Some former co-workers of Eastern presidential nominee Philip Conn disagree with Conn’s managerial style saying he has poor listening skills. But Tuesday Conn said his approval rating is largely dependent on who you speak with.

The vice president for special programs at the University of Tenn.-Knoxville, Conn visits campus Wednesday and Thursday hoping to become Eastern’s ninth president.

The candidate asked to transfer from the Tennessee-Martin campus to the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus after James Byford, dean of agriculture at the Tennessee-Martin, asked him to resign from his position as chancellor.

Byford refused to comment on the issue.

“(We) disagreed on some aspects of the agriculture department,” Conn said of his relationship with Byford. “But I felt that much good was accomplished at Martin.”

Edward Wheeler, faculty senate chair and engineering professor at the Martin campus, was reluctant to comment on Conn.

“If you can’t say anything positive, then just don’t say anything at all,” he said. “I don’t think that Dr. Conn listened very well to the faculty voice which rose up through the faculty senate.”

Conn disagreed with Wheeler’s remarks saying, “I interacted regularly with the faculty senate.”

The type of feedback depends on the people at the university that you talk with, Conn contends.

“I could give a long list of people at Martin who would give nothing but positive feedback,” he said.

Al Hooten, vice president for financial affairs at Tennessee-Martin, worked with Conn briefly before Conn’s transfer. He offered positive comments about his former co-worker, but also said Conn can become over consumed in his work.

“Dr. Conn is probably one of the most visionary individuals in higher education,” Hooten said. “He has a lot of ideas so it may be difficult to get him to focus on just one.”

Conn did do some positive things at Tennessee-Martin, Hooten said.

“He came into this institution and realigned departments into a more functional organization,” he said. “Conn organized them into colleges that reflect their practical educational background.”

Hooten wasn’t the only person to speak positively of Conn. Richard Braun, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Dickinson State University, where Conn served as president for nearly four years, said Conn helped improved the school’s image.

“Conn is very good at marketing,” Braun said. “He was very active going to towns and high schools to talk to parents and influence students to attend the university. We saw record growth during his presidency.”

Braun also mentioned Conn “did a good job of making the campus more attractive.”

One of the ways he helped beautify the campus was by finishing a $3-million-plus project to renovate an old residence hall building into a classroom facility.

“He did a good job with a school with some problems and not a lot of resources,” Braun said. “He made some good progress here while he was president.”

Eastern is not the only school that has expressed interest in making Conn its president. Lake Superior State University in Michigan also made Conn a finalist in its presidential search.

“I think he could be a powerful president,” said Ray Adams, dean of the College of Engineering, Engineering Technology and Math at LSSU and member of the university’s presidential search committee.

Adams commended the success Conn had while president of Dickinson State University in North Dakota.

“He turned things around at Dickinson State, and really made faculty productive in professional activities,” he said. “He is quick to make decisions, and he was faced with some tough decisions.”

However, LSSU did not select Conn.

“We felt his managerial style would conflict with the interests of faculty,” Braun said. “It was questionable how well he would listen to constituents. We have heard that he tries to do things all alone. You must give the faculty and others on campus an opportunity to be heard.”

Conn said that at Eastern he would not overlook the needs of faculty.

“I know a great deal about faculty unions,” Conn said, although the past two universities where he has worked were not unionized.

“I think faculty unions serve a very important purpose and I look forward to working with them in a positive way,” he said.

Conn also noted that Tennessee has a budget over $1 billion and that he works with a portion of that in his department.

“All of higher education is feeling the pressure from an economy that is slumping,” Conn said while explaining his experience working with a declining budget, “we are also in efforts to reduce expenditures.”

Currently, Conn is working heavily on improving student recruitment and student information services, which he hopes to continue at Eastern.

If hired as Eastern’s president, Conn said, “I would work very hard with external relations to get Eastern visible to the public and increase fund raising, I would make tremendous efforts with state legislation in order for Eastern to reach a higher plateau.

“Eastern is already an outstanding institution,” Conn said, “it is a matter of continuing progress.”