Positive wise, he’s a major supporter of our athletic programs, especially football. He’s also been crucial in making UHealth a money machine. On the academia side, he solved some minor to mid outstanding problems that professors and staff had been asking to be resolved/changed for awhile, which got him buy in from them. He’s brought in a good amount of consultants to work on various projects.
Negative wise, a lot of what I’ve hear is personality/how he operates. He has an abrasive personality and sense of humor (granted this is only what I’ve heard from a few people). He does not have an open door policy for all employees/staff. Very much believes in a clear hierarchy and only wants to deal with higher up staff/deans/directors. Shalala operated like that to a certain degree (not as much as Joe E though) and Frenk had an open door policy for the most part.
One thing Joe E has (which Shalala did too) is that he knows how to win a political knife fight. Frenk didn’t, and the BOT soured on him early in his tenure. One very prominent BOT for example, who pushed for Frenk initially, would very publicly tell people that he regretted his decision not even two years later. Were it not for COVID, he would not have been retained for as long as he was.
All in all, he still gets the benefit of the doubt from a lot of people, since he’s so early in his tenure. The athletic department, in particular, has benefited immensely from it. Joe E cares about football, realignment, and getting back to the top. As for the rest of the school TBD (and no, there still seems to be no strategy to turn around the law school).
