Huntsville Official Tried to Calm Amy Bishop in Phone Call About Her Future

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Paul Basken

The head of the technology-transfer office at the University of Alabama at Huntsville says he tried a week ago to reassure an anxious Amy Bishop that the biology professor, now accused of killing three colleagues, could keep working on potentially profitable inventions even if she lost her tenure bid.

Kannan S. Grant, director of the Office of Technology Commercialization, said Ms. Bishop called him on February 6 initially to discuss a new invention idea. But Mr. Grant said he had also spent time on the call "trying to calm her down" over her tenure dispute, which was a concern she had raised with him in the past, even though he made clear to her that it was a matter over which he had no control.

Ms. Bishop is suspected of shooting to death three colleagues on Friday, including the chairman of the biological-sciences department, Gopi K. Podila. She learned months ago that the university had rejected her bid for tenure, and since then she had pursued a series of appeals.

Aside from her troubles securing tenure, Ms. Bishop appeared to be enjoying and having some early success as an inventor, colleagues including Mr. Grant have said.

http://chronicle.com/article/Huntsville-Official-Tried-to/64215/

[LisaM]

1. I've been curious about this. I'm certainly not excusing her

but I wish sometimes that we would learn more about motive in these events. Was she wrongly denied tenure? Were these deep running disputes? What triggered her response? I think it's important to know these things to prevent future incidents (and to perhaps get help for people before they respond this way).

[Adsos Letter]

2. The Chronicle of Higher Education that I linked to

has some very interesting articles following this case. Some of the comments following each article provide further insights into the nature of this tragedy.

[LisaM]

4. Yeesh

sounds as if she should have gotten help a long time before.

[heli]

3. "Harvard had offered to hire her back if she failed to win tenure at Huntsville"

What a waste of talent.