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Elizabeth Grobsmith, one of the canidates for the new SJSU President position, gazes at the unfinished Ceasar Chavez Memorial during her tour of the campus.

Candidate leads off SJSU visits

SJSU presidential hopeful 'big on participation'

By: Colleen Watson

Posted: 5/6/08

Elizabeth Grobsmith, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Northern Arizona University and a SJSU presidential candidate, will be on campus today from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Engineering Auditorium, located at Engineering Building, Room 189.

According to her curriculum vitae, she has more than 25 years of administrative experience.

And Rick Brandel, dean of students and a colleague of hers at Northern Arizona University, said that Grobsmith was a professional and personable provost.

"I find she is a very effective listener and is effective in dealing with both (professors) and people," he said. "Students have gone to her directly and talked about ideas, I think she's a person who recognizes good ideas."

Herb Howe, who was chief of staff at the University of Nebraska and worked with Grobsmith during her tenure there, said she was very talented at sitting down with people and getting everyone to talk.

"I think she's really big on participation," Howe said. "She's really decisive, but only after she's heard what others have to say."

NAU's campus population is less than half of SJSU's and according to Petersons.com, a college profile Web site, only about 23 percent of the NAU student population are minorities.

But Howe said Grobsmith has a lot of experience working with minorities, especially American Indians. She has written two books about them and 20 articles on various tribes.

Brandel said, "With Liz's background and her approach to people of all backgrounds, people feel like Liz is approachable."

She has fundraising experience at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Utah State and Northern Arizona University, according to her curriculum vitae.

"Liz is very direct," Howe said. "She's not shy or bashful, so I anticipate that she would really be able to continue her record."

Grobsmith's professionalism was tested in 2004, when a columnist with the NAU student paper, the Lumberjack, wrote an explicit sex column that received notice from the administration.

"I was appalled by the content of that article," Grobsmith said in a Foxnews.com article from Feb. 26, 2004. "It wasn't considered that a lot of people who read the paper are young and minors, and this is very inappropriate content."

Rob Breeding, a former faculty advisor for the student newspaper, said, "There was a lot of controversy over the column."

But he said that when dealing with the administration and Grobsmith, everyone was professional.

"Were they critical when they didn't like stuff, yes," he added. But he also said that the paper was never censored. "As far as the campus newspaper went, yes, they were mad we ran the story. We had meetings, we talked it out professionally."

Brandel said that because of the article, communication between the Lumberjack advisers and the writers improved.

"There's always ideas that are on the fringe," he said. "Sometimes the president and the provost have to be outspoken.

"I think Liz is somebody who is personal and approachable," Brandel said. "She would be honest and direct about her viewpoints and there will be times when not everyone agrees, but that she works with everyone."

Click here for live coverage of Grobsmith's visit.

Click here for the Spartan Daily's guide to the president seach.