The New American Colleges and Universities are delighted to welcome a most dynamic group of eight new provosts/CAOs this fall. Who are they? Why did they decide to become provosts? What are their biggest challenges?
Three have backgrounds in English/humanities, four in the sciences (physics, psychology, physiology, nursing), and one in higher education administration. Only three are new to their institutions, and one is actually serving his alma mater. Only one has previously served as a provost, although all have been associate provosts and have held a variety of administrative positions including dean of an Honors College, director of a Teaching Center, vice chancellor for Institutional Planning and Assessment, and dean of a School of Nursing. Two were founding deans of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. Who are they? Why did they decide to become provosts? What are their biggest challenges?
Before learning about their swelling inboxes we caught up with them via email as they began to focus on goals both large (addressing budgeting issues while maintaining academic standards) and small (finding a good dry cleaner). Below are snippets of these virtual conversations.
What attracted you to the position?
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| Michael Renner |
Provosts at Arcadia University, Drake University, and University of Redlands all found that the missions of their new institutions fit well with their own values. Michael Renner, provost and professor at Drake University, previously served as provost and professor at Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. He said, “My challenge during the interview process was learning whether the mission statement was empty rhetoric – a billboard slogan – or really mattered in the life of the campus. I’m not a big fan of empty speeches, and I think that a mission statement should guide operational decision-making. In six months on the job, I’m even more glad to have judged correctly, that Drake really means what it says and that I’m in the right place.”
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| Steve Michael |
Arcadia University’s new provost, Steve Michael, was previously vice provost at Kent State University. Michael was drawn to Arcadia when he detected a “palpable energy throughout the campus to take the university to its next level of excellence.”
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| David Fite |
David Fite, vice president for academic affairs at the University of Redlands, formerly served as vice chancellor for Institutional Planning and Assessment at Chapman University in Orange, California. Fite was especially drawn to the University of Redlands as “an institution that seeks to provide students with transformative educational experiences in all its programs and to integrate liberal and professional education.”
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| Marcia McDonald |
Marcia McDonald, provost at Belmont University, has been with the institution since 1980 and said she likes “the idea of the New American Colleges and Universities – institutions that provide an education that makes a difference in the lives of students and that models the kind of meaningful role that private higher education can play in public and civic life.”
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| Mark Schwehn |
Mark Schwehn, who had been Dean of the Honors College at Valparaiso University for 13 years and had returned to the faculty, had not planned to return to college administration. “The opportunity to serve my alma mater in this critical period of it history” and after getting to know the new president, Mark “felt called to the position.”
Have you unearthed anything unexpected?
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| Steven Starkovich |
Even those who are well-acquainted with their institutions still have found surprises. Some are learning about things they thought they knew, such as understanding the institution’s culture of consultation and decision-making.
Steven Starkovich, acting provost at Pacific Lutheran University, was in an enviable position of having several months of preparation with Provost Patricia Killeen (now on sabbatical).
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| Steven House |
Steven House, provost at Elon University, has been at Elon since 2001 and knew that his predecessor and mentor Gerry Francis had a hectic schedule yet he said, “I was not prepared for the schedule of meetings – weekly meetings with each of more than a dozen direct reports, regular conversations with each colleague on senior staff, committee meetings, and frequent conversations with faculty and staff, plus welcomes and presentations.” At Arcadia, Michael said he wished they had told him that “the job, with iPhone and internet, is now 24 hours, seven days a week!”
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| Pamela Hammond |
Many concurred with House’s prediction that “it will take a full year before I fully discover the rhythm and learn how to efficiently and effectively perform all of the duties.” Pamela Hammond, provost at Hampton University and previously dean of its School of Nursing, said, “My biggest challenge is re-prioritizing when everything seems so important.” Yet despite the hectic pace, she is “loving the ride!”
What are your top goals for this academic year?
In addition to essential accomplishments for those new to their institutions, such as “finding the men’s room, parking lot, and dry cleaner,” and “looking sane, with a perennial smile on your face, as you appear to harmonize the voices of faculty, students, staff, and the administration,” the provosts shared many of their goals for this academic year. Here’s what we heard:
Invest in the Future
- View the institution and higher education through students’ eyes—what do we need to be thinking about to provide 21st century students with an effective, meaningful education?
- Implement a plan that restructures the university into colleges
- Launch new schools, including in the areas of Continuing Studies and Law
Strengthen What Is
- Review the general studies program
- Develop an academic strategic plan
- Establish and support a more strategic enrollment management process
- Improve systems of review of educational effectiveness, develop institutional and academic unit plans for assessment
- Develop and update program cost methodology
- Provide an outstanding engaged, experiential education while ensuring a rigorous and challenging academic environment
- Provide leadership to enhance faculty scholarship and professional activity while maintaining a commitment to being a student- and learning-centered institution
Strike a Balance that Delivers Quality Yet Pays the Bills
- Address continuing budgetary challenges while maintaining and improving educational effectiveness
- Understand the costs of individual academic programs to make sure resources are being used effectively
- Work with faculty to increase research university-wide, while increasing the amount of external funds secured through grantsmanship activities
Listen Well
- Maintain clear and effective lines of communication based upon mutual trust and a commitment to transparency
- Design and develop decision-support infrastructure
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing provosts?
Responses from Fite and Schwehn reflected a common theme. Fite said that one of the biggest challenges is “developing strategies for maintaining and improving educational effectiveness and ensuring the engagement and support of faculty while at the same time addressing the difficult realities of today’s higher education marketplace and the need for improved efficiency, cost-effectiveness and accountability.” Schwehn echoed this concern. The challenge will be “to maintain the balance between high quality and the deepest and most important traditions of the university, especially the liberal arts, on the one hand, and the need to be entrepreneurial in order to flourish in today’s economic and shifting educational priorities,” he said.
Welcome, Pam, Marcia, Mark, David, Michael, and the three Stevens. The New American Colleges & Universities consortium, and its Council of Institutional Representatives (IREPS), will be strengthened by your energy and vision. |
