Jorge Haddock Acevedo (Spanish: [ˈxoɾxe ˈxaðok aseˈβeðo]; born 15 August 1955) is a Puerto Rican engineer and academic administrator, who previously served as the president of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). On July 7, 2021, the Governing Board of the UPR unanimously requested his resignation and his term ended on July 31, 2021 .
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Early life and education
Jorge Haddock Acevedo was born to his father of the same name and Francisca Acevedo, in Caguas, Puerto Rico on 15 August 1955. Haddock has two siblings, one of which is the actress Gilda Haddock. His mother, who held a master's degree, later divorced and raised her three children as a single mother with help of her father, Pedro "Don Peyo" Acevedo. Haddock's maternal grandfather, to whom Haddock later dedicated his doctoral thesis, was a waiter who had been able to send Francisca and her two brothers to college, one of whom became an accountant and the other an engineer. In 2019 Haddock was a guest to one of Gilda's daughter's wedding. On 7 June 1980 he married María de los Ángeles Valentín Díaz. They have two children, Angelique and Alexander, and four grandchildren: Desmond, Cameron, Lily and Noah.
Haddock earned a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez in May 1978. There he received a full-ride scholarship, without which, Haddock claimed, he would not have been able to attend. The following May he obtained a master's degree in Management Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, followed by a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in 1981 while simultaneously being an industrial engineering assistant professor in his baccalaureate alma mater.
Early career
He is a co-inventor of patent WO1997003409A1 filed under the title "Method and system for providing credit support to parties associated with derivative and other financial transactions." Additionally, he has authored over a hundred publications.
Between 1985 and 1986 Haddock was the advisor to the student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers at Clemson University.
In 1999 he became a professor at the Lally School of Management and Technology, and later, in 2004, its dean. The next year Haddock was named dean of the Robins School of Business, of the University of Richmond, by then president William Cooper.
He is the author of the book Creating Global Business Leaders: Business Education at the Intersection of Innovation, Technology, and Globalization.
In 2009 he was appointed as dean of the then George Mason University School of Management. During his tenure there Haddock was invited to speak to the Rotary Club of Tysons Corner, and was named to the Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business, where he was part of the Initial Accreditation Committee between 2011 and 2014. When he became President of the University of Puerto Rico, he was invited to the aforementioned body's annual conference as a speaker on alternative revenue streams. Haddock was also appointed as mentor to the University of Bahrain's College of Business. Additionally, he was named chair of the Advisory Board to the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2011.
In 2013 he aspired to two presidential positions. Haddock was one of five finalists for the position of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellor. Additionally, he was one of two finalist nominees for president of Fairleigh Dickinson University. In early 2014 Haddock was one of five nominees aspiring to the deanship of Daniels College of Business. Later that year he was named dean of the University of Massachusetts Boston's School of Management, where he also led its Entrepreneur Center as interim director and was chairperson to the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.
President of the University of Puerto Rico
Selection
In 2018 he was selected by the Board of Governors of the University of Puerto Rico to be Chancellor. His appointment, however, was not effective until 4 September, when he would be in Puerto Rico. On July 7, 2021 the Board of Governors requested his resignation.
When asked about his appointment, Haddock claimed that he would work "25 hours [a day], 8 days [a week]." His annual salary of $240,000, caused much controversy since the wage ceiling has been $105,000 since 1997. Additionally he was provided with a stipend ceiling of $5,000 for relocalization purposes. In a press conference after his appointment was announced, Haddock said "I have taken a substantial income hit. I do it because I did not come here for the money..."
On 4 September 2018, he assumed the role of president, upon which he said the budget cuts proposed by the Financial Oversight Management Board (FOMB) were "manageable", thought they would reduce the state's contributions to the university budget of $1,347 million (2018) by $243 million by 2023. The University has two simultaneous fiscal plans, one approved by the Board of Governors and the other by the FOMB. Haddock has claimed that the FOMB does not micromanage the university. When he received notification that the FOMB would require an additional $80 million as contributions to the pension plan, Haddock told Inside Higher Ed "We don’t have the money on top of the $86 million cuts -- now they want us to add another $80 million contribution. It's almost like they want to hurt us." Less than a month after taking office and having gone to each campus to better comprehend their problems, he had a meeting with the Executive Director of the FOMB, Natalie Jaresko, to "better explain to her the importance of full-ride scholarships, as well as the impact of the measures" expected by the FOMB. Since the FOMB had planned a yearly increase in cost-per-credit, Rock Solid Technologies doubled their 16 year old scholarship program to include four students in 2018, who had the opportunity to participate in a paid internship in the company. In the middle of the uncertainty of the time, Haddock recognized university achievements such as an Emmy-nominated documentary about Hurricane María made by University of Puerto Rico Arecibo students. In April 2019 the UPR Board of Governors acceded to a request from the FOMB to increase the cost-per-credit from $115 to $124 by July. The former was an increase as well from a long held cost of $57. Haddock opposed the gradual increase proposed by the FOMB which would raise the cost of tuition from $124 during the 2019-2021 academic year to $157 by the 2022–2023, as well as other cuts stipulated in their plan.
Resignation
On Wednesday, 7 July 2021, interim-Secretary of Education, Eliezer Ramos Parés as the ex-officio representative of the Department of Education in the UPR Governing Board, in an on-air interview with Jay Fonseca on the Telemundo program Día a Día, announced that the board would request Haddock's resignation. Ramos Parés confirmed that he favored the resignation and that this was due in part to accreditation problems at the Medical Sciences Campus [specifically its neurosurgery and radiological technology programs] and other faculties. Ramos Parés mentioned that "[the vote] is in favor of change and an orderly transition in that direction." Another source told Metro PR "that the petition would be unanimous," while another source stated that the electronic referendum was carried out the same day due to his imminent nature. On an initial occasion, the UPR press office stated that Haddock had not received an official notification from the Governing Board. During the development of the event, he was at an undergraduate graduation ceremony at the UPR at Utuado, and received news of the request extra-officially. Nevertheless, at 5:00 p.m., Haddock released a written statement stating he was surprised by the decision and claiming he had a 5 year contract. Haddock's presidency ended on July 31, 2021.