Fourth Tier Question - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jul 21, 2005

RE: Fourth Tier Question

Date: Jul 21, 2005

Former senator wrote:

This thread has been going on so long that I've lost track of what has and has not been said. But here is my 2 cents worth. Several months ago this point was made by someone else, but I think it bears repeating because it is absolutely true. Shelby Thames got the presidency without ANY support from the faculty and deans. It goes without saying that he always has been mean spirited and very, very arrogant, so what should we have expected? He immediately began to tear down the faculty in the eyes of the community and the IHL Board--if the faculty didn't want him, they must be lazy, old-fashioned, ignorant, etc. etc. Long before the dean firing and the Glamser/Stringer attempted firing, Thames and his minions were spreading this poison around. The rift was not opened by the faculty. Yes, there are weak links in every organization. I certainly know folks who work in the corporate world who I wouldn't want handling my affairs, doctors I wouldn't use, lawyers I wouldn't trust, and teachers I wouldn't recomment. But USM HAD a faculty that was much better than its reputation in the larger academic world--people like Neil McMillen who had won the Bancroft prize--like Andy Griffin who was invited to teach at Cambridge. And the faculty who are still there are good, hard working people--some with international reputations. They are suffering from the vindictive and revengeful spirit of a man who should have never been appointed. The faculty's problem is that they knew this from the "git-go."

Excellent post; thanks!

Date: Jul 21, 2005

Not In-The-Know wrote:

Do other universities have MIDAS-like reward programs, or is this a Shelby Thames exclusive? If others do offer similar programs, do they have a way of implementing the reward system that does not penalize non-recipients in the way you've described? I guess my general question is whether this is a generally poor idea, or just poorly designed and executed by Thames.

I can't answer this with definite data. But I believe it doesn't exist at other universities and is expressly prohibited by some funding institutions, such as the National Science Foundation. I have heard, but never verified, that it is practiced at some research hospitals, but in those situations there is teaching and clinical work doctors must do in addition to their regular work. I hope others can answer this better than I.

Date: Jul 21, 2005

As I understand it, teaching hospitals DO include an bump in pay calculated on payments into the clinical portion of the hospital. In theory, it is paying the doctors for additional work as they see additional cases. In reality, there are so many factors in income to a clinical operation that this is certainly not an exact ratio.

NIH has been concerned about this and has proposed a "ceiling" on what MD's in this situation can receive. Their complaint is almost identical to NSF - if they are seeing so many new cases, how can they be spending the time they are supposed to on the research?