouri,’ someone says ‘Oh, that’s a great school.’ When they say that, that enhances the value of your degree.”

This idea of making the University nationally recognized worked into Podolefsky’s vision statement for the institution, which includes being a nationally recognized university that “delivers a world-class university education by providing a small college learning environment coupled with large university opportunities.”

Podolefsky also saw the University through the name change from Central Missouri State University to the University of Central Missouri.

“Every group on this campus was split 50/50. The Board was split, the faculty were split, the students were split; I walked in here saying ‘This is a nightmare,’ because half the people were killing each other over this,” Podolefsky said.

In addition to these things, Podolefsky created a master plan for the University, which included plans for a new $55 million science building, which is now in legislation. Also, he obtained bond money to fund the ongoing ESCO project, which has led the University to upgrade all facilities in order to reduce the institution’s carbon footprint.

“We will save $800,000 a year in utility costs. We are saving utility costs and saving on maintenance and repair, and that’s paying the bond. It is no cost to the University,” Podolefsky said.

In May, Podolefsky said if he chose to stay at the University and his contract was renewed, he would be “less likely to consider [other jobs].” At the time, he said he would probably continue his career in administration for another six to 10 years, but wanted to be careful in his selection if he chose to move on to another institution.

“It might take $75,000 to hire a search firm, so you don’t take these decisions lightly. [Other institutions are] spending a lot of money and a whole year of a lot of people’s time,” Podolefsky said.