Talk:Allen Meadors

Updates

I've made some updates and minor formatting and grammatical changes to the article in a draft on my sandbox here (diff between current version of article and proposed changes here). The changes pertain to the subject's career (where he's working now) and his UCA controversy. Davykamanzi → talk • contribs • alter ego 18:24, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Reply 10-JUN-2019

  Edit request declined  

• The diff of the requested changes is actually here.
• Many of the requested changes do not align with MOS:JOBTITLES.
• Other changes, including those made to the legal issues surrounding the subject, have not been given explanatory reasons for their being made.

Regards,  Spintendo  23:31, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

References

Request edit

@Spintendo: Thanks for the swift reply. Some of the proposed changes have been edited to align with MOS:JOBTITLES (new diff here; the header code for my user space at the top should of course be ignored). As for the other changes:

• The changes in the "Early life and education" ("from where" to "from which") and "Honors and awards" sections ("honour" to "honor") are grammatical changes. As the subject of the article is American, I thought it sensible to use American English.
• In the lead section, the red link on "United Arab Emirates Higher Education Coordination Council" has been removed and the two sentences regarding the subject's resignation from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) and his subsequent time at the UAE Education Coordination Council have been merged. Info on his current position at Academic Career and Executive Search (ACES) has also been included as part of an update on the subject's career.
• Reference 3 (after "He also has an associate degree in computer science from Saddleback College") is a dead link and has been rescued with an archived version.
• In the second paragraph of the "Academic career" section, info regarding the increase in the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP)'s enrollment during the subject's time at the institution (after "During ten years at UNCP, Meadors oversaw a significant expansion in the number of staff and students at the university") was included to illustrate the "significant expansion in the number of staff and students" mentioned. An additional source from UNCP showing the stated numbers was also included as a reference at the end of the sentence.
• In the third paragraph of the "Academic career" section, the word "is" in the sentence "He is a senior consultant with the Global Leadership Group" was changed to "was" as the subject no longer holds the position. "Academic Keys Executive Search" later on in the same paragraph was changed to "Academic Career & Executive Search" to reflect the organisation's name change.
• In the "Controversy" section, info on the subject's fine for violating the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act was updated to reflect 2015 Arkansas Code subsections covering petitions for the sealing of records (the subsections were only available on Justia).
• In the "Honors and awards" section, the hyphen in the date range "2011-12" was changed to an en dash in line with MOS:DATERANGE. In the same section, the source referencing the Allen C. Meadors Endowed Chair in Computer Science became a dead link and was replaced by a new source from UNCP. Davykamanzi → talk • contribs • alter ego 00:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. Many of your requested edits look straightforward and acceptable. The changes in grammar, the dead links, the word is being changed to was, and the use of {{endash}} are all capable of being made by the COI editor, per WP:COIU. Others require clarification:

1. If the name change of Academic Keys occurred after the subject left, then the name need not be updated.
2. The reflection of Arkansas Code subsections covering petitions for the sealing of records and those sealing's impact on the subject's fine are not clearly understood. If you could explain this further, that would help.
3. It's not clear how the subject's time at UNCP impacted the increased enrollment experienced there. Several factors may have impacted this change in enrollment levels, and the statement implying that the subject brought about this increase through their "oversight" requires greater detail. The reference giving the increased numbers does not explain their cause.

When ready to proceed with the requested information, kindly reopen this request by altering the {{request edit}} template's answer parameter to read from |ans=yes to |ans=no. Thank you! Regards,  Spintendo  13:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Spintendo: Edits pertaining to the above three points you listed have been made (new diff here):

1. Academic Keys Executive Search and Academic Career & Executive Search are actually two separate organisations; the subject left the former for the latter and this has been reflected in the draft (third paragraph, "Academic career" section).
2. The edits regarding the expungement of the subject's Arkansas FOIA fine ("Controversy" section) have been reverted to the current live version, as a copy of the court case could not be found anywhere online to be used as a reference.
3. The statement regarding the increase in enrollment at UNCP (second paragraph, "Academic career" section) has been rewritten to simply mention the fact without making any attribution for it to the subject ("During his ten years at UNCP, the university saw a significant increase in the number of staff and students from 2,998 in 1998 to 6,661 in 2009").

Davykamanzi → talk • contribs • alter ego 20:30, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

Reply 03-JUL-2019

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. Y The distinction between Academic Keys Executive Search and Academic Career & Executive Search was made.
2. N The statement regarding the increase in enrollment is already in the article. Changing the wording does not remove the implication that the subject was responsible for the changes in enrollment.

 Spintendo  01:53, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Notes

Request edit 2

"Academic career" section

Current version
During ten years at UNCP, Meadors oversaw a significant expansion in the number of staff and students at the university.

Proposed version
During his ten years at UNCP, the university saw an increase from 214 staff and 2,966 students in 1999 to 424 staff and 6,727 in 2009, with university staff pointing to investment of over $100 million "in new and remodeled buildings" during his tenure as among the factors for the increase in enrollment.

Rationale
Detail given on staff and student numbers as written in the referenced article, as well as a reason given for the increase as mentioned by university staff in the referenced article.

"Controversy" sub-section

Add the following paragraph at the bottom of the section:

In April 2012, following the controversy, the UCA board approved a 10-year extension on Aramark's service contract but declined the contribution to renovate the president's house.

Rationale
Providing a conclusion to the controversy described in the section, which also pertains to the alleged renovation contribution of the UCA president's house. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davykamanzi (talk • contribs) 12:23, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

References

Reply 16-SEP-2019

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. Y The claim of the increase in staff and students was added along with a better citation needed inline template.
2. N The claim of responsibility for these increases was not added. The source does not state with certainty or authority that the subject was pivotal to these increases. The Robesonian source is an editorial. In the editorial, Scott Bigelow is mentioned (the public communications specialist in UNCPs office of university relations) who points to the subject as being the one responsible for the "number of capital improvements to the campus that have blossomed under the chancellors leadership". Mr. Bigelow is not an expert in University finances nor is he a statistician invested in the correct accounting of the data and figures related to these claims. Others who have said that the subject "had a good working relationship with the faculty" or had "worked long hours every day and was not afraid to put forth new initiatives" as recollected in the editorial are not being quoted verbatim, as in an interview. These are secondhand recollections.
3. N The claim regarding the Aramark contract extension was not added. By the time those events occurred, the subject had left the University, and their part in that narrative was concluded. The decisions made by the board after the subject left were of the board's own accord, and ostensibly have nothing to do with the subject.

Regards,  Spintendo  12:55, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

Request edit 3

"Academic career" section

Current version
In February 2009, Meadors was appointed president of the University of Central Arkansas.

Proposed version
In February 2009, Meadors was appointed president of the University of Central Arkansas. Then-president of the University of North Carolina system Erskine Bowles commended Meadors for leaving UNCP "stronger and healthier than he found it", adding that it was "truly transformed under [Meadors'] leadership".

Rationale
Including positive remarks made by a high-ranking University of North Carolina official upon the subject's departure from UNCP, to supplement the information on the increase in staff and students during the subject's tenure.

References

Davykamanzi → talk • contribs • alter ego 16:13, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

At first blush this is incredibly promotional and unnecessary without actual stats to back it up. Primefac (talk) 23:19, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

@Primefac: There's already stats provided on an increase in enrollment earlier on in the section, though to be fair there's no direct attribution to the subject and the source is an editorial. Davykamanzi → talk • contribs • alter ego 09:30, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

I had been inclined to approve the Cottingham Arkansas Business (AB) reference quoting Erskine Bowles' comments about the subject. However, Jan Cottingham was managing editor of AB's Editorial department, and the piece itself written by her has the tone of an editorial (e.g., "If Meadors accomplishes at UCA what he's credited with achieving in his 10 years at UNCP, the students, employees and supporters of the Conway institution may look back and see the silver lining in the storm clouds of the Lu Hardin controversy,"). The lack of stats seems unresolvable in that it would be difficult to find an exact statistic which verifies a claim of being "truly transformed" or "stronger and healthier". Regards,  Spintendo  18:14, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

I guess that's my main concern. Without stats or data, it's basically just adding "so-and-so said he did a good job" to the article. Primefac (talk) 17:35, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

References

I would certainly not approve the reference . The senence is mere fluff, the sort of thing PR departments exist to do. A quote like that has no place in an encyclopedia . DGG ( talk ) 06:18, 3 December 2019 (UTC)