I have known Bob Stewart for more than 25 years and I have considerable knowledge of his background.
In the piece by Ranavio, Dr. Stewart's background and the basis for his compensation must have been either ignored, only superficially reviewed, or omitted on purpose in favor of a sensational opening to a story.
Bob is one of the most valuable assets that West Texas A&M University, and in fact the entire Texas A&M University System, has - and very probably ever will have. Bob was not hired as "teaching faculty," and his compensation does not come from that budget item. His compensation comes from research funded by the state through a special items appropriation.
Bob is one of approximately 70 scientists named to the USDA Agricultural Hall of Fame. He is one of the world's foremost soil scientists and hydrologists, and he is the co-author of what is considered the encyclopedia of hydrology. Bob was hired to design and lead the Dry Land Agriculture Institute, which is world- renowned. WT has one Ph.D. program, in the field of agriculture, and its existence at WT is due largely to research work led by Bob Stewart. This makes him an asset both to the community and to academia.
I cannot help believing that the basis for the author's article is the simple-minded suggestion from one of our legislators that professorial salaries should be tied to income derived from students enrolled in the programs they teach and from externally funded research aided and abetted by a report authored by Rick O'Donnell a former University of Texas advisor. Cost is not the only measure of the worth of a person or a program. It is time more people started thinking in terms of value, a term that considers, at the very least, how useful someone or something is and how rare it is.
Bob Stewart deserved better treatment and more respect than the Globe-News gave him.