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Wednesday, January 12, 2011
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Issue 01
E D I T O R I A L L Y
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Vol. 116
I N D E P E N D E N T
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‘I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity’ Newly selected UT president Joe DiPietro takes reins with eyes set on university’s future Zac Ellis Editor-in-Chief The first thing Joe DiPietro heard was the noise. Cheering, lots of it. When the UT Board of Trustees selected DiPietro, then the chancellor for the UT Institute of Agriculture, as the new president of the university system on Oct. 22, the soft-spoken DiPietro had little time to react; his staff was already doing that for him. “I walked out in this inner office to a bunch of screams in the hallway,” DiPietro said on Dec. 2 in his Morgan Hall office in one of his first sit-down interviews as UT president-elect. “I had a bunch of support in Morgan Hall, so there were plenty of people in this office to congratulate me.” “It’s one of those benchmark moments in your career. I remarked to myself, ‘Oh boy, I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity.’” DiPietro, who assumed office on Jan. 1 as UT’s 24th president, adopts the leadership of an institution facing a variety of issues. UT is scheduled to lose federal stimulus funds this summer, making cost-cutting challenges even more daunting across the board. University employees have not enjoyed an increase in salary in nearly four years, and the foundation of the position of system president itself has lacked stability over the last decade. But the 59-year-old’s attitude is not flustered by the largescale problems facing UT. His new position is, in his words, “an opportunity.” “My theory’s always been to do a good job, take good care of your place, and good things will happen,” DiPietro said.
But it was Charleston that became home to the DiPietros. “I grew up around a small university about the size of UTMartin,” DiPietro said. “It was a college-town feel. When I go to Martin, I feel like I’m in my hometown.” DiPietro’s parents instilled in their children a value for a higher education. College was not a choice for the DiPietro clan; it was an expectation. DiPietro’s father, Alphonso, was a college mathematician known for jogging his children’s brains at inopportune times. Pop quizzes were the norm at the DiPietro dinner table, and simple advice on math homework often became much more for the young DiPietro and his three siblings. “(My father) would want to go to the blackboard, and not only would he want to help you solve it, he’d want to give you all the the-
A welcome whirlwind
“I went to work for him and thought, ‘This will help me buy pizza, provide a little pocket cash,’” DiPietro said. “But what was just sort of a job ended up being something I was really interested in.” Following his dream upon graduation, DiPietro set up a small practice in Illinois working long hours while soaking up the experience. But at the bidding of a former colleague, DiPietro opted to return to Illinois for graduate studies after nearly three years in practice. DiPietro joined the university faculty soon after graduation. He became a full professor of veterinary pathobiology by the early ’90s before being offered a position as interim associate dean of research in his college while the full-time dean was on leave. “And what was a one-year hitch became a vocation,” DiPietro said. DiPietro made his way to the University of Florida in 1997, where he worked alongside current UT chancellor Jimmy Cheek, as the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. After nine years in Gainesville, UT came bidding for DiPietro’s services. “I don’t believe people in these administrative jobs should be here forever,” he said. “I’ve always thought that somewhere between eight and a dozen years is when you need to start thinking about leaving. “I was nine years in (at Florida) and had the opportunity to look at this job. I thought this was a good match for me, with the fact that animals are a very important part of the agricultural system here in Tennessee.” In his many stops, DiPietro developed a reputation as a skilled team-builder and knowledgeable leader, leading some media outlets to call him, “The Michael Jordan of higher education.” But now, in the most prominent position of his career, several challenges await DiPietro.
George Richardson • The Daily Beacon
When UT’s presidential selection committee began reviewing applications for the university’s new system president last Joe DiPietro discusses his new position as UT system presi- ‘This is Joe’s Philosophy’ fall, at least one of the 71 applicants deliberated for almost a dent in his Morgan Hall office on Thursday, Dec. 2. DiPietro On Jan. 3, Joe DiPietro made one thing very clear: He isn’t was selected as UT’s 24th president in October and assumed year before submitting his name into the process. wasting any time. “I thought a long time about it,” DiPietro said. “I probably office officially on Jan. 1. In a university-wide email sent on his first day in office, thought about it eight or 10 months. (My family and I) love DiPietro underlined the importance of starting his duties from Tennessee and we didn’t want to leave here.” “Some people who get into this job, if you asked them 15 years ory behind it,” DiPietro said. “The rest of us would say, ‘That’s the get-go. “I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting to work,” DiPietro wrote before, they’d say their goal was to be a university president. That enough, I just want to know how to do this!’” An appreciation for veterinary medicine came at an early age for in the email. was never my goal. Frankly, I’ve never had the goal to be a dean or DiPietro’s work will likely come in several forms during the early DiPietro. As a 13-year-old, he witnessed a local practitioner pera chancellor. These things just happen to me.” When considering his application, DiPietro discussed the option forming a procedure known as “floating teeth,” or the grinding moments of his tenure as UT system president. Stimulus funds are with his wife, Deb. After moving around from university to univer- down of a horse’s tooth. It didn’t take long for DiPietro to figure out scheduled to run dry in July, a situation that will likely make finances tighter and university positions less stable. sity, Tennessee had become a home to the DiPietros, so they decid- his preferred career path. “We’ll be a smaller place come July 1 because of the budget cuts When it came time for college, DiPietro ventured north to the ed to plant their roots even deeper. “It was clear she doesn’t want to leave Tennessee,” DiPietro said University of Illinois in Urbana to carve out his own niche instead we’ve been through,” DiPietro said. “People will have to underof his wife. “I agreed with her that if this worked out, fine. If it did- of staying home at EIU. DiPietro would earn his three degrees — stand that they’ve got to be more patient with us from the standpoint that we may not be as nimble as we once were. We’ll have to n’t, I was going to wrap my arms around the institute and keep B.S. (1974), DVM (1976), and M.S. (1980) — from Illinois. Once in veterinary college, DiPietro was invited to help out a grow out of that.” doing great things with a great group of people. I’ve loved the Thanks largely to financial difficulties, university employees job I’ve been in up until this point.” have not experienced salary increases in four years. DiPietro The selection committee eventually narrowed the applicant believes the time for change could be near. field down to DiPietro and Brian Noland, chancellor of West “I’m concerned about compensation of employees,” he said. Virginia’s higher education agency. The board opted for only “Our people have been four years without a change in compentwo final candidates instead of three. sation; this is a key year where we need to do something about “In some people’s minds, there were two candidates, and that.” they were the only two candidates they were comfortable A need to address those issues is first on DiPietro’s priority with,” Jim Murphy, chair of the UT Presidential Search list, but he said the difficulties do not outweight the strengths Committee, said after the Oct. 20 vote. of the university he inherited. Two days later, on Oct. 22, the UT Board of Trustees select“One of the most impressive things once you’ve been here a ed DiPietro as UT’s next leader by a slim 11-10 margin. while is how connected the people across the state are with Since that moment, the life of DiPietro has moved from fast UT,” DiPietro said. “At these other states I’ve been at, you have to faster. a lot of universities to have loyalty towards… But you’ll see “It’s sort of gotten less whirlwind-like lately,” he said. “But orange from one end of this state to the other.” the first few weeks were particularly whirlwind-like. It was DiPietro said he looks forward to working with the system’s fairly hectic trying to get that all balanced. There was just a lot campuses across the state, hoping to solidify educational proto do and lots of things to attend and go to. But it’s been a lot George Richardson • The Daily Beacon gramming that he says is already “particularly strong.” He of fun.” For the veterinarian-turned-academic, the road to the top A drawing depicting University of Illinois campus landmarks plans on continuing UT’s Biofuels Initiative and the use of the of Tennessee’s higher education was a path of chance, and in hangs on the wall of Joe DiPietro’s Morgan Hall office on Cherokee Farms research campus to keep the university on the many ways, good fortune. Thursday, Dec. 2. Before accepting a position at UT, DiPietro cutting-edge of research. But DiPietro is quick to admit that the most important received three degrees at Illinois and served in several faculty aspect of his job — and UT — is the people. The road to the top positions. “It’s a great place, but the place is really not about the president,” he said. “It’s about the people who get the work done. DiPietro grew up in Charleston, Ill., home to Eastern Illinois University, as a second generation Italian-American. His grandpar- professor with lab research. The opportunity to work in parasitol- This is Joe’s Philosophy.” “It won’t be about Joe. It’ll be about the university and what it ents migrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy, only 50 miles east ogy — specifically with ascarids from horses — opened doors gets done for students and the people across the state.” of Rome, to the panhandle of West Virginia just outside Pittsburgh. DiPietro never imagined.
Tenn. House elects first woman speaker Associated Press Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives elected their first female speaker on Tuesday in a leadership vote that ended with a historic result, but none of the partisan surprises from two years ago. State Rep. Beth Harwell, a Nashville Republican, ran unopposed for the post and was elected by all 98 members present. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in our great state,” Harwell told her colleagues from the well of the chamber. “I recognize the significance of this day for women, and I’m thankful for the guidance and influence that many women have had on my life,” she said. Women have previously held the position of speaker pro tempore in both chambers, and several have been elected to Congress. But none has won statewide office. See SPEAKER on Page 2
Family of Ariz. shooter expresses guilt Associated Press TUCSON.— The parents of a man charged with trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords are devastated and guilt-ridden, a neighbor said, mourning their own tragedy as Tucson residents prepared Tuesday for a community memorial service and a visit from the president. Jared Loughner’s mother has been in bed, crying nonstop since the shooting rampage on Saturday, neighbor Wayne Smith, 70, told KPHO-TV. Amy and Randy Loughner want to know where they went wrong with their 22-year-old son.
The younger Loughner is charged with trying to kill the Democratic lawmaker and killing a federal judge. “I told them they didn’t fail. They taught him everything about right and wrong,” Smith said. “We all know you can teach someone everything and have no control how it works out.” Loughner's parents have not appeared publicly or spoken since the incident, though Smith said the father plans to release a statement. At University Medical Center, Giffords remained in critical condition, but doctors said she is able to draw breaths on her own. Dr. Michael Lemole, Giffords' neurosurgeon, said, however, that doc-
tors left the breathing tube in Giffords to protect her airway. When asked about swelling in her brain on the third day, which is when it often reaches its peak after an injury, Lemole said a CT scan early Tuesday showed no increase in swelling. But, he cautioned that it can sometimes take longer for brain swelling to reach its peak. Meanwhile, the parents of one of Loughner’s close friends, Zach Osler, described a troubled relationship between the suspect — an only child — and his parents. See ARIZONA SHOOTING on Page 3