On Sunday, July 27, 2014 a Current Paine College Faculty Member Wrote:

Since the authors of “The Paine Project” wish to maintain anonymity, so do I. Since I am a current member of the Paine College untenured faculty, my reasons for doing so should be obvious.

The academic program at Paine College compared to other benchmark colleges and universities is disgraceful. There is a dual school system that boasts a School of Arts and Sciences and a School of Professional Studies. The Arts and Sciences division has functioned without a dean for an entire academic year, and is approaching a new season of our discontent with the position still unfilled by Paine College faculty input on any new or prospective appointments.

Yes, Dr. George Bradley’s wife, Tina Marshall-Bradley occupied the School’s deanship this previous academic year. But, she also held the position Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, not to mention her various college committee memberships.

The School of Arts and Sciences has three departments with only 17 faculty members. The division of Arts and Sciences is being allowed to languish. Instead of President Bradley mandating a national search for replacement of the former Arts and Science’s dean whose resignation he orchestrated, he appointed his wife. The School of Arts and Sciences houses over half of the 800 plus students that attend Paine College.

The School of Professional Studies has three departments. Those departments are Business, Media Studies, and Education. The Business and Media departments have the highest number of student majors of all departments at Paine College. The Department of Business only has six faculty members and the Department of Media Studies only has two. Neither of the two media faculty members have doctorate degrees. And, only one even has a master’s degree.

Dr. David Chamblee is the dean of the School of Professional Studies. Yes, Dr. Chamblee has speech pathology issues. But, even more disconcerting is his leadership abilities. Drawn from Chamblee’s online resume, he has no credible collegiate experiences that qualify his appointment to lead a collegiate faculty that is academically accomplished. Chamblee just showed up out of the blue two years ago and was announced as the new dean for the School of Professional Studies. Over the two years marking Chamblee’s deanship, this division has also been allowed to languish with no discernible growth that may be directly attributed to his existence, but any growth at all rather to the efforts of the School’s department chairs, and their individual faculty.

The School of Professional Studies offers radio production classes without radio or audio equipment. The School offers television production classes without television production equipment. And, the School under Chamblee’s purview offers drama and theatre courses without any theatrical stage or theater production equipment. Students taking these media classes are being academically cheated as a result of do-nothing leadership.

Clearly, Dr. George Bradley has not defined the role of a Paine College dean other than one of being a micro-manager, or overseer who is directed to report directly to him.

But, more blameworthy than the absence of qualified deans is the absence of an energetic chief academic officer. As Paine College faculty, we had great expectations upon the announcement of Dr. Samuel Sullivan as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Given his former association with Augusta State University, we assumed his presence would be a boost od adrenalin. Unfortunately, Sam came out of retirement to Paine College seemingly like he must have just been taken off of life-support himself. In the year, going on two, Dr. Samuel Sullivan has been at Paine College, he has shown himself to be just another Bradley lackey. And, that’s not “lackey” in the pejorative sense, but lackey as it applies to lacking any substantive ability to be a leader as opposed to being a taker or drawer of a comfortable salary.

Paine College, it’s faculty and students require better than what’s being offered by this current administration. It’s time for a complete overhaul if this college doesn’t want to see a mass exodus of students to way more academically capable institutions of higher learning.

A Paine College Current Faculty Member