Frances Horowitz -- "power walker"
25 03, 21 06:55 Filed in: Reflection
There are many stories I can share about Frances Horowitz during the my time at KU. One characteristic was her disciplined approach to life.
Example: Every so often in the mid-1980s I'd get on a fitness kick and make an effort to get up at some ungodly hour and go to "workout" at the indoor track facilities in the new Anschutz Pavilion. I'd show up at about 6AM -- at times even earlier -- and with very few exceptions I'd see Frances doing her methodical laps around the track. More a steady and vigorous "power walk" than anything approaching a run, she would keep up a solid pace staring straight ahead and seemingly indifferent to all the activity going on around her even at that hour.
Over three years of my intermittent efforts to establish an exercise regimen, I never interrupted her workout. It was clear she was not there to socialize or engage in administrative business.
During that period I became more involved in faculty governance and aware of the pressures and issues she faced as a long-serving vice chancellor. I avoided bringing any of this up at Friday evening services or other occasions when we saw each other at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, but there were times to chat during breaks in university committee meetings. I finally asked her about her almost daily routine at Anschutz. I told her I had a problem concentrating and sustaining the workout and asked how she did it. Her answer: she spent the entire time doing laps thinking about how to deal with the issues and problems she was facing that day. In a sense, the morning laps -- her workout -- were just part of her workday. The steely straight-ahead gaze on the track was Frances at work solving problems while getting the benefits of those laps.
I went to work at Baruch/CUNY in 1988 as chair of the public administration department (at the time located in the business school), a position I held until my move to Rutgers in 1992. Among the administrators I worked with was Matthew Goldstein, then president of Baruch who would eventually become chancellor of the CUNY system.
As it happens, Goldstein was chairing the search committee to select the next president of the CUNY Graduate Center. One day he called me to ask about one of the candidates for the Grad Center position -- Frances Horowitz. My comments in response were, of course, glowing -- and I was quick to note that were it not for the glass ceiling imposed on women academics by the Kansas Board of Regents, she would have been AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN appointed the KU chancellor years earlier. That part of the conversation completed, Goldstein then raised an issue that surprised me: her age.
I had never given any thought to Frances' age -- in fact, until reading the NYT obit yesterday I had no idea she was 14 years my senior. She was certainly my "senior" in terms of intellect and experience in the academic trenches, but I cannot recall even thinking of her in "ageist" terms. But obviously it was an issue for the search committee. She was 60 years old when being considered for the CUNY position, and by my calculation eight or nine years older than Goldstein (and probably other CUNY presidents).
I don't recall my specific response about her age to Goldstein that day, but I think it included (among other things) reference to her daily power walks in Anschutz.
I am happy to take a bit of credit for whatever minor role my comments played in the decision to hire Frances at CUNY. Her accomplishments during her 15 year tenure in the position are described in the NYT obituary, and they are notable. On the downside, CUNY's gain was KU's loss.
Example: Every so often in the mid-1980s I'd get on a fitness kick and make an effort to get up at some ungodly hour and go to "workout" at the indoor track facilities in the new Anschutz Pavilion. I'd show up at about 6AM -- at times even earlier -- and with very few exceptions I'd see Frances doing her methodical laps around the track. More a steady and vigorous "power walk" than anything approaching a run, she would keep up a solid pace staring straight ahead and seemingly indifferent to all the activity going on around her even at that hour.
Over three years of my intermittent efforts to establish an exercise regimen, I never interrupted her workout. It was clear she was not there to socialize or engage in administrative business.
During that period I became more involved in faculty governance and aware of the pressures and issues she faced as a long-serving vice chancellor. I avoided bringing any of this up at Friday evening services or other occasions when we saw each other at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, but there were times to chat during breaks in university committee meetings. I finally asked her about her almost daily routine at Anschutz. I told her I had a problem concentrating and sustaining the workout and asked how she did it. Her answer: she spent the entire time doing laps thinking about how to deal with the issues and problems she was facing that day. In a sense, the morning laps -- her workout -- were just part of her workday. The steely straight-ahead gaze on the track was Frances at work solving problems while getting the benefits of those laps.
I went to work at Baruch/CUNY in 1988 as chair of the public administration department (at the time located in the business school), a position I held until my move to Rutgers in 1992. Among the administrators I worked with was Matthew Goldstein, then president of Baruch who would eventually become chancellor of the CUNY system.
As it happens, Goldstein was chairing the search committee to select the next president of the CUNY Graduate Center. One day he called me to ask about one of the candidates for the Grad Center position -- Frances Horowitz. My comments in response were, of course, glowing -- and I was quick to note that were it not for the glass ceiling imposed on women academics by the Kansas Board of Regents, she would have been AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN appointed the KU chancellor years earlier. That part of the conversation completed, Goldstein then raised an issue that surprised me: her age.
I had never given any thought to Frances' age -- in fact, until reading the NYT obit yesterday I had no idea she was 14 years my senior. She was certainly my "senior" in terms of intellect and experience in the academic trenches, but I cannot recall even thinking of her in "ageist" terms. But obviously it was an issue for the search committee. She was 60 years old when being considered for the CUNY position, and by my calculation eight or nine years older than Goldstein (and probably other CUNY presidents).
I don't recall my specific response about her age to Goldstein that day, but I think it included (among other things) reference to her daily power walks in Anschutz.
I am happy to take a bit of credit for whatever minor role my comments played in the decision to hire Frances at CUNY. Her accomplishments during her 15 year tenure in the position are described in the NYT obituary, and they are notable. On the downside, CUNY's gain was KU's loss.
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