Administration News

Carl Carlucci: The man in charge of UH’s wallet

carlucci

Carlucci has been brought to the forefront of discussion after SGA passed a vote of “No Confidence” that asks for him and his deputies to resign. | Courtesy of UH

There are two sides to every story. After the Student Government Association and its president, Charles Haston, recently passed a vote of “No Confidence” in Administration and Finance Vice President Carl Carlucci and his deputies Emily Messa and Esmeralda Valdez, many may find themselves wondering one thing: Who is Carl Carlucci?

Here’s an overview of his past experience and the work he’s done during his tenure at UH.

Education:

  • Bachelor’s in economics — State University of New York at Stony Brook
  • Master’s in urban and policy services — State University of New York at Stony Brook
  • Ph.D. in public administration — New York University

Experience:

  • Executive vice president and chief financial officer — University of South Florida (2001-2008)
    • Carlucci is credited with leading the development of USF’s Research Park, described as “a critical piece in the elaborate mosaic of high-tech economic development,” according to the USF website.
    • He is credited with adding 1,000 beds of student housing, three parking garages and nine new buildings to the USF campus, including two research buildings with labs and two clinics.
    • Carlucci managed every aspect of financing throughout construction because the projects were not state-funded.

Work at UH:

Although Haston’s allegations against Carlucci accuse him of having a staff that is not “capable of actually doing their jobs,” Carlucci has spearheaded many on-campus construction projects and has overseen the financial backing and opening of:

  • Calhoun Lofts in 2009
  • East Parking Garage in 2009
  • Fresh Food Company in 2010
  • Cougar Village in 2010
  • Renovation of Jack J. Valenti School of Communication in 2011
  • Cougar Village 2 in 2013
  • Demolition and renovation of Cougar Place in 2013
  • Welcome Center Parking Garage in 2013

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15 Comments

  • You copied his resume and gave a list of things that have happened under his tenure. He’s spent money on new dorms, and a new garage and spruced up an academic college… How much money was spent versus what should have been spent, who benefited the most, etc. THOSE are among a proverbial list of questions that journalists who actually do their job would ask. If the news is supposed to keep the electorate informed, you’ve done nothing to inform me of if any of these projects happened the way they were supposed to, if the projected project cost was the actual or near project cost (not THIRTY MILLION OVER like that fancy new stadium), and who’s benefiting the most. I can tell you, students don’t benefit the most by Aramark’s presence on this campus… Only Aramark and potentially UH benefit from that… Venue works? Idiots who can’t maintain a facility competently. So some of the most critical contracts the man who as y’all put it is “in charge of UH’s wallet” has spearheaded have screwed students with overbudget facilities resulting in a lack of funding PROMISED to be allotted for a different facility’s renovations, and really crappy food. So yeah, do your homework before you write an article stating all the things he done and implying that they are good.

    • I couldn’t agree more with Dogwood. The Cougar literally just gave Carlicci and A&F credit for spending money… If that’s the measure for success, then Ken Lay was an incredible CEO. After all, look how big Enron got.

      • Did either of you think about how this is simply a story playing devil’s advocate? Calm down, pull the stick out of your butts and take some deep breaths.

        PS Ken Lay is dead, so like what exactly are you suggesting/threatening, Charles?

      • Charles, you continually demonstrate a stunning lack of perspective. The progress spearheaded by the current University administration put UH on the map in a way that someone who was not here prior to 2008 may not be able to fully appreciate. I think your ignorance is of the willful variety however. Your self-serving grandstands aren’t helping the University, they are clearly meant only to help Charles Haston. Consider for a moment that the degrees of those you purport to represent are more valuable in the marketplace because of what Dr. Khator and Dr. Carlucci and those under their leadership have accomplished. What you describe as simply “spending money” is a bit more than that, but the comment may reveal a bit about you. Perhaps in your experience, such as it is, all it takes to make things happen is money, but for most folks that money needs to be combined with planing, determination, team-building and effort to accomplish anything of real significance. That is what Dr. Carlucci deserved credit for. Were all best practices followed in the planning, construction and selection of management of the stadium? It seems not to be the case; we’ll see to what extent when the audit findings are presented. Would there have been a stadium on campus for the 2014 football season if not for some aggressive red tape cutting? Certainly not.
        I agree with Dogood that this article doesn’t say enough; but the assumption that to say more would reveal some vast conspiracy for profit or power or whatever you think a nefarious administrator’s motivations might be is ridiculous to those that have cared to be a part of the process of building something great, rather than simply a sideline detractor. UH today is a far better university than circa 2008 UH, hands down. This is undeniable if you have the perspective of more than a couple years of involvement. Carl Carlucci has been the transmission to Dr. Khator’s engine of change, and if you’ll allow me to stretch a metaphor, you seem to be nothing more than a noisy backseat driver.

          • “Carlucci is a cancer”? What the hell is wrong with you that you think that’s a professional thing to say, irrespective of the situation? I don’t pretend to know what you expect to gain other than some nebulous yet ego-feeding notoriety, I suspect that’s enough for you. I think you’ve actually fooled yourself into thinking this is some sort of mano y mano Clash of the Titans face off you have going with Dr. Carlucci. It’s not. There are good questions to be asked about the paths chosen to get to a completed stadium, but to call for a man’s resignation, as well as that of his staff, in advance of answers is silly drama. I applaud any student leader’s willingness to fight for the interest of the students, but what you are doing is something else entirely. Perhaps those aren’t cariactures in the Cougar afterall, but rather representations of a person who is himself a cariacture of an SGA President.

          • As someone in the MBA program, you should be learning that it’s more effective to affect change as a partner with a seat at the table than an activist who burns bridges and throws bombs from the outside. Speaking with the few administrators I know on campus, they all want nothing to do with the SGA anymore thanks to you; the term ‘petulant’ came up and ‘unwilling to sit at the table and work out a solution.’ I wish you good luck on your future endeavors and hope the next SGA president can repair the organization’s image and seat at the table.

        • “UH today is a far better university than circa 2008 UH, hands down”
          What is this based on? Yes Dr. Khator lists a lot of things, but you have to compare those to other universities. In a university this size, you can always find things to list; the question is how much did UH progress compared to others? Carnegie classification happened in 2010 and much of the data used there was from the years before Dr. Khator arrived. She had little contribution to that.
          After 2010, there was a lot of PR and image building but if you look at UH’s actual relative standing, there was not much progress. Yes, there has been a lot of construction and UH campus is much better now than 2008. Unfortunately, the construction was financed by debt. Other university president’s completed $1 billion + fundraising, while Dr. Khator performed very poorly in fund raising. Look at Texas Tech, their previous president completed 1 billion fund raising, while UH president is nowhere close.

          • Unfortunately students now don’t know the truly transformative changes that have happened under Dr. Khator (and by Dr. Carlucci). There has been serious positive impact. And yes, it involves spending money, but it also involves strategic planning, fundraising, and leadership. It’s definitely not all PR smoke and mirrors. If you’d seen this university over the past decade, you’d know that PR has never been our strong suit. I got my BBA in 2006 and this place was only a so-so school with no real vision for the future. Certain programs were good, but facilities were dilapidated, research was a secret, and dorms were a joke…. There is credit to be given. We can always argue where that credit should fall.
            It seems like a lot of the conflicts here are based on personality conflicts and poor people management. The university general counsel can sit down with the SGA leadership and the administration and sort out this MOU problem. With regards to the three employees, if we could just wait until the audits underway are able to report back, then we’ll know for certain if there’s actually been mismanagement of funds or malfeasance, or just a high level executive being a prig (sorry to break it to you: not uncommon in the real world).

  • Carlucci and Khator are like the politicians and businessmen who put Greece in its present crisis.
    Greece borrowed money and spent it to build lots of stuff; everybody was happy and it looked like the country made huge progress, until, that is, they could no longer borrow to keep the ponzi scheme going. Now the country is in financial ruin.
    It is easy to build all the things you list when you have a blank check.
    How much of these building costs could Khator raise through fundraising???
    She collects one of the highest salaries in the nation yet all she has to show are buildings built on debt…
    They pulled the same trick at USF and escaped to come to UH to repeat the ponzi scheme here. But this time, they could not escape fast enough and the ponzi scheme is over.

  • I think it’s important for people know understand the people involved. If you’re calling for someone to lose their job, learn about them before you just sign a petition. It’s not support, it’s information.

  • Calhoun Lofts may have been completed with him here, but he had nothing to do with it per se. And don’t forget Cemo Hall delayed opening because he thought the building perimeter drainage plan was gold-plated, changed it, and found out otherwise.

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