Forced-out University of Kentucky dean details removal. Faculty expresses ‘dismay.’
When he was forced out, the dean of the University of Kentucky’s largest college was asked to sign a pre-typed resignation letter in exchange for a “generous offer” that would immediately expire if he didn’t sign.
Mark Kornbluh, the now-former dean of the 5,800-student College of Arts and Sciences, wrote in a letter to faculty that in a meeting Monday, Provost David Blackwell told Kornbluh that he’d “lost faith in me and my deanship was over.”
“I said that after eleven years, I deserved a reason,” Kornbluh wrote in the letter that faculty received Wednesday afternoon. “I asked for the rest of the day to look at the papers and think it over. He indicated that I had to sign immediately, or the offer was off the table and he would terminate me. I said that I deserved to be treated better than that and left.”
Kornbluh said in the letter that it’s within a provost’s right to remove deans.
Soon after the meeting, Blackwell announced in a letter to faculty that Kornbluh would be leaving the deanship that he held since 2009. Kornbluh assumed the role of professor after the announcement. No reason was given for the departure in the university’s announcement.
Kornbluh wrote that Blackwell — who as provost has been in charge of the university’s colleges and their deans since 2017 — indicated to the other deans that he’d made a “gracious” offer. Kornbluh wrote that he never got to read the offer and is glad he didn’t take it.
“No matter how generous, I am pleased to have turned down an agreement that would have left me beholden,” Kornbluh wrote.
Kornbluh’s letter comes a day after faculty leaders within the college expressed their “profound dismay and disappointment” about the abrupt removal of the dean earlier in the week.
“We deeply disagree with this decision,” stated the letter, signed by 29 department chairs, professors and associate deans within the college on Tuesday. The letter was addressed to Blackwell.
UK spokesman Jay Blanton did not comment on why Kornbluh was no longer dean.
“Provost Blackwell has already begun gathering feedback on next steps from the faculty and leadership in this critically important college,” Blanton said Wednesday. “The provost will begin taking nominations soon for the search committee with the hopes of selecting a new dean as soon as possible following a national search.”
UK faculty letter: ‘We deeply disagree’ with dean’s ouster
The college with 440 faculty members offers 29 majors and 37 minors and, according to the university, “touches almost every UK student by providing foundations for advanced study in every field.”
“Throughout his 11-year tenure, Mark has combined bold innovation with a compassionate, inclusive approach,” the faculty letter stated. “He has transformed the college into a forward-looking unit that provides its students, faculty, and staff both a welcoming place to work and the tools to excel nationally and internationally in research, teaching, and service.”
Kornbluh is co-teaching a freshmen course this semester on “civil rights/equal rights at a time they were never more in peril.” He spent most of his own letter thanking the faculty, staff and students of the college.
“Increasingly over the years, it has been clearer to me that I saw being dean as helping people, of taking care of people,” Kornbluh wrote. “But also collectively, about doing what was right for our faculty, staff, students, alumni and community in the long run. I realized this morning that this was what ‘being of service’ is about, and that was what the stewardship function of dean meant for me.”
Christian Brady, the inaugural dean of the university’s honors college, assumed the interim deanship of the College of Arts and Sciences after Kornbluh’s departure.
In their letter, the faculty wrote that Kornbluh has been excellent while working through two significant challenges confronting higher education in this pandemic year compounded by a nationwide reckoning on race and equality. Since 2009, Kornbluh worked to build a better online curriculum and new teaching styles while also leading college efforts to recruit and retain more people of color, the faculty wrote.
“As a college, we are stronger because of Dean Kornbluh’s leadership, which was built on cornerstones of innovation, shared governance, accessibility, and compassion,” the letter stated.
Senate Council: UK should’ve consulted with faculty before naming interim
Faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences were also concerned that the university circumvented a governing regulation that mandates that the administration consult a faculty committee within the college for a candidate recommendation before selecting the interim dean, wrote Aaron Cramer, the chair of the university’s senate council, in an email to Blackwell on Wednesday.
“Significant concerns have been raised by Arts and Sciences faculty, including some who hold administrative positions, who are distressed about the perceived lack of adherence to this process,” Cramer wrote. “The Senate Council is concerned that no recommendation was sought from Arts and Sciences faculty, preventing them from participating in the process of identifying their own interim dean.”
The council recommended that Blackwell contact the faculty “to engage them in a conversation about their concerns,” and communicate to the college’s faculty senators how the decision might have been in line with the governing regulation.
The faculty letter urged the university administration to consult the college’s leadership and faculty as the university begins an external search for a new dean.
“We believe it is of utmost importance to have members of faculty leadership and more broadly faculty be part of these leadership discussions, as we work towards continuing to build on the significant progress we have made under Mark Kornbluh’s leadership to map future steps,” the letter stated.
Kornbluh wrote in his letter that he looked forward to “maintaining, strengthening and growing the bonds of friendship as a colleague.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 3:05 PM.