UW fears massive departure

A puddle of water stagnates on the floor of Mark Ghiorso's side office, the one housing a computer, other electronics and a research assistant he uses to study geothermic energy -- how the earth melts.

Another pool has formed from dripping water within the walls of a separate room containing the rest of his computers.

"I've had water flooding this room for three days straight," said Ghiorso. "It's Johnson Hall, and we laugh about it."

Ghiorso has been able to make the most of his cramped office on the third floor, with floor-to-ceiling stacks of geologic journals, grant research and other piles of folders and papers.

  In August, Ghiorso will move into a new office with as much space as he wants. His new office, however, is in Illinois, at the University of Chicago.



 "I really never had thought of going anywhere until recently," Ghiorso said. "A couple of years ago, my feeling on state support of the institution and its future was starting to worry me. And then what really started to worry me more than anything else was the administration of this university. I just think it's appalling. I think it's one of the worst-run universities in the country."

"It's just like they have no real feel anymore for what it is that makes a university a university," he said. "They just don't seem to be working for the faculty or the students."

Ghiorso sent out a few letters of inquiry to other schools, and heard from the University of Chicago, which expressed great interest.

"This offer came from them that was just unbelievable. This enormous salary, this enormous start-up fund, this, that, so on and so forth," he said. "I was left with this dilemma: I like the students; I love teaching; I really like my colleagues. But the way this place is run, we're just going to be dragged down the toilet, and I can see it happening."

Ghiorso epitomizes brain drain, a term administrators reluctantly use to talk about the skimming of quality and notable faculty from the UW by other schools.

Discussions of brain drain revolve around money; the UW's salary levels are low, merit raises were halted last year and the pool of money reserved for making counter-offers has dwindled. And beyond the biweekly paycheck, there are money discussions about state support in terms of dollars per student and slush funds designed to persuade faculty to stay in Seattle.

Many other factors transcending the power of the dollar precipitate, including loyalty to peers, love for the Pacific Northwest and familial ties.

Last year, 40 faculty member accepted positions at other schools, according to the UW's Academic Human Resources Department. From the College of Arts and Sciences, 14 left; 13 left the School of Medicine and 20 left other schools.

It is too early to tell how many faculty members will leave this year, but UW's vice provost, Stephen Olswang, has been getting early signals.

"The evidence is clear at this point that many faculty members are willing to entertain conversations with other schools," said Olswang. "We get targeted. Right now we're a good place to raid."

The Human Resources Department compiles an annual list of resignations, and Ghiorso's name will be on the list this year. If something is not done soon, the UW fears, the list may get progressively longer and longer.

"I hear sort of wild figures, and I don't know where they come from, about the number of people who are thinking of leaving this year," said Sandra Silberstein, English professor and Faculty Senate chairwoman. "People do have this sort of sense of an accelerating brain drain, although I have no qualitative data this early in the year."

The issue has come to the tip of many tongues, from the administration to deans to faulty members.

"It's the highest priority for the faculty and for the administration," Olswang said.

David Hodge, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, sees brain drain as an issue that will affect students.

"It's about making sure the professors you have are world class, and they won't be. We lose our best people," Hodge said.

Silberstein regrets that the problem targets senior faculty and occurs too often.

"This is a university that gets raided regularly, so we invest the money for junior people to really become outstanding in their field," said Silberstein. "And then they just get stolen. And that's a pretty typical story across the University."

To faculty, it is an issue of seeing the UW advancing, both in stature and in support for its students and employees.

"I spent my entire life in state-run institutions, and I really like the state-run research universities. I just don't see a future here," said Ghiorso.

The issue is discussed in Olympia as well, where the purse strings of the UW are controlled.

However, last year Locke vetoed a $6 million fund used to retain and recruit faculty, and with a budget crisis in the state, lawmakers are unwilling to ensure that the UW will receive the money it needs for salaries.

"When faculty salaries stay the same and health care costs go up, inflation goes up, there is a direct effect on take home pay," Jeanne Kohl-Wells (D-Seattle), ranking minority member on the Senate Higher Education Committee, and part time UW employee.

The man who now controls the Senate Higher Education Committee, Don Carlson (R-Vancouver), recognizes the issues as well.

"I've very supportive of giving the institutions recruitment and retention money," said Carlson. "There are people we want to retain whose name attracts in-state and out-of state students."

Ghiorso's fear that the UW is sliding resonates with Dave Schmidt (R-Mill Creek), who also sits on the higher education committee.

"We're hearing it loud and clear that a lot of the top professors regard that we aren't competitive," Schmidt said.

But Schmidt has doubts about the scale of brain drain.

"There's always the fear that faculty will leave en masse, but the question is where are they going to go, because this is a recession that's happening all around the country ... the issue is, our recovery is going to be slower than other states," said Schmidt. "So if they're going to leave en masse, where are they going to go en masse?"

With state support of the UW uncertain, administrators and faculty members fear that those trickling away -- enticed by better pay offers -- may turn into a flood. The resulting academic drought would decrease the drawing power of the university to both students and faculty, ultimately affecting the quality of instruction.

"It's an issue of feeling you are not valuable ... they ask 'how can the state feel I'm valuable when they can't give me a pay increase,'" said Kohl-Wells. "If it continues, there could be an effect on teaching quality."

The brain drain also depresses morale.

"It's in the toilet," said Ghiorso. "No pay raises ... it sends a horrible message ... there is the pervasive and general sense that nobody is working for us, that we're on our own."

Ghiorso said the University of Chicago seems a much better place for him to finish what he calls the "15 years of good research I have left in me."

He feels he will have a future there.