Back in the faculty again
Archived article from Oct 20, 2003
By Douglas Frank
By his own estimation, it took Joe Seneca just “10 to 15 minutes” to adjust to returning to the faculty after more than a dozen years as Rutgers’ top academic administrator.
“I enjoy being back. The students and faculty at the Bloustein School are terrific. The students and I are having great classroom discussions, and I think we’re all having a good learning experience,” Seneca said recently. “I used to believe that I had the best job in the world being university vice president for academic affairs,” he mused. “But now I think I have the best job in the world as a university professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School.”
Seneca was named a university professor by the board of governors last spring after he elected to return to the faculty. He joined the Bloustein School this fall where he is teaching environmental policy and regulation, a graduate-level course. He is supervising an undergraduate honors student, advising others and “just enjoying the interaction” with students in general. He will be teaching a spring course in the macroeconomic foundations of public policy, a new course for him.
“I must admit that very few things fazed me as an administrator, but returning to teaching caused me anxiety dreams during the summer — like not being able to find the classroom, or not having anything to say with 15 minutes remaining in the class,” he said with a smile.
The classroom, however, is certainly not unfamiliar turf to Seneca, who rose from a junior faculty member in economics to a professor II over almost 25 years before being tapped by President Lawrence in 1991 for the top academic job. He had continued to teach environmental economics for the first two years of his administrative assignment.
“But I had to give it up,” he said, “because I couldn’t do it justice and fulfill my obligations to my administrative duties,” which he described as a round-the-clock enterprise. “Every day, all day.”
“It was super working with the deans, directors, faculty and the academic programs,” he said. “It was the highlight of my career in many ways. I developed a great appreciation for the depth and breadth of the university and the academic excellence that we have at Rutgers in so many different areas, and I tried hard to improve it.”
During the period, he was able to keep up with his research, writing and public service commitments, including a semiannual economic review and outlook of the Council of Economic Advisors, a gubernatorial advisory body that he has chaired for many years. He worked closely with Bloustein School Dean James W. Hughes and published several books and numerous reports and articles.
Since his return to the faculty, Seneca has been turning out much writing with longtime colleague Hughes. They just finished two papers on house prices and employment changes and are working on a book together on the public policy issues of the census of 2000. “It has been a highly enjoyable and productive collaboration. We are a great tag-team,” Seneca said.
As a faculty member, he has also been able to take on more speaking engagements. “Everybody wants me to predict the future, and I’m happy to do that as long as they promise that we don’t have to look back later.”
Seneca is also devoting much of his time to co-chairing the University Committee Central at the request of President McCormick. That 24-member committee is charged with designing what Rutgers University in New Brunswick would look like under the proposed restructuring of New Jersey’s three public research universities: Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
“What I saw as an academic officer and also from getting a sense of the faculty’s perspective convinced me of the enormous potential academic benefits of this endeavor, assuming that threshold issues of resources and governance can be addressed,” Seneca said.
Seneca pointed out several items on the wall of his office that recognize his contributions to the university, including the Rutgers Medal, the Waksman Medal and about a dozen plaques and citations from deans, departments, faculty groups and others within the Rutgers community. There is even a certificate from Karyn Malinowski, dean of outreach extension programs at Cook College, that names a colt after him: RU Seneca. “These are all very meaningful to me,” he said. “It’s been wonderful to leave with such good will.”
While this economic guru moved from teacher to administrator to teacher, there has been one other constant in his life besides family, research and Rutgers — baseball.
Seneca is an admitted avid fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, a National League baseball club that is known more for its failure to achieve the top prize in the sport than its successes. And his former administrative colleague, Fran Lawrence, is an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox, an American League team that shares the Phillies’ heartbreak.
“When we were in office, Fran and I often joked that if in the highly unlikely event of a Red Sox–Phillies World Series, we would close the university for October,” he recalled.
Seneca, himself, has played softball for many years on Sunday mornings and said he approaches each game with three hopes: “One, don’t get hurt; two don’t embarrass yourself; and three, hit a single.”
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