thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

Maryville College has selected its 11th president. The college’s board of directors announced Thursday that Dr. William T. “Tom” Bogart, dean of academic affairs and professor of economics at York College of Pennsylvania, will succeed retiring President Dr. Gerald W. Gibson on July 1.

Some may have assumed Maryville College would pluck an ivory tower academician to lead MC. Those folks will have to reconsider.

Bogart, 46, does have the prerequisite academic credentials, including a doctorate from Princeton University. And he has demonstrated prowess as a teacher and administrator, according to York College President George W. Waldner: “Dean Bogart has provided outstanding leadership to the academic program. He has guided scores of faculty searches, updated policies and procedures, and advanced the teaching, learning and scholarly character of the college. All of us have benefited from his clear commitment to the college’s progress. We are grateful and wish him great success in his presidency.”

But beyond his academic and administrative qualifications, Bogart is a respected thinker -- a real-world economist who takes on perceptions, examines their rationale, and lays bare their fallacies. Example: Last March, along with three co-authors, he released a research paper entitled, “Green Jobs Myths.”

The premise of the paper: “A rapidly growing literature promises that a massive program of government mandates, subsidies, and forced technological interventions will reward the nation with an economy brimming with green jobs. Not only will these jobs improve the environment, but they will be high paying, interesting, and provide collective rights. This literature is built on mythologies about economics, forecasting, and technology.”

The paper goes on to bust the following “myths”:
-- Everyone understands what a green job is;
-- Creating green jobs will boost productive employment;
-- Green jobs forecasts are reliable;
-- Green jobs promote employment growth;
-- The world economy can be remade by reducing trade and relying on local production and reduced consumption without dramatically decreasing our standard of living;
-- Government mandates are a substitute for free markets;
-- Imposing technological progress by regulation is desirable.

The rationale: “In this article, we survey the green jobs literature, analyze its assumptions, and show how the special interest groups promoting the idea of green jobs have embedded dubious assumptions and techniques within their analyses. Before undertaking efforts to restructure and possibly impoverish our society, careful analysis and informed public debate about these assumptions and prescriptions are necessary.”

On March 31, 2009, Bogart testified on green jobs and their role in our economic recovery before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Before taking questions from members of Congress, Bogart made an opening statement:

“An aggressive push for a green economy is well under way in the United States. Many people routinely assert that ‘green jobs’ can simultaneously improve environmental quality and reduce unemployment. These assertions are used to justify spending billions of dollars to subsidize preferred industries or technologies. The recent revelations regarding the (mis)use of federal government subsidies by AIG provides a warning of how large-scale spending without sufficient due diligence can be misdirected. Before we repeat that experience in another industry, we should perform sufficient due diligence. Today’s testimony is organized around five questions that should be asked of those who would like to spend money subsidizing the creation of “green jobs.”

We respect critical thinking and an eagerness to challenge fuzzy dogma and conventional wisdom. We suspect Bogart will have some direct questions to ask after he assumes the presidency of Maryville College. We recommend that those delivering the answers be prepared to justify their reasoning with fact. Intellectual rigor should be nurtured and treasured at every institution of higher learning.

Welcome to Blount County Dr. Bogart.