Judy Lynn Genshaft (born January 7, 1948) is President of University of South Florida since 2000. Her tenure was marked with the controversial firing of Sami Al-Arian, which became the largest case of academic freedom since Angela Davis in the 1960s. She received $879,506 for the 2015-2016 academic year, ranking her as the 11th highest paid university president in the United States. She ranks 1st among university presidents on salary compared to median student tuition. Her pay is equal to about 112 students' tuition or 7 full-time tenured university professors.
Video Judy Genshaft
Early life and career
Genshaft was born and raised in Canton, Ohio in 1948. Her father was a Russian immigrant who migrated to the United States after fleeing conscription. Her mother is a Canton native with family roots in Russia. As a child, she thought all old people spoke Yiddish and was surprised when she heard an older person speak English.
She graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in social work and psychology in 1969. She completed her masters in 1973 and doctorate in 1975 at Kent State University in school counseling and counseling psychology, respectively. After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank.
She became Dean of Education at University at Albany. She went on a trip to Israel with university president Karen Hitchcock. Hitchcock promoted her to Vice President of Academic Affairs.
She also served as director of American Momentum Bank. She served as chair of the NCAA Board and the American Council on Education Board.
Maps Judy Genshaft
President at University of South Florida
Al-Arian controversy
Following September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian began receiving death threats following inflammatory accusations by Bill O'Reilly during an interview on The O'Reilly Factor. In October 2001, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property because she believed his presence would compromise campus security. When students and faculty were on leave for winter recess in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees fired Al-Arian from teaching at USF. The Faculty Senate President Gregory Paveza condemned firing as underhanded because the professor did not have his side of the story heard. The faculty adviser to the Provost resigned in protest of the firing. The Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting in January 2002 in which they approved a resolution that condemned the firing as an assault to academic freedom. United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union representing USF professors, voted to throw its full support behind Al-Arian and condemned the university for exaggerating security concerns.
Connections to Israeli settlements
Genshaft raised controversy through her condemnation of the American Studies Association boycott resolution because of her investments by the Students for the Justice of Palestine group in illegal Israeli settlements. She is a veteran of at least 25 trips to Israel, including a trade mission with Republican governor Rick Scott. She received the Captain of Education Award in 2007 from Hadassah College.
Salary and staff sick pay eliminations
After 2015, her contract is renewed year-to-year rather than spanning five years. In March 2017, USF's Board of Trustees voted to provide her with a total compensation package $924,547, including a base salary of $505,837 with 37% of the total package tied to performance. Under Florida law, state funding for the president's salary is capped at $200,000. USF uses private funding to make up the difference.
Genshaft's administration eliminated sick pay compensation in 2014 for new staff hires, citing a budget shortfall to justify doing away with the fifty-year-old policy. During collective bargaining USF eliminated sick pay payouts at the end of employment for employees hired after January 1, 2014 or less than 10 years of service, doing away with the longstanding policy. According to a state audit released in December, the school broke state rules in overpaying more than $200,000 to three top administrators and paid $2.5 million in severance to fired football coach, Skip Holtz.
Relationship with student body
In 2016, a student campaign organized by Student for Democratic Society to persuade Genshaft to change the name of a campus building named failed. The campaign targeted the removal of Bill Young's name because of Young's homophobic actions in the 1960s on the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee and his continued support for anti-LGBTQIA+ policies up until his death.
In January 2017, some students criticized Genshaft for delaying her decision to issue a statement on Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban. More than 130 professors, researchers and graduate students signed a letter to Genshaft demanding the university to stand behind their work during expected budget cuts after the election of Trump. Students held demonstrations calling on USF to sign Worker Rights Consortium, which is a corporate social responsibility organization that pushes for rights for factory laborers. Student efforts to meet with leadership were ignored.
Emerging preeminence
In 2016, USF met nine of the 12 metrics for "full preeminence standard". Genshaft set a goal of meeting full preeminence standards, 11 of the 12 benchmarks, within the next two years.
Adjunct faculty protests
Adjunct faculty professors launched Faculty Forward, a campaign to unionize adjuncts. A state hearing officer recommended Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) in October 2017 to approve the adjuncts' request for an election "as soon as is practicable" but Genshaft's administration took steps to delay union elections. Adjunct professors publicly rebuked Genshaft in a November protest. The protesting adjunct professors were supported by Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp.
Personal life
Genshaft married Steven Greenbaum in 1989 and has two adopted sons, Joel and Bryan. She serves on the board of directors of Fresh Mark, an Ohio-based meat producer with over $500 million in revenue annually that was started by Genshaft's father and is currently run by the Genshaft family. Her brother Neil Genshaft is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Mark. She decided not to live in the on-campus residence, the 9,000-square-foot Lifsey House, and lives currently in Tampa Palms neighborhood near campus.
Accolades
She received leadership awards from Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand and Hadassah Academic College of Israel. She received an honorary degrees from Yeungnam University. In 2012, the USF marching band dedicated its first half time show of the 2012-13 season to her.
References
External links
- Fresh Mark
- Judy Genshaft's bio from usf.edu
- Judy L. Genshaft Ph.D:Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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