Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Madison U. Sowell


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. (non-admin closure) – Davey 2010 Talk 22:36, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Madison U. Sowell

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Does not meet the notability standard. AutumnalEquinox (talk) 01:16, 3 May 2016 (UTC)


 * keep. Plenty of academic recognition. Staszek Lem (talk) 01:08, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Still does not meet the notability requirements. AutumnalEquinox (talk) 01:27, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep. While the referencing style of the article is substandard, being provost (chief academic officer) of a notable university, holding named professorships at another, translating Giordano Bruno for Yale University Press, and having a pretty extensive Google Scholar presence make this cursory nomination look formidably silly, even if the subject may not quite fit into any convenient professorial pigeonhole. The Big Bad Wolfowitz (aka Hullaballoo). Treated like dirt by administrators since 2006.  (talk) 21:42, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep It's slightly fuzzy whether the positions he held at BYU exactly meet WP:PROF's named chair provision since they're for a broader concept than the standard "X chair of Y subject", but having several such positions and multiple university-wide posts at a huge university seem likely to meet that criterion, and though his current position is at a small school, he is the provost. This, along with the above-mentioned Google Scholar results that appear to be fairly well-cited at a quick glance (and work on a significant translation), make me say he fits notability for academics.  In addition, he's received some news coverage for questions about whether Southern Virginia in general and he in particular have been discriminatory to gay students.  Pinball22 (talk) 15:51, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete as I expected this to still be questionable, nothing to suggest the needed applicable notability. Keep perhaps only because the article seems to suggest he's a provost, aka a senior position at the university thus suggesting notability. Asking for his confirmation analysis.  SwisterTwister   talk  22:28, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete Provost in a US university is the chief academic officer, not the chief administrative officer. It is a very distinguished position at a really distinguished university. I do not consider Southern Virginia University anywhere near that class; it is a relatively small liberal arts college. Nor do I regard such generic professorships as "a Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor" as anywhere near the equivalent of a usual distinguished professorship, even at BYU--I would guess they are temporary honorary teaching positions. . Nor would he seem to be qualified for one: he's in a field where notability  depends on books, and he is co-editor of a single books only, which is not academic notability at any major research university  DGG ( talk ) 22:59, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Sam Sailor Talk! 19:50, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions. Sam Sailor Talk! 19:50, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Virginia-related deletion discussions. Sam Sailor Talk! 19:50, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Sam Sailor Talk! 19:50, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep. Like DGG I'm dubious that the Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor is the level of endowed professorship that we're looking for in WP:PROF (it seems to be more of a teaching award than a recognition of outstanding scholarship), but he also held the Scheuber–Veinz Professorship at BYU, which appears to be a standard endowed professorship. So I think he passes WP:PROF, regardless of whether taking up administration in a different university after his 2009 retirement from BYU is also worthy or not. —David Eppstein (talk) 00:19, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep as passing the PROF test by way of having a named chair. I'm also of the opinion that a provost of a major university is usually notable. Bearian (talk) 18:37, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep per David Eppstein.  InsertCleverPhraseHere  05:22, 12 May 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.